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Violone
Alternate name:Double bass
Alternate name:Contrabass viola da gamba
Maker: Gasparo Bertolotti da Salo
Date: 1560-1609 ca.
Place Made:Brescia, Italy, Europe
Serial No: none
SignedLarge, partially torn, printed label, the maker's first name written directly on back in black ink in imitation of printed lettering, and the date written in black ink on label: GASPERO DA SALO / [B]RESCIA 1521
DescriptionThis violone, or contrabass viola da gamba, was converted to a three-string double bass in the eigteenth or early nineteenth century. It preserves the original scroll mounted atop a newer pegbox.
Top: two-piece, quarter-cut spruce: wide grain broadening to very wide at the edges; some bear claw figure
Back: two-piece, slab-cut cherry
Ribs: slab-cut cherry; maple reinforcements at joint with top and back along outside
Head: maple; no ridge; volute original, pegbox later
Neck and pegbox: walnut; later from adaption to 3-string bass in the late eighteenth or early nineteen centuries
Arching: no recurve on top; flat on back with break in upper bout
Purfling: double
Varnish: dark red-brown
Tuners: three dark hardwood, iron, and brass worm-gear machine tuners; later from adaption to 3-string bass in the late eighteenth or early nineteen centuries
F-holes: narrow wings; undercut; rounded notches
Top block: spruce; later
Linings: spruce
Corner blocks: spruce; small
Bottom block: missing
Bassbar: spruce; later
Back braces: tall spruce brace with tappered ends in lower bout; wide, low braces originally in center and upper bouts, now missing, with crosshatched score marks underneath
Rib braces: spruce braces running from top to back intermittently along ribs
Other: inside of ribs with fine toothed plane marks
Top: two-piece, quarter-cut spruce: wide grain broadening to very wide at the edges; some bear claw figure
Back: two-piece, slab-cut cherry
Ribs: slab-cut cherry; maple reinforcements at joint with top and back along outside
Head: maple; no ridge; volute original, pegbox later
Neck and pegbox: walnut; later from adaption to 3-string bass in the late eighteenth or early nineteen centuries
Arching: no recurve on top; flat on back with break in upper bout
Purfling: double
Varnish: dark red-brown
Tuners: three dark hardwood, iron, and brass worm-gear machine tuners; later from adaption to 3-string bass in the late eighteenth or early nineteen centuries
F-holes: narrow wings; undercut; rounded notches
Top block: spruce; later
Linings: spruce
Corner blocks: spruce; small
Bottom block: missing
Bassbar: spruce; later
Back braces: tall spruce brace with tappered ends in lower bout; wide, low braces originally in center and upper bouts, now missing, with crosshatched score marks underneath
Rib braces: spruce braces running from top to back intermittently along ribs
Other: inside of ribs with fine toothed plane marks
DimensionsTop length: 972 mm
Upper bout width: 433 mm (estimated)
Center bout width: 304 mm
Lower bout width: 585 mm (estimated)
Upper rib height: 141-199 mm
Center rib height: 197-201 mm
Lower rib height: 194-199 mm
Stop length: 510 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 442 mm
Upper bout width: 433 mm (estimated)
Center bout width: 304 mm
Lower bout width: 585 mm (estimated)
Upper rib height: 141-199 mm
Center rib height: 197-201 mm
Lower rib height: 194-199 mm
Stop length: 510 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 442 mm
ProvenanceLaurence Witten acquired from the Bisiach Collection, Venegono Superiore, Italy, 1969.
Purchased by the National Music Museum from Laurence Witten family, New Haven, Connecticut, 1984.
Purchased by the National Music Museum from Laurence Witten family, New Haven, Connecticut, 1984.
Terms
Credit Line: Witten-Rawlins Collection, 1984
On view
Published ReferencesJoseph R. Johnson, Mandolin Clubs and Orchestras in the United States (1880-1920): Their Origin, History and Instruments, M.M. Thesis (Vermillion: University of South Dakota, 1987), pp. 60-61,135.
Joseph R. Johnson, "The Mandolin Orchestra in America, Part 3: Other Instruments," American Lutherie, No. 21 (Spring 1990), pp. 48-49.
Joseph R. Johnson, “The Mandolin Orchestra in America,” The Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Two, 1988-1990, (Tacoma, Washington: Guild of American Luthiers, 2000), pp. 273-274.
Joseph R. Johnson, "The Mandolin Orchestra in America, Part 3: Other Instruments," American Lutherie, No. 21 (Spring 1990), pp. 48-49.
Joseph R. Johnson, “The Mandolin Orchestra in America,” The Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Two, 1988-1990, (Tacoma, Washington: Guild of American Luthiers, 2000), pp. 273-274.
Object number: 03431