Violone
Alternate name(s)
- Double bass
- Contrabass viola da gamba
Date1600-1630 ca.
Place MadeBrescia, Italy, Europe
SignedWritten in black ink on large (5 x 30 cm) paper label in imitation of print: Paolo Maggini BresciaMarkingsWritten in black ball point pen on cloth tape patch on inside of top: GMS / 1987 [Gary Stewart]
Gold and black sticker on neck and ribs: MADE / IN / ITALY [for import]
DescriptionThis cornerless violone, or contrabass viola da gamba, was converted to a 3-string double bass in the eighteenth or early nineteenth century.
Cornerless shape
Top: two-piece spruce cut off-the-quarter: wide grain; prominent haselfichte figure
Back: two-piece, slab-cut cherry
Ribs: slab-cut cherry
Head and neck: maple: plain; decorative points on front and back of pegbox profile; eighteenth or early nineteenth century three-string double bass head
Arching: no recurve on front; flat with break in upper bout of back
Purfling: double
Varnish: dark red-brown
Tuners: three brass and iron worm-gear machine tuners; late eighteenth or early nineteenth century
F-holes: narrow wings; undercut; rounded notch corners
Linings: spruce and poplar or willow; later
Top block: spruce; grain runs parallel to plane of top and back; later
Bottom block: poplar or willow
Bassbar: missing
Back braces: wide spruce brace in center bout; narrow, taller spruce braces in upper and lower bouts
Rib braces: spruce braces from top to back, and various cloth patches
Other: burn marks on inside of top
DimensionsTop length: 893 mm
Upper bout width: 381 mm
Center bout width: 298 mm
Lower bout width: 492 mm
Upper rib height: 127-162 mm
Center rib height: 162-164 mm
Lower rib height: 162-164 mm
Stop length: 450 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 386 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.
Published ReferencesJoseph R. Johnson. “The Mandolin Orchestra in America,” The Big Red Book of
American Lutherie Vol. II, 1988-1900, pp. 262, 272-273.
Credit LineWitten-Rawlins Collection, 1984
Object number03432
On View
Not on view
1625-1630 ca.