Wilhelm Durrschmidt Double Bass, Markneukirchen anno 1929
It is recorded by Jalovec that Durrschmidt was one of the more skilful Markneukirchen makers, and indeed this smallish viol shaped instrument is nicely made from fairly decent quality materials. Certainly, it seems that Durrschmidt didn’t want you to miss his work, for internally there is a simply massive, 20cm x 8cm makers label affixed in the normal position. In 1887, Durrschmidt founded a workshop in Markneukirchen from which he made stringed instruments, lutes and parts of instruments for assembly as was the custom in Markneukirchen at the time.
The instrument has had a great deal of upgrade work done to it which briefly includes regraduation work, fitment of a new bass bar, half-edging and edging work, the resetting of the neck to the correct angle, cleaning, varnish work and a full set-up. The list in actual fact goes on much further, but really all we need to say here is that the instrument is in structurally A1 condition.
If you are not the tallest of players or have small hands, then the nicely sloped shoulders, the easy production of a complete range of volume and tone, and the incredibly small string length of only 103.5cm make this ninety-year-old instrument an absolute pleasure to play.
Who said that double stopping in thirds and fourths on the double bass was difficult?
Stats:
LOB (length of back) - 107.5cm
Width across upper bouts - 49.7cm
Width across middle bouts - 36.7cm
Width across lower bouts - 66cm
String length - 103.7cm
Reference number #2439