Joseph Bassot

This double bass was made by one of the great French makers. There are of course many great French makers, but to this dealers ideas, most not really suitable for good orchestral playing or players. But Joseph Bassot to my way of thinking breaks that mould. The sound that came from this instrument did not have that very French nasal sound but a clear fine wooden open orchestra tone. A swell backed bass with violins corners and that very typical button within the button on the back and the purfling that goes all the way under the fingerboard on the table.
Joseph Bassot worked most of his life in Paris. He was born in 1740 and died in 1808. His output of string instruments was quite prolific, but was really famous for his cellos. I must admit that I have no idea how many basses Bassot made having only ever seen two myself, but both the instruments that came through my hands were very fine players basses. I would rather think that this bass was made in the later part of his life in c1790, but again with complete honesty, I have know real way of knowing if that is really so, just intuition.

Lars Danielsson

This extremely talented double-bass player lives in Gottenburg, Sweden. He is one of the new breed of really fine jazz and classical players, a player that can cross over to any style of playing at the raising of the baton or the crick of the drum sticks. Lars has been a friend of Gallery Strings for many years and has bought some really fine instruments from us other than the Joseph Bassot. He also bought a un-known early 18th. century instrument attributed to a Venision maker. Lars has made many CD's, including "Time Unit", "Far North" and "Tia Dia". Many of the numbers featured on these discs are composed by Lars. Sweden has got some real great bass playing talent.

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