On my workbench: a double bass with a note from Alois Vincens Honek, on which, in addition to the year 1942, the following was handwritten: “ad formam propriam N. 3” (“based on his own design, No. 3”).
Well, this “own model” is certainly a bit unique: the bridge height is a substantial 18 mm. A standard blank usually has this height—before being adjusted, a process that inevitably results in some loss of height. So it’s a bit difficult to find a suitable blank. Otherwise, the bass is fairly simple: a solid spruce top, a domed plywood back, and a shaded spray finish in the style of that era.
The biography of violin maker Alois Honek is particularly noteworthy. He was born in 1911 in Děhylov (Silesia). His father was a carpenter who also made violins and passed this passion on to his son. While attending high school, he was trained as a violin maker by the Troppau-based violin maker Růžička, and graduated as a violin maker in 1929. After graduating from high school, however, he did not become a violin maker; instead, he enrolled at Charles University in Prague to study medicine. After successfully completing his studies, he decided to pursue a career as a surgeon.
Even as a doctor, he found enough time for his great passion: violin making. “He was known for working on his instruments as early as four in the morning. Only then would he set off on foot for the ‘Na Františku’ hospital, where he worked for many years as a senior physician,” his family recalls. He built over a hundred instruments, conducted research on optimizing the sound of violins, and published his findings in the renowned journal “The Strad.” And he certainly didn’t need a dictionary for the Latin texts in his violin scores. He was also considered an excellent surgeon who contributed to the advancement of his field. He maintained close ties with the Czech Philharmonic and accompanied the orchestra on its world tours—as a doctor and “healer” for the orchestra’s string instruments. Dr. Honěk died in 2002 at the age of 91.
