This bass came to our workshop with a 50 cm long crack in the lower bout. It is not the first crack in the ribs that this instrument has experienced. The bass has a label from Friedrich Meindl, dated 1892 – Meindl built it at the age of 66, two years before his death. Lüttgendorf writes about Meindl:
“Meindl, Friedrich. Würzburg, † 1894, son of Franz X. M., pupil of his father and Vauchel. He concentrated entirely on the construction of stringed instruments and trained in this during his time as an assistant in good workshops. In 1864 he took over his father’s (zither-making) workshop. He was a very clean and diligent worker until the end of his life and made many violins and violoncellos. He used beautiful wood and a self-prepared spirit varnish (golden-yellow ground and cherry-red colored varnish).”
Fortunately, he left the golden yellow base for this double bass – because cherry red no longer quite meets today’s taste …
