Carlo Guiseppe Testore Bass Violin 3/4 Size, Violin Cornered, Flatback Made in Milan, Italy c. 1710
Top table is a four-piece plate of slab-cut spruce, edged in the past with iron wood. F-holes are cut into the top in the traditional narrow fashion of Carlo Giuseppe Testore.
Back table is a three-piece plate with the third piece being added at the lower bout section of the back. The back is made of pear wood with a partial ebony inlay at the angle crease on the flat back. There is also an ebony half moon at the heel of the neck.
Ribs of matching pear wood to that of the back table
Neck and scroll are not original as the neck was replaced so as to change the playing dimensions to meet the specifications of modern school of steel string playing. The original neck of the instrument was made for three string playing, thus attesting to the closeness of the F-holes in relation to each other and the original smaller sized spread of the bridge in relation to the body size and bass bar of the instrument.
The original tuners have been replaced in the past by gears which are custom made individual French brass tuners with horn shell amber knobs on each gear. The gear plates are inlaid into the scroll.
Varnish is brownish amber
The instrument was set up for the modern school of steel string playing, with a tension-compensating raised saddle, with Kolstein bridge and all ebony adjusters.
John Devereux Bass Violin 