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American bass viol
1800–25
Object Place: United States, New England region
Medium/Technique
Pine, walnut
Dimensions
Length 134 cm, width 50.2 cm (Length 52 3/4 in., width 19 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Samuel Putnam Avery Fund
Accession Number1982.475
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsMusical Instruments
ClassificationsMusical instruments – Chordophones
DescriptionTwo-piece back of wide grain pine with large diamond shape in lower half, created from raised strips of wood. Walnut (?) ribs and neck. Crude scroll with no undercutting; pegbox finished flat down back. Two-piece belly of wide-grain pine. No purfling. F-holes widened at notches and connected at upper and lower ends. Tuning pegs (two extant), fingerboard, and saddle of hardwood painted/stained black; the fingerboard with four inlaid lines of bone to mark finger positions. Short endpin of oak or ash. Red-brown varnish. Interior construction: Neck projects into body deeply (not footed), resting on wood slab (about 5 mm. thick), reinforced by two screws through back. Narrow lower block. Back and belly grooved to receive ribs; no liners except for short pieces along back at waist. No corner blocks. Vertical walnut (?) slabs (about 37 mm. wide) glued to inside of ribs, spaced about 100 mm. apart. Bass bar angled from bass side to center seam.
InscriptionsManuscript label: [illegible] March 10, 1831 / Repaird by [J S Gelland (?)]
Provenance1982, sold by Harold Priest, Harvard, Massachusetts, to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 13, 1982)