DHV:
316
Tourin ID:
GLAS 1, GALP 4
Size:
Bass
Place Made:
Maker:
GB
London
Edward
Lewis
Date:
1690 C
Label Text:
John Betts 1684 [handwritten]
Body Shape:
Viol
Current Location:
GB
Glasgow
No. of Strings:
6
Collection:
Kelvingrove Museum
Sound Holes:
C
Catalog Number:
42-68a
Head:
Female
Private Owner:
Previous Owner:
Thomas Glen, Edinburgh, -1942; Robert Glen, Glasgow (d. 1911); (?) Thomas M. Glen, Glasgow (d. 1873)
Measurements:
Body Length:
70
String Length:
66.3
Rib Depth:
12.2
Upper Width:
31.5
Middle Width:
23
Bottom Width:
39.4
Information
Source:
Museum to TGM, 3/25; Hebbert 2003b, pp. 39 (L8), 43; Galpin Society 1968, p. 78 (no. 589)
Literature:
Hebbert 2003b, pp. 39 (L8), 43; Myers 1985, p. 6; Galpin Society 1968, p. 78 (no. 589); Farmer 1946, p. 11
Photographs:
Farmer 1945, p. 10 (front); [unpublished, from museum 3/25: front, table ornament, pegbox and head, fingerboard, tailpiece and bridge, bottom rib with button (color)]
Recordings:
Auctions:
Comments:
Fingerboard and tailpiece edged with ivory and ebony. Currently (and at least since 1945) has doubled top string plus four others. Table and back inlaid (former design floral, latter geometrical); double purfling. “Repaired by John Eadie, Houstoun Near Glasgow, Anno 1854.” Hebbert 2003b, p. 43: “labeled impossibly ‘John Betts...1685’ but is certainly the work of Edward Lewis...” [NB: Betts Sr.’s dates were 1752-1823]; very like Vázquez’s 1684 bass (DHV 1300) except for table ornament, which exactly matches DHV 600. Photos show clear graft of pegbox to neck.