What’s in a name? Here at Upton Bass we name our bass models after the region that influenced them, as in the Brescian, Mittenwald, Bohemian and Concord. Here we’ll take a look at some notable Brescian-style instruments.
Pictured – Giovanni Maggini early 1600s
What do we mean when we use the term “Brescian?” Brescia is a region of northern Italy which was home to hugely influential makers such as Gasparo da Salo, Vincenzo Panormo and Giovanni Maggini.
Panormo would emigrate to England in the 1700’s and brought this style of double bass with him. His influence became so widespread that English basses would also be known for this Brescian style.
Pictured – Hawkes & Son Panormo, UK c. 1920
A characterization of these basses are large-bodied, tall arched violin-cornered basses with deep ribs and heavily canted backs. If you took this basic checkllist of characteristics around the showroom and put a tag on all the basses that met this criteria, you would easily be able to identify all the Brescian styled basses out of the crowd.
We always have multiple descendants of this style in our showroom!
