Thomas Kennedy
(1844)
I bought the Kennedy from an LSO player in 2010 - before that it belonged to
David Munro, ex principal bass with the Northern Sinfonia. David picked up the
bass in 1968 from Paul Roth, a bass dealer in Birmingham, for
£250! In those days that was 10 weeks wages. It cost me a little more than that
in 2010 - more like the equivalent of over 100 week's wages in todays money, which
implies that in comparison to income basses have increased in price by over 10x
in the past 50 years. In those days Kennedys were no big deal, but there is not
a bass player on the planet who would refuse the offer of a Kennedy for £250
today. It is in wonderful nick, the best Kennedy I have seen - there are a few around the traps, but this is in pretty
close to mint condition.
Kennedy scrolls are hard to beat - beautifully cut.
I sold the Kennedy in late 2012. It's new home is in the Melbourne Symphony
Orchestra. Its an amazing bass, that helped me thro 9 out of 13 auditions in the
UK, a real all round cracker, great for solo stuff, chamber music and wonderful
in the orchestra, of course.
Dimensions:--
o/a length (top scroll to bottom of belly) 186cm
belly length 115cm
shoulder width 54.5cm
C bout belly width 39cm
hips width 68cm
rib depth 22cm (Kennedy made 8 or 9 inch ribs, this is the latter, bigger one)
stop length 105.7cm (42.4 inch)