Features: A beautiful early French Gamba shaped bass made originally as a 3-string bass as was the standard at that time in France. Joseph Xavier Jacquet (b.1810, d.1865/7?) was the first maker/Luthier of that family. In 1837 he married Cecile Pillement (daughter of Luthier Francios Pillement/Pillement Pere' who died when she was 10, or daughter of his son/Luthier Jean Pillement who would be only 22 at her birth in 1810.) Joseph Xavier Jacquet then used the name Jacquet-Pilliment adding his wife's name which became a tradition in his family. Of the 5 children they had, 3 of them became Luthiers that specialized in Double Basses like their father. The eldest was Gabriel Xavier b.1838, then Gabriel b.1848 and finally Joseph b.1850. I have read opinions that 'X'-Jacquet was the brand of the Father and also Gabriel Xavier. Also, the father branding his work as 'O'-Jacquet. Which is true? Maybe the eldest took over the fathers shop and used the same brand. Gabriel, the 2nd son married Marie J.S. Gand (daughter of the Gand family) in 1878 and was then known as Jacquet-Gand, using his wife's maiden name and NOT associated with the then Gand & Bernadel firm. Then his 3rd son Joseph worked for a time with his brother Gabriel but then married Justene M. Barbezant in 1879 and took over her brothers firm and became known as Jacquet-Barbezant.
Note: This beautiful old Jacquet has been repaired by many people over time and the internal as well as external work is evidence of that. The Bass is currently in a fair state of preservation and could easily be played in this condition without any problem. If a Low C-Extension is desired, a new Neck Graft would be required to avoid cutting into the beautiful original scroll, as the last Graft person left the pitch of the Scroll too far forward. If a restoration would be desired to make all the internal work uniform, I would have it completly gutted and fully restored to its best possible condition. Being that this would be a very costly job and time consuming, the Bass is currently available for sale 'as-is' at a greatly reduced price from what it would be in a fully restored state for an old Double Bass of this high degree of French Pedigree. |
