Before we went to Rodos, Shaked (the grand-daughter) was taking her first hesitant steps, but now she's walking further and longer. Her parents have yet to buy her shoes. She'll be celebrating 14 months in a few days for those who are interested in calibrating her progress.
One side effect of her walking is that there are fewer still pictures of her; these days she gets filmed walking and it's not so easy (nor interesting) to upload such video.
The bass in the picture is very interesting: it's obviously a copy of a Hofner violin bass, but there are a few noticeable differences. The Hofner does not have f-holes whereas this bass does; the Hofner has its controls mounted on a plate whereas this one doesn't. The most intriguing modification is the bridge; there's a lever on the top (left hand) side of the bridge (it is barely visible here) which when depressed will damp the strings. All of the hits returned for 'guitar string dampener' show something which is connected to the neck, not to the bridge. I can't imagine what this system is meant to do.
The bass was made by a company called Dia, of which I have never heard. I've tried searching for this company but have not made any headway. I doubt whether the bass is worth very much, but even so, this morning I wrote to a vintage guitar site, enclosing a picture of the bass and asking whether they have any information.
It can't be seen in the picture, but the bass needs a little work: there's a place on the back where there is no binding, and so the back has parted company slightly with the body. I tried playing the bass through an amplifier a few days ago and the sound was very crackly, so the electrics should be looked at. Mind you, this bass has been in storage since about 1983, when someone gave it to me.
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