So now that we are at the finish line I need to look back at this bass’s journey.
The bass came from Pell City, Alabama in 2006 where we purchased it from gentlemen who wanted to buy his son a new bass. He didn’t want him to play this old worn out bass that he acquired from a pawn shop many years ago. This is where we come into the picture, we had the bass shipped from Alabama in a huge, heavy, oversized crate…it was expensive to ship.
This bass waited its turn in line for another year until Lonnie could start the restoration process. The bass came to us unplayable with no strings so we had no idea how it sounded. There were several start and stops on this bass as other projects (and life) got worked in around it. With this bass came many new discoveries, new repairs and more hours of labor. It has now easily been a year and a half in the making but this bass has a new lease on life. Hopefully our efforts will make this bass remain playable for another 60 years.
Here is the laundry list of repairs:
New ULSA ebony endpin
New Clef Hi-Tech tail gut
Original saddle sanded and re-shaped
New Velvet Garbo strings
New Despiau bridge…finely carved and detailed
New sound post…fit perfectly, just kissing the top and back
New Ebony fingerboard…dressed to perfection
Original rosewood nut raised, re-fit, sanded and finished
Original H.N. White tuners oiled, tighten and working well
Final color touch up to original finish and partial pin stripe replaced
Every seam glued, repaired and lavished over 100 hours of Bass Monkey labor
This where I am supposed to say…a labor of love…PRICELESS
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