Final touches...

We are working on the finishing touches…that includes a new custom volute. Many of the Kay basses lose one or both of the glued on volutes during a life time of playing. Replica volutes are available and we have used them but Lonnie wanted to try and make his own…more of an exact match.











He made a mold so he can make a positive and negative impression from the existing volute and closer match. This is an advantage we have by studying many American made plywood basses at one time. After you look at enough Kay’s you can see there are slight differences over the years of manufacturing. The current “two size fits all” replacement volutes were not satisfactory for Lonnie, so has decided to make his own… cool and very ambitious.

His first attempt is pretty darn impressive.

This bass is jam ready with only these few cosmetic details to finish.

Update on the 1953 Kay...

We are getting close to completion…Lonnie is pushing to make the bass playable for an upcoming jam/camping weekend. Yesterday he spent the day on set up and finishing the bridge. I test drove it last evening but found the action a bit high for the Thomastik Dominant strings so he is lowering the string height for me, just a little bit.

The bass is LOUD and has a nice growl. We tested the volume and it pushed 82 decibels at five feet…that is loud for a Kay…usually that volume comes from an American Standard or an Epiphone…this must be one of THOSE Kay’s…a good one.



Lonnie's brainstorm modifications either worked or this is just a good Kay bass…or both. The lightening of the tailpiece and the bridge definitely did not hurt the volume. We will take it on a real test drive out under the moon and stars to see what others think of the sound and tone. I know I am already happy…we have rescued, recycled and restore another fine American made plywood bass…nothing better then to save a few new trees and an old plywood bass...we both love this stuff!!!





More to come.

Carving the bridge...

The special modification work continues on the Kay bass. Lonnie is working on lightening the bridge. This is the same technique he used on the American Standard bass bridge. All of this work is accomplished by hand carving the bridge. Not an easy “freehand” task.

1953 Kay...resume

The weather has been cool and rainy so it gives us a break from outside projects and a little time to resume work on the 1953 Kay bass. Having attended the 2009 ISB convention last week really got the creative juices flowing for Lonnie. So many beautiful bass designs, outstanding craftsmanship and the opportunity to touch and feel the woods. Lonnie has been inspired to try a few modifications to the Kay bass to get as much volume and tone as we can from this vintage beauty. I wondered how long it was going to take for him to experiment with a bass. Lonnie has a long history of restoring old things, modifying new things and in general being more creative then most people are willing to take the time to invest into a project.

As a kid (6 or 7 years old) Lonnie along with his Dad and younger brother spent many an evening in the family garage super tuning lawn mower engines for their racing go carts. That led to fast, custom motorcycles as teenagers and eventfully building and racing muscle cars in the late 1970’s…on a drag strip (no street racing). So most of Lonnie’s life he has worked with his hands and his brain creating things…working on vintage basses is not a huge leap for his talents. For a ten year span he worked for a small company that modified custom vans for the handicap community. His daily job consisted of taking brand new custom vans (expensive custom vans) cutting off the roofs and dropping the floors to make them handicap assessable. You have to have some really creative skills to work around custom interiors of completed vans when you are using cutting shears and a welder…this was probably the most creative and interesting career he had has so far in his lifetime.

So I told you all that to tell you this…the modifications he has planned for the Kay bass will not alter the original appearance of the bass but are only intended to bring out the best tone possible. He is currently “super tuning” the tail piece and has some design plans for a custom bridge and end pin. I never know what is in his head until is it completed on the bass. By the time he executes his modifications he has built it a hundred times in his head…the man can problem solve in his sleep…this is why I feel HE is the true artist in the house, even though I am the one with the degree in art.

I’ll continue to update with new post as he makes progress. We have not picked out a string yet but we are leaning towards Thomastik Dominants solo tuned to EADG.

2009 ISB Convention

We had the opportunity to attend the 2009 International Society of Bassist convention at Penn State this week. Though this has nothing to do with the workshop, we were inspired and overwhelmed by all the beautiful basses. This was a once in a life time chance to see the worlds best custom bass maker’s along with over a hundred vintage basses from the 1600, 1700 and 1800th century. The basses were absolutely beautiful and the people were warm and friendly. The colors of the finish, the bass shapes and highly ornate woods were outstanding. Here is a link to a slide show that captures a small part of our day.

http://s318.photobucket.com/albums/mm428/bassmonkey2/ISB%202009/?albumview=slideshow

In one word it was overwhelming. We are inspired.

Jamming with the American Standard...

Festival season is indeed upon us and the American Standard bass is working out real well. It has proven it’s self to be a great jam bass with lots of acoustic punch. Here are two different bass players giving it a work out…both players LOVED the shape, size and smoothness of the neck.

I don’t know…I like it too...

…but they both really loved it.

Festival season has begun...

As expected all has been quiet in the workshop as festival season has begun…YEE-HAW!

The 1953 Kay C-1 is waiting patiently for Lonnie’s attention.

The 1950 American Standard bass has proven it self “jam worthy”. We were jam camping and picking, the bass held down the low-end just fine. I played three solid hours in a pick up jam of friends out in an open field (no tree’s to shake) with out so much as a callouse on my fingers. A great set up and quality strings make this bass a joy to play…and THIS bass is a JOY to play.

I’ll make updates as I have them…enjoy the festival season!!!