How hot is it...

Whew it’s hot! It’s so hot, I saw a robin pulling a worm out of the ground with an oven mitt. Now that’s hot!!!

Well, I have all but recovered from my foot surgery. I have been geeking out the last two days because my hard drive on my computer crashed…but all is not lost.

Lonnie continues to plug away after spending his days in a huge warehouse with no AC. The basement workshop feels pretty darn good at a nice cool 72 degrees.

While I was hovering over two computers Lonnie magically got the fingerboard on the King Bass re-glued. It is in traction right now waiting for the glue to dry. The cosmetic details around the edges is looking real good too. He will continue to work away.

Come back soon…

King Moretone...

Lonnie made a bit more progress last evening. The top of the bass had lots of rosin and old dirt. He has a magic elixir for getting old dirt and rosin off the top of a bass. The bass now has a nice deep glow and looks fresh and clean (little bit like a facelift). He wanted to get the top clean so he can begin to work on some of the cosmetic edges and open seams.







The neck had a spot where the fingerboard would not release and a sliver of wood raised up. Lonnie used hot water, steam and a large palate knife to run up between the neck and fingerboard to pry it loose. The neck looks really skinny with out the fingerboard attached. I have to laugh when folks complain about a skinny Kay neck. Few realize much of the mass of the neck is made up of the fingerboard. If you want a thicker neck, put on a new fingerboard…that will really beef up the thickness.

Stay tuned…Lonnie’s on a roll…just call him butter.

American Standard, Epiphone and the King

Here we are…mid way through summer…and what a summer it has been. New twist and turns every mile (the Tour de France is in stage 10, no pun intended).

I am now recovering from my second foot surgery and Lonnie is pushing forward in the workshop. He has been busy taking care of me, the house and working full time in addition to the workshop back log.

Our 1939 American Standard bass named Harvey is relocating to live with a young jazz player in Maryland.




The Epiphone B-5 named Luther is finished except for some final details and will soon be taking his long journey home.



And now, finally, it is Popeye’s turn. The 1950’s King Mortone is on the radar screen and repairs are underway. The fingerboard was not making full contact with the neck and was a source for vibration. So Lonnie removed the fingerboard, after a bit of a struggle, and now the neck is all clean with a fresh surface for re-gluing. The original fingerboard is in great condition and things should go back together with fresh hide glue fairly easily. Lonnie removed the old endpin and reamed out a new larger hole for a new ULSA adjustable ebony end pin. Once he gets the fingerboard back in place he will move on to the set up and a bunch of cosmetic work on the edges of the bass. The owner wants the full Bass Monkey speed neck treatment and face lift for this bass. This King Mortone had a powerful voice with some really old strings. I expect once the bass is set up and tweaked it will have a strong punchy sound, not to mention it will look good for other 60 or so years.










Keep checking back for updates. The Epiphone B-5 #811 slideshow of the completed bass will be coming soon. This Epi bass is headed for a long journey to a tropical paradise…Aloha.

The fun never stops! Have a great summer and be safe.

Making major progress on the Epiphone...

This Epiphone is getting close to being completed.

The back has been re-glued and Lonnie has quickly moved onto the set up. Like always, when Lonnie kicks it into overdrive, move over because he smells the finish line. He worked the past two evening late into the night. He is really pleased as everything is going together very smoothly. For as much trouble as the upper bout repair gave him the back off and back on went very well. The neck of the bass is very true and in perfect alignment. The string, bridge and tail piece are have fallen into the perfect spot.



The upper bout repair looks really good.



In set up mode



He is working on the set up and once again is detailing the bridge in his own special way. He loves doing the detail work and giving every bass a unique Bass Monkey touch.



He said I can take the bass for a test drive Friday night. I only wish…I am still on the mend from foot surgery. Standing to play a bass is still a few weeks away.



Enjoy the view!

Peeking inside for a good long look...

Lonnie is making slow progress with getting all the slivers of wood back into place along with the rib linings that came off in the removing of the back of the bass. I think this maybe the first Epiphone bass we have taken the back off. This gives me a great opportunity to really study and document the interior of the bass. This early 1946 post war Epiphone has solid rib lining verse many Kay basses having the kerfed rib linings. I don’t know how much, if any, difference this makes in structural integrity or tone but it is an obvious difference between the two manufactures. Another big difference is an Epiphone has a square sound post patch on the top plate verse the Kay bass having a round disk for a sound post patch on the back plate of their basses.

Corner blocks with centering pin hole


This Epiphone is super clean on the inside and the wood has very little oxidation, the wood is nice and bright. I love looking and studying the inside of a bass. The wood has a very faint image of newspaper print or some type of typography that was transferred from a slip sheet during manufacturing. It is too faint for me to read. I can see the pencil layout lines of where the center of the bass was marked and the FF holes cross alignment. There is also pencil marking from the luthier on the inside showing “T” for top and “B” for bottom on the corner blocks. The bass even has nails/pins at the corner block, neck block and end pin block which are factory original and were used in aligning the back to the sides. All of these things are fascinating to me because you can only see them when the bass is apart.

The bass bar has some interesting details and its over all shape


The repairs to the upper bout are just about finished, and then Lonnie can re-glue the rib lining to the same upper bout area. It is one of those multi day processes where he can not get out of his own way. And the hide glue needs 24 hours to set up before the clamps can be removed. This weekend he hopes to get the back glued on so we can finally move onto the set up. This bass has been on the work bench far too long for the minor repairs it needed. When we bought this bass it looked very clean and only in needed a set up. Which shows even to our trained eye there is more to be done then you can see or hear. You really need to get the bass on the work bench for a full examination before you can see the flaws…and even then we can under estimate what needs done.

The faint pencil lines used for layout and the square sound post patch


The bass bar is feathered into the top plate of the bass

The back of the bass is beautifully flamed maple

Patience, Patience, Patience…fast and easy is never fast, easy or cheap.

Back to the Epiphone...

And here we are…the start of summer…WOW!

Well we attended three music festivals. The first one rained and rained and rained along with a tornado close by. That was not fun.

The second festival was FABULOUS, with excellent weather and great music.

The third festival was rainy, drizzle and never had the chance to play my own bass…but still had a good time.

After a minor health scare with Lonnie (he is just fine), I decided to make life more interesting with some corrective foot surgery. My summer will be spent with my foot propped up and catching up on the website and e-mail communication that has been neglected.



Now on to basses…The 1946 Epiphone is back on the repair table and is giving Lonnie a fit. There was a small crack in the upper bout that he tried to repair from the outside; nothing has worked to his satisfaction. So after three attempts the back has come off for a repair from the inside out. The crack was small and the veneer had begun to separate. With the back off we can see where the crack had gone through all three layers of plywood, which is why the repair would not hold from the outside. With the back off Lonnie can now make the repair more easily and it gives a great opportunity to inspect the inside if the bass.



The bass looks to be in excellent condition and the bass bar is beautifully fit. We can now get a really good look at the rattle snake rattler inside…its big. Lonnie of course is meticulous going around the edges of the bass repairing the wood splinters and cleaning off the old hide glue. Taking the back off the bass is a lot of extra work but we have found when the bass is repaired properly and the back is tightly re-glued, the bass is really happy.









Lonnie has dreams of some day taking a good sounding vintage bass completely apart and re-gluing the bass with all fresh hide glue just to see if the bass sounds better. For some reason when a bass is properly repaired and all the seams are glued tightly and vibrating in harmony, a bass sounds really good. That would be a lot of silly work but I never put anything past him…vintage, aged tone wood and fresh hide glue…sounds like a marriage in the low end world to me.

Keep checking back. We want to get the Epiphone bass ready for an audition by mid summer and get the King Mortone bass on the table and the repairs underway.



All good things take time.

So many basses, so little time!

The poor 1946 Epiphone B-5 bass keeps getting pushed to the side for other bass projects. What’s the old story about the shoe cobbler’s children had no shoes because the cobbler was too busy making everyone else new shoes! Well its not like I don’t have any basses to play, however there are a lot that I would like to play before I die that are not at the front of the line…1941 Epiphone B-1, 1940 Epiphone B-3, 1937 Kay O-100, 1936 American Standard…I could go on and on whining.

We have every intension of getting the 1946 Epiphone B-5 bass playable by mid-summer (as we already have two prospective buyers)…right now, the new projects are rolling in the door. We did a set up and a Bass Monkey speed neck treatment on a newer Hungarian bass last week. Lonnie prefers to NOT work on new, modern basses but this job seemed reasonable. The gentleman was very nice and really needed to get his bass playable again. The G string was lying on the fingerboard, it needed a new bridge cut for the tall overstand of the bass. It wasn’t a big project, but it pushes everything aside for a short time.

The other bigger project is Popeye! A 1958 King Mortone that is looking for some Bass Monkey TLC. This bass traveled the whole way from Fredericksburg, VA for some love. The bass is playable as is; however the new owners want the full Bass Monkey spa treatment for Popeye. He is named Popeye for the “USN” letters carved in at the button, right above the King decal. This is a very cool bass; Lonnie is excited to get started on the project. He feels the bass has lots of potential. We will give it a full set up with new Thomastik Dominant Solo tuning strings, a new bridge, new ULSA ebony end pin, new tail gut, dress the fingerboard (which is about to pop off from lack of hide glue contact) and a little cosmetic touch up and it will be a real fine player.

It is always fascinating to have two basses to compare side by side. We own a 1935 King Bass and now have the opportunity to compare this more modern, late model, 1958 King to our very early model 1935 King. While there are similarities, there are many differences. The immediate thing that stands out to me is the thickness of the neck. My 1935 has a huge neck made of beautifully flamed maple. The 1958 King neck is more similar to that of an Epiphone. It is meatier then a Kay but a different shape then an Epiphone. And of course there are those super cool King decals…they are so retro.

We need to get some of the spring festivals behind us so Lonnie has time to work on basses. So many basses, so little time. Keep coming back for the latest updates!