Steady progress on the King Mortone...

It’s been a busy weekend with lots of good stuff. 

While I worked away cleaning house on a beautiful Saturday afternoon Lonnie worked away in the workshop.  He got the paper thin shims made in the morning and did the final dry fit for the neck in the afternoon.   He had difficulty getting the neck set on center so after much back and forth he trimmed the neck block.  This worked well and he was able to get the neck to fit nicely on center.  He glued the shims to the neck joint (while I was cleaning windows so I have no pictures).  Then later in the day he was able to glue up the neck and let it set overnight. 

On Sunday he worked on the nut and fingerboard.  The fingerboard is a good one, after some scraping Lonnie’s tool got hot and his fingers got tired.  He said the fingerboard is one hard *%$! #!* and that’s a good thing.  That means it is either ebony or really hard rosewood.  Either way the fingerboard has lots of life in it and can take many more dressings.  Now that the neck is set, the nut glued in place the fingerboard dressing started it won’t be too long until he moves onto the set up.  It feels like every project takes longer then it should…but then again it takes as long as it needs to suit Lonnie’s high standards.

Working to get the neck on center at the dry fit stage

The smallest details, a small shim at the bottom of the dove tail

The neck glued and drying for 24 hours

Popeye at rest...

Here is a little video I played around with today!

Even more rain and the Mortone...

Here we are…and it is still raining.  This will be the most rain we have had in one year since they began to keep records in the 1800’s.  The air is humid and the ground is saturated.  Getting the layers of oil tinting to dry has been a bear.  For the most part the edges are finished and look as good as they should for a bass of this age.  We go for a nice clean look with out being too perfect.  The bass needs to look its age.  Not like Joan Rivers where it does not look natural.

Lonnie is starting the “dry fit” for the neck.  This is where he makes small paper thin shims to apply to the neck joint to get a good tight fit.  While I was making supper I could hear the belt sander running and running.  He gets the shims so thin he almost sands the tips of his fingers.  Getting the neck adjusted and centered on the bass is a critical step.  If the neck is out of alignment the nut to bridge to saddle will be out of center.  He takes great care to measure from FF hole and side to side to get the neck on center.  All of these little things add up to the ease and playability of the bass.  We try to achieve a nice buttery playing bass that sounds good and looks even better.

Lonnie is satisfied that the edges look good but not too perfect.  This seems like a good stopping point to move on to the neck reset

He cleaned the wood a second time just to be sure all the lumps and bumps of glue were gone.

The beginning of the dry fit for the neck.  He is working on a good tight joint which requires small paper thin shims be made and attached with hide glue.  The super thin shims will make for a good tight neck joint.

The King Mortone...

The rain has stopped…Finally!

The edge work continues.  Layer by layer the new wood melts into the old wood.

The bottom of the bass looking the way it did before our work began.

 

 

The edge work before the color was applied

The way the edges look now.  Not completely done but getting closer

All the edges are beginning to blend nicely

The view from here looks pretty nice!

 Popeye will be looking fit and healthy before you know it. 

Keep checking back.

More rain and the Mortone Bass

It is raining once again with lots of thunder and lighting…will it ever stop?

We have had so much rain it feels good to get back to the basses for a distraction.  Our area had 12” of rain in one day with flooding all around us.  Fortunately we are fine, the house is fine and all the basses are safe.  We were lucky, some folks around us were not as lucky.

The King Mortone is coming along and looking good.  Lonnie has been careful to slowly build the layers of color around the edges.  If you try to go too dark to fast you end up with dark, muddy opaque edges.  The idea is to build the color slowly with transparent layers of color.  This gives a better vintage appearance with out a painted look.  You need to let the oil colors dry slowly, a coat a day is about as fast as you want to go.  The weather is to change to dry and cool.  This will help speed up the drying process.  Once Lonnie gets all the cosmetic touch up work done he will reset the neck.  Then things come together pretty quickly because he gets excited.

Stay tune for updates.

Rain and the Mortone...

In the words of Del McCoury…

Rain please go away
C
Leave me alone come another day
G C
My love is gone this time to stay
D7 G
Rain please go away

Whew!  8 inches of rain and its still coming down.  We might need the basses to turn into canoes.  We are on target to have more rain then 1972 Agnes flood.  We really need some sunshine.

The work on the King Mortone continues.  Layers of color are being applied and the edge repairs are slowly becoming invisible.  

Progress is slow and steady!

King Mortone edge details...

While the neck is off it is a good time to work on the edge details. Lonnie has repaired all the chipped edges and they are ready for tinting with color. This process takes layers and layers of artist oil colors thinned for color tinting the edges to match the vintage finish. He also cleans off all the marks in the finish, on this bass it was some scuffs and paint marks. Lonnie has a method that work very well for cleaning and polishing the surface…I can not give away all his tricks!

The edges have the first layer of color which is a light orange. To end up with the nice vintage orange brown patina will take some patience and drying time. If the weather stays dry and the humidity low he can usually put one coat on a day. Some of the original, double black pin stripe with the gold center is missing from the lower back bout. It will be interesting to see how he “fakes” in that detail.

Stay tuned.

King Moretone...

The work continues on the King Moretone. The neck and neck block have been cleaned of all the old glue (some of it not hide glue) and are ready to be re-fit. While the neck is off the bass Lonnie is taking advantage of being able to lay the bass on its top. This makes it easier to repair the edges on the back. Once Lonnie is all done with building up the edges and adding color the chipping will disappear. Sweet!