Epiphone B-4 #1854

We are currently working on a 1953-1954 Epiphone Blonde B-4 number 1854.

This bass has been on the bench for a short time but has been waiting in the wings for almost 2 years. It has interesting history and I feel it was one of the early Epiphone basses to come out of the Philadelphia factory. My history shows Epiphone moved their manufacturing from New York to Philadelphia after a long labor strike in 1953. The serial number being stamped on the end of the fingerboard, I think indicates this was beginning of a new era for the Epiphone bass manufacturing location. According to history, the craftsmen who refused to move from New York to Philadelphia formed the Guild Guitar Company in 1953. With this bass steeped heavily in the Epiphone legacy we are giving it the full Bass Monkey spa treatment WITH the super tuned Lonnie modifications. Over all the bass was in good condition. We found the old end pin was glued into place with a bunch of shims…a pretty poor job of trying to keep the end pin knob in place. After much wiggling Lonnie successfully removed it in preparation for a new ULSA rosewood endpin. The new endpin is a really nice match to the reddish rosewood fingerboard.

Lonnie has become quite impressed with the volume and tone of the 1953 Kay bass we just finished, so he has decided to do the modifications to the bridge and tail piece again. This time he has lightened the bridge even more and hollowed the tail piece. The rock maple tail piece on this bass proved to be more of a challenge then the Kay rosewood tailpiece. The rock maple wood was much harder…we had wood shavings and splinters galore in the workshop. Lonnie has even taken this one step further this time by adding color to the back of the tailpiece to give it the same patina as the front. The goal with his modifications is to keep the bass as original in appearance as possible but bring out the maximum volume and tone…plus he loves the challenge.

This bass is getting the following upgrades:

New rosewood ULSA endpin
Hi-Tec tail gut
Saddle re-shaped
Custom carved, fit and hollowed Despiau Bridge
Sound post refit with an adjustment
The rosewood fingerboard has been dressed and oiled
The nut has been re-shaped
New Thomastik Spirocore mittels (mediums)
The neck has been re-set and shimmed for a tight fit
The edges of the bass have been touched up and colored to match

Even though this bass visually was in great shape we have found ways to improve the playability and make it healthy for the next 50 years or more. This one will soon be completed and ready for a jam. We have been so enamored by the 1953 Kay bass “Vince” that we will need to set it aside and give this bass named “Jethro” some playing time. Yeah...the name Jethro came from a two bass purchase on one road trip…we acquired Homer & Jethro on the same weekend. For all you bluegrass fans…you will remember Homer & Jethro and their silly songs…these names just came from one long car trip where we got a little silly from lack of sleep.

Stay tuned for the final unveiling of Jethro…it is going to be a really nice Epiphone bass for the collection.

Miss Honey Epiphone #674...

Meet Miss Honey…Epiphone #674



Disclaimer: This is NOT our bass!!!

My love for Epiphone basses is no secret. I must have a kindred spirit to Epiphone’s. On a recent festival vacation we found possibly the only Epiphone at the campground and of course we were immediately drawn to it like a moth to a light. Just strolling along we saw the bass in a creative homemade bass stand and Lonnie said I think that is an Epiphone…well we just had to see!

This bass is owned by Dean from Altoona, PA and bless his heart is was a dumpster dive save…Miss Honey has her battle scars but let me tell you…I got to jam late into the morning hours on her and had no complaints…she held down the lowed just fine. Even though this bass was saved from a trash dumpster it has some interesting features…it is suffering from an identity crisis. The tail badge says B-3 but the back with the loop screams B-4 to me. The three piece neck is some what rare on Epiphone’s and the blonde flamed wood is pretty nice condition. Dean pieced her back together…by the way…Dean is one awesome banjo picker and we had a great time at their jam…his handy work has made this bass thump once again. Good Job!

I know this post has nothing to do with The Bass Monkey workshop but I thought is was pretty cool to see this recycled Epiphone bass make music once again…a passion we share with Dean and friends.

Have fun looking at the slide show of Miss Honey…you can recognize this bass any where!!!

http://s318.photobucket.com/albums/mm428/bassmonkey2/Epiphone%20674/?albumview=slideshow

1953 Kay C-1 is now completed!

The 1953 Kay C-1 named “Vince” is finished and sounding great. We went jam camping and to two evening jam sessions and so far the bass is winner. This past Friday was a large open jam with two basses in the house. I and the other bass player were taking turns playing and at one point the guitar player in the corner said…thump on that bass, I can’t hear that other bass…music to our ears!

This bass did not take near as long as the American Standard bass to restore, only a few short months and it would have been even faster if Lonnie had skipped the experimental “super tuning” ideas…but it has all worked out real well. This bass is a real good Kay and I am not in any hurry to see this one go…it can stay in the family for a while.

If you want to see the full slide shows of this bass click on the link below and enjoy!

http://s318.photobucket.com/albums/mm428/bassmonkey2/1953%20Kay%20C-1%20Vince/?albumview=slideshow

Another rescue...

Well…we did it again…rescued another bass…rescue, recycle, restore…we love it!

This is Epiphone bass #1304 a B-4. This bass has been dormant for over 40 years. It was previously owned by a vagabond and given to his trusted friend as keepsake. That trusted friend is now down sizing and found us through a relative. We are happy to add this bass to our Epiphone family.

This bass is suffering from years of dis-use and has the battle scars of a troubled life, but we feel we can breathe new life back into this piece of history. The bass is very dry and the wood has aged way beyond is its 60 plus years of existence. We will put it inline for a full restore with hopes that we can bring this vintage beauty back into playable condition. It maybe a few years before we can hear it sing but our efforts are always rewarded when our basses can make joyful music once again.

Here is a full slide show...enjoy

http://s318.photobucket.com/albums/mm428/bassmonkey2/Epiphone%20B-4%20Levi/?albumview=slideshow

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.