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!

What's new...

Howdy All!

Time flies much too fast!

Lonnie and I have been busy with lots of music jams and acquiring even more special Epiphone basses for our collection. The workshop has been pretty quiet but we hope to soon kick it in gear as the winter blahs slowly melt away. Today the temperatures actually went above freezing and we saw some warm sunshine…for a few minutes anyway.

Here is a small sample of a local jam we attend. These recordings were made on an Edirol HR-9 digital recorder. The bass on this recording is our 1937 Kay M-4 named Polly pretty Polly.

http://www.mediafire.com/?544onc9jg7apuqp

http://www.mediafire.com/?gtsrr2iv76d5see

http://www.mediafire.com/?kd44de118btqc2l

(can you tell I like banjo tunes)

Lonnie is getting back to the 1946 Epiphone Blonde B-5 number #811. The saddle was loose so he removed it, cleaned it up, shaped it and it is now back in place with some fresh hide glue. This bass is really clean and has beautiful flamed wood. Once all the repairs are completed and we have it gig ready we hope to offer this bass for sale. We get lots of inquires about our Epiphone basses and if we have them for sale. The answer is normally no, we do not have any we are willing to sell from our collection. I think I’ll stop hording all the Epi’s and let one or two go from my collection this year (maybe…I’ll think about it). My collection of pre-war Epiphone’s purchased for research purposes has grown quite large. I’ll post to our website showroom when we decide to let one go for sale and find a new owner for this fine bass.

In addition to basses Lonnie continues to make his customer order banjo and Dobro picks. He is working on his third custom order for his super size finger picks. And because his craftsmanship and skill has no limits he has been setting up banjos as well. True to form he is modifying banjo bridges and modifying banjo heads. It never ends…show him the standard and he will stretch the boundaries.

Keep checking back…there is always something good going on in the workshop!

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas from the Bass Monkey Workshop.

It has been quiet for a few weeks as there have been lots of activity other then basses and music going on around us. The holiday season is a joyous time to reflect upon how truly fortunate we are to have our health, friends and family. My Papa used to say, “You are a millionaire and don’t know it, if you have your health”. I could not agree more.

We have had some wonderful musical moments this year and have made many new musical friends. Lonnie continues to amaze me with his persistence and craftsmanship. I am amazed by the people who contact us with great appreciation for our love of basses and their documentation of history and restoration. We both love what we do and glad there are folks out there that appreciate our efforts…no matter how small or insignificant we are in the big, wide world of the internet.

Our wishes for all that visit our blog or website; have a wonderful holiday filled with good friends and joyful music. We will do our best to keep you coming back with interesting stories and pictures from the Bass Monkey Workshop.

Merry Christmas to all!
Lonnie & Wendy

Job well done...

The picks have been delivered with smiles all the way around.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSlUux633Wg



Neal was surprised and delighted. He slipped them right on and began to play. I think he played all evening with out a pick flying off his fingers.



Perfect fit!



Now he has to find something new to bitch about because he can’t complain his fingerpicks fly off. I guess now it will be his thumb picks, capo or slide goes missing. The picks looked and played as good as anything professionally made. Lonnie was very satisfied and Neal was all smiles.

Job well done!!!

Now back to basses...