Coming Full Circle

The Bass Monkey workshop remains QUIET and now I know why.   

There has been a storm brewing for a while.  I could not put my finger on it; earlier this year we were busy with a kitchen remodel and spring festivals.  By the end of May Lonnie was still not in the workshop.  I did not understand or question why.  Maybe a mid life crisis, maybe he needed a break from basses, maybe there was something going on in that complex brain of his.  The first weekend in June it all came pouring out.  Just like a light switch flipping on he declared…after 17 years…it was time to make his first love a priority again.  NO!  Not another woman, his first love is his 1967 Mustang car.   

This car is his first car bought for him at age 16 by his Mom and Dad.  He began to drive it a few days after he turned 16.  The car was his daily driver in high school with the original dark green metallic paint and a black vinyl top.  By his late teens he took it off the street to drag race every weekend at the local US 30 drag strip.  Lonnie was interested in cars morning, noon and night.  When he was not working in the garage on his car, he was working overtime at his job to buy parts to make the car go faster.  
   

1974-1975 as a daily driver

After some success at the drag strip he cranked it up a notch with modification to the engine and frame, a new paint job of blue and silver, custom graphics and a new custom matching car trailer.  His car was the bomb!  It was smooth, fast and looked good going down the drag strip.  This car was a reflection of his craftsmanship, persistence and endless hours of labor.   And then the drag strip closed.  Just like that, no place to race.  With the paint barely dry from the second incarnation he tore it all down, AGAIN, right to the bare frame.  

1979-1980 drag strip ready with tow bar installed

This time (the third time) it was to full fill a dream from 6^th grade when the teacher asked the class to write a short story about what they dreamed at night.  Lonnie’s Mom still has the hand written essay saved in a scrapbook.  In brief it tells the story that some day Lonnie wanted a fast car, with big tires, big hood scoop and a crazy bright green paint job with pink and blue pin stripes.  That is pretty exact for a 12 year old boy, but he made his dream come true.   

The begining of the dream car 

New wheels, tires and roll cage installed

The first coats of color; 1979 Fiat Kent green

At the time we met in late 1984 the car was a bare frame hanging from the garage rafters with new big tires and hours of blood, sweat and agony to go.  Meeting and dating Lonnie slowed the pace of the project but he kept at it for seven years…seven LONG years of thousand of hours spent lying on his back fussing over every small detail.  Fabricating NOS rear quarter panels for the new big tires, cutting the floor board to lower the suspension, welding in a roll cage plus all that custom body and paint work.  He did everything himself.  He has never paid a dime to have anything done to the car, it is 100% his dream car, his efforts and his 38 year love/hate relationship.  




All Ford car show the Saturday BEFORE we got married, May 9th 1992. 
Note the missing Mustang emblem in the grill.  The car was not really finished.

May 16th, 1992

Lonnie did not want to marry until his dream car was finished.  He put the final window trim on the rear glass the day of our wedding…that was cutting it a bit close.  His car along with many other cars from family and friends played an important part on our wedding day…which was actually a wedding/car show.  I come from a long line of car enthusiast in my family so this was perfectly fine by me. 

 Lonnie's Mustang, My Father's Ford, Butch's Dodge truck, Mark's Mach I, Glenn's Buick GSX, Ricky's Mustang

The now Pro-Street Mustang named “Green Horsey” was lightly used for car shows, trips around town and cruising for enjoyment.  Until that dark day in May, Memorial Day weekend 1995.  We took a break from a house project (36’x38’ brick driveway that we installed ourselves) and drove the Mustang to attend a picnic at my oldest brother’s house in Virginia, 70 miles from home.  It was a good day, evening was upon us and we were getting ready to drive home.  As we were leaving in the Mustang my brother comes running out into the quiet neighborhood street giving Lonnie the signal to light up the tires, do a smoky burn out.  Now my brother is a nerdy “Road and Track magazine” type of gear head having never worked on, or raced a car in his life.  He was begging to see some smoke and rubber.  Lonnie obliged by smoking the tires and leaving rubber on the road.  He stabbed second gear and then it happen…CLUNK…for the third time since having this car on the road he had broken the rear end.   

The 351 Cleveland engine is strong and hooks up big time to the tall, wide Mickey Thompson tires.  Lonnie knows how to shift the manual five speed Doug Nash transmission…maybe a little too well.  As we raced off in a cloud of smoke we knew something was wrong.  The panic began to set in.  We were 70 miles from home on a holiday weekend and this was before we owned a cell phone.  Lonnie with his stubborn persistence’s tried to limp the car towards home.  The clunk, clunk, clunk got louder.  Then the Mustang gave in, totally broke down, leaving us sitting along the side of the road with day light fading fast.  Neither Lonnie nor I have ever been broken down sitting on the side of the road 50 miles from home.  What do we do now?  We walked to an old fashion minimart and called a close friend from a pay phone.  Mark was generous to drive and meet us with his truck and car trailer in tow.  We are still thankful to this day for his help…but that dark day got even darker.   

The rear tires on the car are huge and the lock down straps in the trailer would not go around the rear tires.  Mark and Lonnie did the best they could to secure the car and we headed for home.  About half way home we heard a bumping sound coming from the car trailer.  We kept going (male pride and testosterone at work again).  We got closer to home and the bumping turned into a banging noise.  We pulled off the road to see what has happened and…here it is, the darkest of night before the dawn…the car was loose in the trailer and has suffered body damage on all four corners.  At that moment I don’t remember what they did but we got the car home, drug it into the garage and there it has been for 17 years and four weeks.  Lonnie was deeply distraught.  His dream car, his pride and joy, his thousands of hours of effort were mechanically broken and the body damage was done.

For years the car was covered sitting in the garage, occasionally Lonnie started the engine to keep the gas fresh and the internal parts moving.  For 17 years we put every other priority in front of that car.  We finished house projects, bicycled across the south while putting 12,000 miles on our tandem bicycle in 5 years, traveled to festivals, played bluegrass music and began to collect and restore upright basses.  Until now, when the light switched flipped on Sunday, 6/3/12 and Lonnie said “What the hell am I waiting for!”  The last four weeks he has dedicated himself to getting his childhood dream car back on the road.  I support his efforts 100%.  He has the body work finished.  The fenders and bumpers are re-painted.  The new rear end is installed and the car is sitting on all four wheels once again.  There is more work to be completed with a new drive shaft, air filters and other minor items.  Now when Lonnie goes out to the garage, you can find him leaning against the workbench just staring at the car.  A vision he has never grown tire of, after 38 years he still loves that car.

The rear end work begins

The body work and new touch up paint.  Lonnie still had the original paint from 25 years ago

For now the basses will wait while the Grease Monkey garage is in full swing instead of the Bass Monkey workshop.  When Lonnie has his dream car back on the road and that boyish grin on his face the Bass Monkey workshop will resume…full swing, totally content.

This is more information then you probably wanted to know about a boyhood dream.  I wanted to document these memories in our life while I can still remember the details and the emotion is fresh.  I admire Lonnie for his persistence, never ending patience and the passion to not lose focus on what makes us happy.  Very few of us still have our first car, mine was a 1969 Buick and not worth remembering. Getting Lonnie’s Mustang back on the road will complete a missing part of him.  A part that was there before I came into his life, before music and basses inspired a different passion for us to explore.

Life is too short…dream big.

Lloyd Loar Mandolins

May 3rd…Really? 

We have been engulfed in a series of house renovation projects and spring festivals.  The workshop has been quiet…much too quiet.  We hope that changes soon, of course that is after we get the garden and flowers planted by Mothers Day. 

Since I really have nothing new to report from the Bass Monkey workshop (though there are plenty of projects piling up) I thought I would share a short video from a recent festival where we were in the presents of seven Lloyd Loar mandolins.  Our love of vintage instruments does not stop at basses.   

The more I know about the other instruments in bluegrass and jazz music the more I want to know.  I love learning about the iconic instruments of the early bluegrass origins.  The Martin guitar, Gibson banjo, Gibson mandolin and of course Kay basses are “THEE” instruments that are highly sought after by bluegrass musician for the classic sound of the early days.   

Lonnie has been watching the resurgence in arch top banjos…which of course, he is totally in love with his Stanleytone arch top banjo…as the arch top has that high treble ring for that classic bluegrass sound.  Extensive research has been completed on the classic Gibson banjo tone ring. Well known banjo maker Steve Huber has spent thousands of hours testing and document the tone rings of pre-war Gibson banjos.   

This past weekend we sat in a workshop for Lloyd Loar mandolins with Tony Williamson of Siler City, NC an authority on Loar's.  It was totally fascinating to have seven Loar’s spread around in a circle and to hear Tony play and explain the differences in each mandolin.  While it was hard to not be overwhelmed by the potential of $100,000’s of thousands of dollars that lay before us, I really listen closely to the differences in the tone of the mandolins.  The back stories that go with each instrument were thoughtfully told by Tony and were just as fascinating.  While my research has been focused on the upright bass I am beginning to broaden my horizons to better understand the big picture of bluegrass music and the important role each instrument makes with every other instrument. 

I hope you enjoy the seven minute video which is a very short portion of the hour long workshop.  Enjoy and we will get back to basses real soon.  We have acquired some interesting project basses in the past few months.  Some are quite rare and from the pre-war era of 1937-1941. 

Super cool stuff!

An 1800's "German Joe" blockless wonder...

Here we are half way through February all ready, where does the time go.  No real snow this winter so we have been keeping busy.  

With the Stanleytone banjo project behind us we took on a small repair project.  An 1800’s fully carved German blockless wonder bass that belongs to a local man.  His wife had the bass completely restored for him in 1996 by a local luthier David Waltersdorf.  Mr. Waltersdorf was a well known violin maker and repair basses on occasion.  He passed away a few years ago and there really has not been anyone locally to pick up bass luthier trade, so we agreed to help out. 

Cleaning out the old hide glue with hot water and a palette knife

This bass has had major work with lots of cleats on the inside, a new neck block and new oil finish.  It is lightly used and the top had begun to pop off.  Lonnie is going to clean out the old hide glue and re-glue the top in place with fresh hide glue.  Hopefully this will bring the bass back to fine playing condition.  These old “German Joe” basses are known to be great basses and the popular choice before American made plywood basses became available in the late 1930’s. 

The lower bout is wavey, this bass has some intresting curves

Big carved scroll and hat peg tuners.  Classic German shop bass

This bass looks pretty good and I am anxious to hear it in top playing form.  Curiously the neck block shape is the bell shoulder that closely resembles the early American Standard basses.  We own a German blockless wonder bass but it does not have the bell shoulders…I love that look.  When Lonnie is finished with this small project I look forward to putting in some playing time before we return the bass to its owner.  It’s a rare opportunity for me to play a fully carved bass.  A real treat, hopefully the other basses won’t get jealous.  In the mean time we need to select the next bass for restoration…hummmmm.  Too many choices.  I would really like to get the 1941 Epiphone  B-5 named Rubin in playing condition…he is going to be an awesome bass with such a colorful past.

Basses, Banjos and Bluegrass...

Happy New Year all! 

Time is flying by, January is half over and we have yet to see any real snow but that is about to change. 

Lots has been going on between some home improvement projects, banjo project, shipping a bass and taking in an old German bass for repairs.  The New Year is off to a busy start…and that’s a good thing. 

We left off with Alan flying his American Standard bass back to Nashville. Next completed venture was the safe shipping and arrival of the divine Miss “M” Martha, the 1942 Kay S-9 which is now living in wine country in California. 

Miss Martha packed and ready for her journey to wine country

Our basses are making out pretty darn good…California, Hawaii, Tennessee all nice spots for vacation or retirement.  We need get about 12 weeks off to drive around the country and visit our bass family. 

The most recent completed project is the Stanleytone banjo.  Lonnie thoroughly enjoyed this project and was thrilled to have two Stanleytone banjos in the workshop for side by side comparison.  The finished banjo looked really great.  It cleaned up well, the new Five star head made it look fresh and clean while the new bridge and strings settled in nicely.  Lonnie took great care to let the head settle in over the course of several days.  It ended up at about a 92 on the drum scale which mirrors his head tension on his Stanleytone.

Lonnie likes to modify the Snuffy Bridge and ended up thinning it out to 1.91 grams.  On the gram scale it takes a small amount of the wood to be removed to make a difference.  He pushed the set up as far as he could go to get that sharp Ralph Stanley mountain sound.  The difference in tone between Stanleytone #9 and #25 are very slight.  Number 9 is a nickel plated with a no hole tone ring while #25 is gold plated, more fancy, a little heavier with embellishments and has a 40 hole tone ring. 

Both banjos were made by Frank Neat and both banjos are about a year a part in manufacture date.  Each banjo being the first of the first fifty Ralph had made for sale.  If you like that mountain sound you will like these banjos.  If you like a more low basses sounding banjo these will sound very twanging.  You either like the sound or you don’t.

Click on the photo for a complete picture slide show 

Here is a side by side listen.  Pick your favorite and post which one you like the most!

Banjo A:

Banjo B:

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

With today being a holiday from work (yes we both have full time jobs) we had a delightful visit with Alan Bartram of the Del McCoury and the Travelin’ McCoury’s.  Alan flew in from Nashville (Southwest, $50 up charge for the flight case) with his flight case to pick up his 1939 American Standard that he auditioned a month ago.  The bass was all tuned and ready to go.  The first few notes were met with an “ahhhhh” it sounds better then I remembered.  Then some serious scales and slapping.  Yep this bass is heading to Nashville, music city USA.   

Ahhhh, those first notes

Some serious scales and slapping

The bass is a keeper.  Smiles all the way around.

Getting packed into the SBS flight case

Ready for that long journey home to Nashville...yeah baby!

Alan said he is working on a banjo album with Robbie right now and borrowed a 1950’s American Standard for the recording session.  He can’t wait to get this bass home so the band can hear his new sound.  He plans to take the bass to the Opry and play on stage…that is so very cool.  I am sure if he runs into Kent “Superman” Blanton, the Opry house bass player they can geek out test driving the American Standard.  Kent is a huge fan of the American Standard basses and maintains the American Standard and King Mortone database and website. 

http://www.amstandard-kingbass.com

 

This was a delightful day and we hope to have a great jam tonight to make it just down right awesome.

Merry Christmas everyone.  This has been a fantastic year for collecting basses, restoring some tired vintage basses, meeting new friends and making some wonderful music.

We look forward to 2012 with great anticipation. 

Wendy & Lonnie

Stanleytone Banjo #25 of the 50 first edition gold plated from 1984

Lonnie spent most of the day Saturday working on the Stanleytone banjo.  He disassembled the banjo so he could clean all the parts and polish the gold plating to a glistening shine.  The banjo was dirty and had a film of dust, dirt, and sweat; it needed a good over all cleaning.  The metal parts cleaned up really well.  The tuners were loose and the tail piece was not adjusted properly. 

As Lonnie reassembled the banjo he put on a new Five star smooth white banjo head.  He is making a custom fit Snuffy Smith bridge by taking the excess wood out of the bridge.  He has a gram scale and knows just about how thin to make them for the best tone.  He keeps checking the head tension to let the new head settle in before he makes too many tweaks.  The banjo has lots of potential; Lonnie will keep playing around until he finds that sweet spot that brings it to life with the classic Ralph Stanley sound.

The banjo before disassembled

Frank Neat (banjo maker) with Ralph's name

The serial number, this banjo was finished 11/19/1984 and is #25 of the first 50 gold plated banjos custom made for Ralph Stanley.

With the resonator back off you can see the 40 hole tone ring and fancy engraving

The outside edge of the resonator.  Fancy Birdseye maple with gold sparkle and ivory binding

Fine engraved tail piece

Top is original bridge that came on the banjo.  Middle is Snuffy Smith bridge before detailing.  Bottom is Lonnie's Bart Veerman red dot bridge...it is a little piece of art.  Beautiful well crafted banjo bridge.

Lonnie at work.  He loves to take something old and make it look as good as new.

The back of the neck with out the tuners.  The banjo is a reddish pink brown.  It is very bright an showy with the gold sparkle resonator binding

After re-assembly.  The new Five star head needs to settle in before final tweaking begins.  The banjo looks so much better cleaned up. 

Popeye is going home…

Today was jubilation day; Popeye is finished and heading home.  The King Mortone restoration took about eight month of on again, off again efforts to get it back into to fine playing condition.  After a nice leisurely visit with Mike and Sharon today, a few thumps on Popeye and a good meal…all is well.  Popeye got the full Bass Monkey treatment and is looking good and sounding great once again. We know he will be appreciated and will make some fine bluegrass music.  It sounds like his first jam will be later this week.  We are anxious to hear how the bass is receipted by the band members.  This was a great bass project for two wonderfully nice people.  

We are moving along to the Stanleytone banjo next.  Stay tuned!