Author Topic: New/Old Bass Day (for my Dad) (Read 1707 times)

edwardofhuncote · « **on:** November 13, 2015, 08:35:19 AM »

I don't have many relatives that play music, just a couple distant cousins and my Dad.

Turns out, my Dad's 1st cousin played bass with a few notables back in the 1950's, George Hamilton IV, and John D. Loudermilk (cousin of the Louvin Bros.) to name a couple. Anyway, he quit playing in the late 1970's... wound the strings down on his old blonde Kay bass, and hung it up for a career in telecommunications.

Ever since I was a kid first showing interest in playing, Dad always talked about his cousin's retired bass, and how he'd like to buy it, and well.. he finally got a chance. His cousin is currently downsizing, and moving into a retirement community, and called the other day asking if Dad was still interested in the old bass.

So we made the trip down to Central North Carolina last Tuesday, and sure enough there it was, still zipped in the old canvas bag. Darn thing is near mint condition, just some very minor scratches to the finish here and there. The fingerboard is deeply grooved though, and will have to be planed. The worst of it - one critical repair is needed. Sometime over the last 40 years, the bass bar has come unglued from the top. Thank goodness the bass was completely de-tuned or the top would have collapsed long ago under tension. As it is, all I have to do is pull the top off and re-glue it. It's a big job, but I should be able to knock it out this weekend.

I'm happy for Pops... I wound up buying out his half of an Englehardt bass we bought halfsies a couple years ago. He won't be needing that one anymore I guess. =)

I'll post some more pictures along the way, but here's a teaser.

Oh, almost forgot this detail - under that natural blonde finish, the sides and back are some beautiful birdseye maple laminate... just like a certain Alembic bass under construction now.

richbass939 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 14, 2015, 08:12:57 AM »

It reminds me of an Englehardt, blond, bass I owned in the 70s. A friend brokered its sale for me sometime in 1978. I really enjoyed that bass even though I didn't really know what I was doing, playing-wise.
Rich

mtjam · « **Reply #2 on:** November 15, 2015, 07:46:53 AM »

Glad to hear your dad was able to get this bass. I'm sure you will get it into shape so the instrument, and your dad, can resume making music!

ed_zeppelin · « **Reply #3 on:** November 16, 2015, 07:29:21 AM »

Garrison Keillor says that string basses are like having elderly parents. They're cranky, don't like the cold and they're difficult to get in and out of cars.

I think a bass bar is an excellent idea.

edwardofhuncote · « **Reply #4 on:** November 17, 2015, 05:57:24 AM »

Well, we finally got some decent weather here in the mountains, so instead of working on Dad's new/old bass, I spent the entire Saturday & Sunday raking leaves. AND I'M DONE!!!

The bass was *really* dry anyway, so it's had about a week to acclimate. I'll ease the top off tonight and re-glue that bass bar. Meanwhile, Dad took the old brass tuning machines home and polished them... sound familiar? =)

sonicus · « **Reply #5 on:** November 17, 2015, 06:35:14 AM »

This is a great project!
I remember back in the early 1990's I did a restoration of a 3/4 size instrument made in the UK in 1947. It required reattaching the neck to the body and repairing a gash on the side. I did that project in my old apartment after my girl friend moved out which soon became the workspace for this labour of love type restoration. An old violin luthier became my advisor and restoration guru durring the process. I took about 8 months to do the work my self. I took some pictures in the process with my 35-MM film SLR . I need to scan those images and make digital images so that I can share them . Some of the methods used were a bit unorthodox but got the job done and were actually esthetically not offensive. The instrument played well and looked OK . I sold it in 2006.

Wolf

dtothec · « **Reply #6 on:** November 17, 2015, 07:25:28 AM »

That is a beautiful bass, i love the color. I started out on the upright bass and no one would believe this, but the one sedan that it would fit in with doors closed and windows up was a Volkswagen beetle. We had a 1978 and my bass teacher at the time showed me how to do it. You should have seen people's faces when they'd watch me do it, it would freak them out. I still have that bass it's a 1957 American Standard. If you look in the f hole of your Kay there should be a sticker with Kay and a number. You can use that number and go on line and find out what year it was made.

edwardofhuncote · « **Reply #7 on:** November 17, 2015, 08:47:06 AM »

Yessir, this one is an M1-B, with ink-stamped serial number 257XX this one dates to 1951. However, it doesn't have a paper label. The most probable reason being, it was made by Kay for another retailer, in this case Sears. Dad's cousin told us he bought it in 1953 with money from a paper route.

I carried mine in a VW for several years and it worked okay, but it left very little room for dates. In retrospect, that might be one reason I had very few second dates. I knew a professor of music who had to carry his old Kay around in a Mercedes. To make it fit, he had the scroll sawed off, and fixed a lag screw so when he got to a gig, he would just screw the scroll back on. =)

ed_zeppelin · « **Reply #8 on:** November 17, 2015, 09:11:04 AM »

That reminds me of something I saw years ago, a great show called Leo Kottke: Home and Away on PBS. Here is the transcript:

http://www.guitarmusic.org/kottke/gh&a1.html#end

quote:This is where guitars go when they've been bad, or weren't any good to begin with. This one [indicates the one he is holding] threatens to find a home there. It began its life in a car wreck. It was split open laterally. It was crushed from here to here [points at nut and then at 12th fret]. So the body's been stitched back together, and it was rebuilt by John Lunburg, of Lunburg Guitars in Berkeley, and he put a 28-inch scale on this guitar, which is from here to here [measures the length], which makes it about that much longer [indicates first four frets] than a standard guitar. As a result, it's just about unplayable, which is the beginning of the feud with thing.

I put my foot through it here [points to side of guitar] one night in Boston, I stepped in the back of it here [points to back of guitar] before going on in London about 10 years ago. This tape [points to tape covering hole] is wonderful tape, it has more to recommend it than the guitar does...lasted all this time.

It's no longer a 12-string, it's now a 10-string. I sawed the end off it here [points to top of headstock] so it would fit in a normal case. The end result is a guitar that's marginally more playable than when I got it. Despite all of that, I'm still disturbed by this instrument. I think it's gonna find a home here with the rest of these...misbehavers.

edwardofhuncote · « **Reply #9 on:** November 20, 2015, 05:57:04 AM »

Got the top off and re-glued the bass bar last night. The neck and tailblock, as well as the corner blocks glue joint came apart easily with the hot knife, but I have some minor veneer separations to fix before putting the top back on... that old dry plywood was just so brittle on the edges. Nothing a little titebond and clothespins won't fix.

Here she is, glued and firmly clamped. (yes, I cleaned up the excess after this picture was made)

sonicus · « **Reply #10 on:** November 20, 2015, 06:26:45 AM »

Gregory , Are you using any hide glue ? I remember once making a purchase of some in the granular form for my own preparation . I also found some Titebond liquid hide glue . What Titebond version are you using ?

Wolf

edwardofhuncote · « **Reply #11 on:** November 20, 2015, 06:48:55 AM »

I just use plain old Titebond wood glue on these laminated basses Wolf. Titebond does make a bottled hide glue, but it's usually out of date on the store shelves, and is notoriously unreliable for musical instrument repair once it gets old. For some of the finer basses and guitars that occasionally come my way, I have a small glue pot, and mix a batch of the granular hide glue one job at a time. The luthier I used to study under would often joke he needed to get me off the bottle and on the pot. (there's probably a better joke in it, but frankly, sniffing hide glue just isn't worth it - ask anybody!)

sonicus · « **Reply #12 on:** November 20, 2015, 07:09:47 AM »

When I first learned about making a glue pot with the granular stuff I suddenly became totally overwhelmed of the whole process of me attempting the repair as a complete novice. Somehow with the old luthiers coaching I made it through and was still a novice upon completion and still remain the such with just a bit more skill . As a result of my endeavor however I acquired even more respect and total awe for the craftsman such as yourself who can do this work for a living.

Wolf

edwardofhuncote · « **Reply #13 on:** November 20, 2015, 10:49:09 AM »

Awww, shucks... Thanks Wolf, but I'm a hobbyist at best, and a cousin to Cletus D. Hack on other days.

More later... wait'll you guys see the jig I use to clamp this top back onto Dad's bass! Oh, and I ordered a new set of strings for it... Innovation Golden Slaps are Dad's favorite... $169. (OWWW!)

richbass939 · « **Reply #14 on:** November 22, 2015, 09:36:46 AM »

When I had my blond Englehardt 3/4 in the '70s I used to carry it in my Ford Pinto. I would fold the front passenger seatback forward, put the bass's bottom in the back seat behind the driver, and the head would fit perfectly where the passenger's knees would be. The bass and driver (nobody else, though) would fit very well. I very seldom took it any place so it wasn't too much of a pain.
Rich

(Message edited by richbass939 on November 22, 2015)