Bought a King Mortone Today... Is the ASB database still going?

coreysnipes · #1 06-20-2009, 07:00 PM

I went to the shop to pay off my rental this morning, and found they had this beautiful scrappy King Mortone fresh on the display rack. As if on queue, my bass instructor appeared in the shop that very moment on an errand of his own, so he helped me look it over and figure the pros and cons of buying my rental (a Palatino in good shape), or the Mortone. Something about the Mortone felt really classy, and I fell in love with it, so home we went.

As it turns out, it sounds even better with new strings, and I'm 1000% happy with my purchase. I was very pleased to find the American Standard Bass database, and was able to put a date on mine (#475, made in 1936 or so). I tried to email Kip via the site, but the email address appears to be unattended, and his personal site isn't up either. Anyone know if he's still maintaining it? Some of the most recent updates look like early 2006.

http://www.americanstandardbass.com/kingData1.html

Jazzman · #2 06-20-2009, 09:01 PM

Congrats! I love those HN White basses.

Ike Harris · #3 06-20-2009, 09:11 PM

Kip tends to change email fairly often for whatever reason and I don't seem to have the latest in my inbox. Maybe he will check in before long on TB and get your request. These are high quality instruments made for professional use as well as school and military applications in the old HN White factory in Cleveland. Enjoy the bass!

Ike

D McCartney · #4 06-20-2009, 09:34 PM

Palatino vs a King Moretone? Hmmm, let's see.

Congrats on scoring a great instrument.

marcox · #5 06-20-2009, 10:40 PM

I've got a 1940 American Standard I'm itching to add to the database, too. Hope it comes back to life at some point.

shadygrove · #6 06-20-2009, 11:12 PM

Congratulations !!! Talk about being in the right place at the right time. That made my day just hearing about someone going in to pay off a Palatino and walking back out with a classic bass like that. I love those old King basses ! Pictures please

tomshepp · #7 06-21-2009, 07:19 AM

Yeah, let's see it!

coreysnipes · #8 06-21-2009, 08:01 AM

Thanks everybody! I'll get some pics up this week.

Phil Rowan · #9 06-21-2009, 08:58 AM

Nice choice!

Jake deVilliers · #10 06-21-2009, 11:59 AM

Nice find Corey, and a good choice!

Steve Swan · #11 06-21-2009, 01:44 PM

You passed up the Yugo and got the Toyota Camry. Stand tall and proud. You've got a very nice bass there!

Hammertime3 · #12 06-21-2009, 05:48 PM

I never had any luck getting my 40 AS on his database..I heard he was now in Florida, not in Leesburg, Va. I talked to him when he played closeby a couple of years ago, sent him pix and text, but it never appeared. From what Roger Stowers says, he got Kip started on this venture, but apparently he pays little or no attention to it. It hasn't changed in quite some time so don't be surprised if you have no luck...but good luck!

M Ramsey · #13 06-23-2009, 04:45 AM

Morning all,

After reading this thread yesterday, I contacted Kip via Facebook and got this reply last night:

---------------------------
hey mike

feel free to post this on talkbass...

i am behind. i have excuses, but should have not slipped behind so much . i have been touring non-stop AND trying to handle a day job. plus, frontpage went away (i was used to that and hate dreamweaver) and tranfered my life over to a Mac. i have to relearn web site management.

i will have it done by the end of summer with approximately 300 new basses.

i can be reached at kipmartin@hotmail.com and welcome any suggestions or tutoring on how to quickly get the site updated with my new computer platform.

thanks!

kip
--------------------

BTW, Kip was (and I think still is) in the Nashville area.

I hope this helps. I also hope Kip can get the site updated, since there's very little other info available about these fine basses.

MollyKay · #14 06-23-2009, 06:55 AM

Hey Big Mike!

Thanks for the clarification…coming from you we know the information is accurate.

I’ll contact Kip at the e-mail below to offer help…not sure I can be of any help…but I can at least offer.

To all…the sites that Roger Stowers at Kay Bass and Kip Martin for American Standard/King Bass started and maintain are not commercial sites. They don’t try and sell you anything or ask for donations. Their website, research and time are all offered for free to anyone who is interested. I state this obvious fact because this is a HUGE service they provide to the bass community…for FREE.

If I look back at older threads here at TB there are folks that came here to seek information about their plywood, student grade basses. Most of those questions are now redirected towards these two sites and folks can pretty much be self serve for the information. If you look back at the voting competition for the “fugliest bass”, their were some TB members with American Standards that were not previously identified until Kip’s site and serial number listing.

So while we grumble about the sites being static or the information not being updated…remember…these are FREE websites and it does cost the webmaster an annual fee to host them. If either of these two men decided to pull the plug on their websites we would really have something to complain about. In most cases the “genie” of information is out of the bottle, but think how many people do a search for a Kay bass on a daily bases. If they don’t find what they are looking for they are bound to stumble onto this site and then the TB community has to answer the same questions for the 3,000’s time (yawl do enough of that now).

I’ll get off my soap box now but be sure to let Roger and Kip know how much we appreciate their efforts. They have single handedly elevated the respect for American made plywood basses…to which I am very grateful and appreciative.

Okay…I feel better now.

Jake deVilliers · #15 06-23-2009, 09:53 AM

Thanks for the reminder Wendy - its easy to forget how costly 'free' information is to the people providing it!

coreysnipes · #16 06-23-2009, 10:59 PM

Thanks for connecting with Kip... his efforts (and Roger's) to pull all that historical information together and get it online is a huge service to the community and the history of these instruments. I've done a little website volunteering myself, and it can be a lot of work. I'll email him and see if I can help out in some way.

Thanks for all the positive notes, too. It sounds like I made the right choice. Here are some photos. The body and finish are a bit rough, but it feels solid and sounds great. There are definitely some non-original parts; e.g., the twisted wire on the tailpiece.

coreysnipes · #17 06-23-2009, 11:01 PM

Scroll + some creative wiring on the tailpiece...

coreysnipes · #18 06-23-2009, 11:05 PM

I suppose I'll run out of attachment space in a minute... Ok, yep there's the limit. I'll post the little "bondo bodywork" pic when I figure out how to get a few more photos on here. Here's the back.

Gearhead43 · #19 06-23-2009, 11:15 PM

Beauty. Should have that coathanger wire swapped out for stranded steel cable or something like the Upton Hi-Tec Tailgut.

That's the same model of bass that the great Mr. Willie Dixon himself played, I am very envious.

coreysnipes · #20 06-24-2009, 12:11 AM

Whew, 500k sure fills up fast. Here are more photos of the bass, on flickr.