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Author
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Topic: Bob Stone's "new" 1930's Bakelite
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Gerald Ross
Member From: Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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posted 07 February 2004 09:31 AM
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I'm posting this photo for Bob Stone.I'll let Bob elaborate. Bob?... 
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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
[This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 07 February 2004 at 09:33 AM.]
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Mike Neer
Member From: NJ
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posted 07 February 2004 10:38 AM
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Drool.... |
Bob Stone
Member From: Gainesville, FL, USA
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posted 07 February 2004 11:24 AM
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First, thanks Gerald for posting the photo for me. Having recently purchased a similar guitar, Gerald has joind the ranks of proud Bakelite Ric owners. I horsetraded Gainesville, FL dealer Mike Bouleware for this guitar about 2 years ago. Well, maybe more like 3 years. He had it hanging on the wall of his Pro Frets store (since defunct). There were no tuning keys, the volume control knob and decorative chrome plate was missing. The other deco plates were heavily dinged and the chrome was bad. The pickup was totally dead. The body had some pretty significant gouges and scratches. There was at least one mud dabber nest in a body cavity. Using a hammer and a file, Jim Heiser, a local metalsmith and hot rod builder, made a new deco plate and took the dings out of the other plates. Texan Wayne Tanner, whom I connected with through this Forum, helped me get the parts chromed and magnetized the picup using a rig that short circuits a car battery. Meanwhile, I polished the Bakelite up by hand, working through grades of sandpaper and finishing with Simichrome Polish. I reamed out the holes in the headstock ever so slightly (a previous owner had already started) and installed a set of white button Klusons. Well, it looked great, but still didn't sound quite right. Some of the strings emitted irritating "wolftones." Palm harmonics were weak. Cut to the chase. Following a New Year's resolution to get this baby performing optimally, I shipped the pickup assembly to Rick Aiello and the rest of the guitar to Bill Creller. They worked miracles. Rick found the magnet strengths to be something like 50% of spec and charged them up. Whatever Bill did fixed the irritating string noises. The round Bakelite knob is not original. I picked it up at the Orlando Vintage Guitar Show a couple of weeks ago. Now I own the greatest sounding guitar I have ever heard. Well okay, tone is subjective. But this baby just oozes tone. It's loud, it sustains and it is so clear and sweet. (I have a '56 Stringmaster double too.) I can't say enough about the work Rick and Bill did. They are experts and perfect gentlemen. Now I have a great guitar and the satisfaction of having saved it from a life of wallhanging or--I shudder to think--worse. I strongly recommend that any owner of a vintage horeshoe pickup Ric get in touch with Ric Aiello to get the pickup magnetized up to original specs. If you haven't yet done that, you are probably missing out on 10 to 50% of your instrument's potential! Hard to believe because it already sounds so good? You'll see. Thanks again Ric Aiello and Bill Creller. And thanks to Bob for hosting the Forum and to Gerald for posting the pic.
[This message was edited by Bob Stone on 07 February 2004 at 11:29 AM.] [This message was edited by Bob Stone on 07 February 2004 at 11:31 AM.]
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HowardR
Member From: N.Y.C.,N.Y.
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posted 07 February 2004 11:38 AM
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The pride of Alachua County....  |
Jon Light
Member From: Brooklyn, NY
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posted 07 February 2004 11:45 AM
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quote:
I horsetraded Gainesville, FL dealer Mike Bouleware for this guitar about 2 years ago. Well, maybe more like 3 years.
Couple of more years and that horse is dog food but look what you have to show for it!
Nothing like a man happy with his steel geetar. |
Bob Stone
Member From: Gainesville, FL, USA
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posted 07 February 2004 12:14 PM
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Actually Jon that "horse" was a beautiful National New Yorker, really clean. It had magnificent harmonics, but the overall tone didn't compare to my Ric or Fender. I actually got some cash plus the Ric when I traded the Nash. |
Rick Aiello
Member From: Berryville, VA USA
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posted 07 February 2004 12:16 PM
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 quote:
The pride of Alachua County
Small world ... I went to UF's College of Pharmacy. Lots of fond memories ... if I could only remember them  ------------------
www.horseshoemagnets.com |
HowardR
Member From: N.Y.C.,N.Y.
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posted 07 February 2004 02:12 PM
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Yep, I did a year in Gainesville....school, not prison.I left my "Grand Funk Railroad" album there, somewhere.....Bob, if it turns up, please let me know... |
Rick Aiello
Member From: Berryville, VA USA
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posted 07 February 2004 02:34 PM
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quote:
Yep, I did a year in Gainesville....school, not prison
My uncle is a "life-er" at Raiford  |
Ian McLatchie
Member From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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posted 07 February 2004 02:54 PM
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I just want to add to what Bob says about Rick Aiello. On Bob's recommendation, I recently sent the pickups form my Silver Hawaiian and B6 off to Rick for recharging. Forum readers will know that Rick recently became the proud papa of baby #3; my pickups reached him, I think only one or two days after the birth. Nonetheless, the very day he received them he not only did all the work on them, but sent me a lengthy email detailing all the work he'd done and the results. It's been some years since I had a newborn of my own, but I certainly don't recall having either the time or the energy that Rick seems to so soon after the blessed event! I can't wait to pop those babies back into the guitars and hear the fruits of Rick's labor. Now if I can only find a beat-up Rick like Bob got, maybe I can justify buying one of Rick's H-Shoes to put in it. 630 gauss - whew! Thanks again for your generosity, Rick. As for you, Stone, try not to get so hung up on playing with your new toy that you forget to take advantage of that 80 degree weather (you just can't resist sticking that knife into my frost-encased ribs, can you?).[This message was edited by Ian McLatchie on 07 February 2004 at 02:55 PM.] |
Andy Volk
Member From: Boston, MA
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posted 07 February 2004 06:20 PM
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To quote Jed Clampet, "Whoo doggie!".
Congratulations, Bob. I miss my Bakelite. Sniff. |
Ian McLatchie
Member From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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posted 08 February 2004 07:39 AM
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Yeah, you actually parted with one of these things, didn't you, Andy? On hearing that I remember asking if you should be committed for your own protection. May another enter your life at the first garage sale or flea market you happen upon ("Fifty bucks for this old thing? I just wouldn't feel right taking that much, but I'll let you have it for ten.").
[This message was edited by Ian McLatchie on 08 February 2004 at 08:03 AM.] |
Bill Creller
Member From: Saginaw, Michigan, USA
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posted 08 February 2004 09:37 AM
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Andy, you just gotta get another bakelite!! Then you can be dry-eyed!
BILL |
Andy Volk
Member From: Boston, MA
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posted 08 February 2004 04:14 PM
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Yeah, kind of ironic. I sold the Bakelite 'cause I was playing with a band and thought a Stringmaster would be more give me more options. Now the band is history. Nevertheless, the Bakelite never sounded so hot to me and I also found the string height to require a lighter touch than I have so it was definitely a love/hate relationship. All this was just a few months before the Ailello solution presented itself. who knows what might have been? But a Stringmaster has a beautiful sound too. Too many guitars and not enough time or money. Sigh. |
Jeff Strouse
Member From: Jacksonville, Florida, USA
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posted 08 February 2004 05:17 PM
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Great looking steel, Bob! I'd love to hear it! I know it sounds absolutely OUTSTANDING, because Rick did a fabulous job bringing my Bakelite T-Logo 7 string back to life. Mine was also without volume and tone knobs, and he wired some new ones in for me. The only thing I need now is new plates. I can't tell you how good this guitar sounds now...Wow - what a difference! He did such a good job on my tired magnets, next, I think I'm going to have Rick zap me with his 40,000 ampere capacitor discharge electromagnet, in hopes that, among other things, I'll no longer need this prescription for Viagra.  I did some time in Gainesville too...in fact I'm even a gradumate of F.U...woops (typo), I mean U.F. I was on the six year plan when I was there. Howard would that make us alumni or alumnuses??!
Best to Bob and Rick on their "newborns"!!!!
[This message was edited by Jeff Strouse on 08 February 2004 at 09:40 PM.]
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Terry Farmer
Member From: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
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posted 08 February 2004 10:06 PM
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Beautiful job on that steel, Bob. The guy that refurbished your metal plates is obviously a master craftsman. I'm well aquainted with Rick and Jason's work also. Their craftsmanship, attitude, customer service and ingenuity are absolutely second to none. |
Bob Stone
Member From: Gainesville, FL, USA
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posted 09 February 2004 07:04 AM
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Thanks guys. I'm really enjoying my Ric.Interesting to hear of your Gainesville connection too Howard. Is there any New Yorker who doesn't have a Florida connection? (I was born in New Rochelle. We moved to Miami in 1952 when I was 8). And Rick, an uncle in Raiford. Hope you are kidding. Last year I played reso with my buddy Charlie and a group from a Catholic church at Union Correctional in Lake Butler, a few miles from Raiford. I was depressed for several days thereafter, so don't think I'll be going back. In many north FL counties you have two choices: work at a prison or be an inmate. What a country.
Aubrey Ghent used to be a prison chaplain in S. FL. He would sometimes bring his steel and play. As you might imagine, the inmates loved it. Jailhouse rock! At the Orlando vintage guitar show a couple of weeks ago the dealer below had a Bakelite Ric with 1.5" pickup, 2 knobs, and chrome plates, frets NOT outlined in white, in excellent condition. I didn't play it and am not familiar with this dealer. His asking price was $1,1000, but you know about asking prices. Tim Kummer www.kummersvintage.com
954-752-6063. He's from Coral Springs, FL, a little north of Ft. Lauderdale. When I left the show late Saturday he had not sold it yet... Happy hunting[This message was edited by Bob Stone on 09 February 2004 at 07:15 AM.] |
Ron Whitfield
Member From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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posted 09 February 2004 11:41 AM
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I hope someone is documenting all the details of the success stories concerning Bill Creller, Rick Aiello, and Jason Lollar's efforts in recreating a 'lost' era in steel guitar(and more). My hat's off to them. With their individual and pooled talents, they are breathing new life into guitars and a traditional profession, once thot(almost) dead, thanx gentlemen! Having seen pristine examples of Bill's restoration work on variously hurting vintage Rix here on Oahu, and now Bob's 'phoenix' steel, it's obvious these guys have pulled off what most of us thot was a lost cause, and it's a modern marvel for Rickenbaker lovers. I'm actually bummed my B8 is doing just fine. Now, if we could get 'to spec' repros of the great old Carvin PUs(8 str.), my life would be perfect. ~~~ The Stella and Audiovox steels at Kummers look fun. Anyone have experience with either of these models?[This message was edited by Ron Whitfield on 09 February 2004 at 11:45 AM.] |
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