Dennis,
Regarding who built your Masi number B8001B I can tell you one thing that may not be true, but it wouldn't surprise me if it turned out to be true eventually. Once you find out who built it your mind is going to want to know more. I think Jim Allen or Ted Kirkbride can tell you for sure who built it since it was built during the second quarter of 1980 and was the first frame built during that time. I think that frame may have been built by Ted Kirkbride. Possibly Dave Moulton but I think that may be just a bit too early for that. Pretty sure that was before Dave Tesch was building them. Once you get the final answer and you stick around the list a while you may get a feel for some of these people since two of them are listmembers. You might find that the more you know about the builder the deeper your appreciation will become for your bike. That is why many who are original owners of Confentes feel like they do about them. His passion was evident; and if you knew how rewarding it is and how proud a framebuilder feels to have made such a thing for someone; I don't think one could help feeling a deeper pride in owning the product of someone elses dedication and skill. Learning more equals feeling more I think. Regardless of who built it, they are great people, every one of them. I'm proud to know them; and I don't even have the bike.
I can tell you who put the decals on (if it has original paint). That would also be listmember Jim Allen. He has been the official Masi painter since about 1978. Again, you simply can't meet any more sincere and dedicated people in any business. Jim Allen elevated ALL of the So. Cal. painters to a new level with his techniques and paint formulas either directly or indirectly. If you didn't pick it up from being around Jim Allen then you got it from me. His contribution to bike painting was HUGE.
There now, don't you feel at least a little bit better about that beauty? If you knew these people like I do, I promise you would have a whole new perspective on that frame to enjoy.
Brian Baylis
La Mesa, CA