Recent content by Groove sifter

Thanks for that confirmation, Steven! Neither of the luthiers who looked at it knew Kay history in this level of detail, so your expertise is definitely appreciated! Really cool to know this information about this instrument--makes the backstory even more interesting for the family lore!

Thanks! I'm pumped!!

This Kay has been in my wife's family for decades and I just became the steward--very excited about it! Based on the serial #, looks to be a very early model ('37?), and the engraved tuner plates make me think it might be an "Alvin Hawes" edition featuring a few extra upgrades (inlayed...

Just following up on this thread I posted a while back to report how it turned out, in case someone has the same question in the future. Short version: Success! The bass was shipped under tension and arrived just as it was (not quite in tune, but close!). Longer version: Maybe it was just...

Well good idea, and glad to be an eventual beneficiary of your knowledge. Appreciate you sharing all of this context!

Beautiful, and very cool idea. Did he recommend using Darkstars for this or was that also something you sought out?

That's fantastic! Different vintage echoes there (and perhaps a bit more wood)! So you had two different LeCompte's with single Darkstars made and then held on to the one that worked best with what you were after?

Well nicely done! I can definitely see the old Fender (51P) vibes now that you put it in that light. Thanks for sharing this (and for taking such good care of it out on Beale all those years!)

That's super cool to know! Thanks for being willing to share that--pretty special pedigree! If there was ever anything recorded with it, I would love to hear it! And that makes perfect sense about the color--of the people who have seen it, some have seen orange, others coral/pink, and others...

Not to make you miss it more, but it's true! FWIW, before this, I had a Gibson Midtown that had a TB Plus (basically a Thunderbird instead of an EB) pickup right up against the neck, and even that was quite muddy (needed the bridge to get any clarity) compared to the neck pickup on the...

Ha! Will do! It does seem like a visit to Mountain and Central time-zone regions is next based on the tour stops so far :) More for the archive! Definitely seems like she's been in some interesting hands. Thanks for the input! I've played that LaBella set in the past and liked them a lot...

"Secret sauce"--sounds like I better give it a good trial run before I mess with it. Thanks for the perspective.

Thanks for this read and reply, michael_t--appreciated! I didn't know TI's had a gold core--told you I didn't know much!

Love the title/spirit of this thread! I'm on board!! Recently picked up a Magnum 1 for a pretty good price from the reputable Bass Shop here in Seattle (it's got a repaired head-stock crack--solid work, but knocks it out of collectable condition and made it affordable for me)--always wanted to...

New to me, anyway! I'm posting here partly in the interests of keeping its archive updated. Turns out this bass has a little bit of a history/presence on TB already--it shows up in the LeCompte Club thread and in some of the Darkstar threads, and there are some old pictures and even a video of...