My 14 year old (15 in Dec) son has expressed an interest, aptitude, and desire for learning and developing luthier skills, I am seeking to help him acquire additional knowledge. Some background on his current state; he is presently seated with the Columbus Youth Symphony, the Philharmonic of Central Ohio, is preparing for an audition with the Columbus Youth Jazz Orchestra, and spent a month this past summer at Florida State University on his bass studies.
This past Christmas we acquired for him a 1951 Kay S51 in need of restoration. The plan was to have him work with Jacque Gray, hand in hand, on the restoration over time. I have recently learned however that Jacque’s health is not so good at present and I am not sure this will happen so thought I would throw out the question here to see if anyone might be interested in helping us with this project. We do not need to complete this restoration in a few days or even a few weeks. It may be more of a couple days a month over whatever period it takes. I am not trying to get this done for free, but do have a budget which can be discussed. The ultimate would be that he could use this Kay for his Jazz work (his current bass is set up for his Arco work), or perhaps just be a fun instrument with the pride of knowing he played a part in the restoration.
Some details on the Kay, We found this bass in the Tucson, AZ area and brought it back to Ohio. It is currently playable; the neck has never been broken. At some point it was converted to a 4 string, yet the original tail piece remains on the bass as does the original ebony fingerboard in the “wider” state to accommodate the 5th string. We located and have acquired original 5 string Kluson tuners (a feat in itself) so as to return the bass to a 5 string set up in restoration. No open seams but significant edge wear and someone used a small amount of what appears to be epoxy on the back lower bout to stop the laminate chipping. There is a significant amount of hide glue drips inside the bass; I have seen this before so not certain if this occurred during original mfg. of the bass or just a sloppy repair during its life to date.
We are open to traveling within 7 hours of the Columbus OH area and scheduling one (1) Saturday a month, multiple days during school off time, and/or into summer 2013 to complete the restoration. Would most appreciate any comments, suggestions, and conversation with anyone who might be interested in helping us complete this project.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this post.
This past Christmas we acquired for him a 1951 Kay S51 in need of restoration. The plan was to have him work with Jacque Gray, hand in hand, on the restoration over time. I have recently learned however that Jacque’s health is not so good at present and I am not sure this will happen so thought I would throw out the question here to see if anyone might be interested in helping us with this project. We do not need to complete this restoration in a few days or even a few weeks. It may be more of a couple days a month over whatever period it takes. I am not trying to get this done for free, but do have a budget which can be discussed. The ultimate would be that he could use this Kay for his Jazz work (his current bass is set up for his Arco work), or perhaps just be a fun instrument with the pride of knowing he played a part in the restoration.
Some details on the Kay, We found this bass in the Tucson, AZ area and brought it back to Ohio. It is currently playable; the neck has never been broken. At some point it was converted to a 4 string, yet the original tail piece remains on the bass as does the original ebony fingerboard in the “wider” state to accommodate the 5th string. We located and have acquired original 5 string Kluson tuners (a feat in itself) so as to return the bass to a 5 string set up in restoration. No open seams but significant edge wear and someone used a small amount of what appears to be epoxy on the back lower bout to stop the laminate chipping. There is a significant amount of hide glue drips inside the bass; I have seen this before so not certain if this occurred during original mfg. of the bass or just a sloppy repair during its life to date.
We are open to traveling within 7 hours of the Columbus OH area and scheduling one (1) Saturday a month, multiple days during school off time, and/or into summer 2013 to complete the restoration. Would most appreciate any comments, suggestions, and conversation with anyone who might be interested in helping us complete this project.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this post.
