I would like opinions on basses that have old stable repairs; do you leave them alone or try to make them better?
We are getting ready to move on to the next bass in our collection that needs restored. It is (what I think it is) a 1939 unlabeled Kay C-1. At some point in its life it has been painted and retired as a decoration piece (so sad) and is currently unplayable. We plan to strip the paint and give it a new varnish finish.
The dilemma is the neck and back, the repair is solid BUT if you look inside the bass you can see the neck was repaired with a toggle bolt down through the neck into the neck block. A toggle bolt would not be my choice of how to fix a broken neck but there it is. :scowl: Also the back of the bass has been off and reattached with small finishing nails and glue.
We could go the whole way and take the back off, give it a new neck block and new neck or we can leave well enough alone and just refinish it and give it a new set up. Most often your pocket book determines how you approach your repairs. Because we are do it yourselfers and enjoy this process it could be a challenge or it could be a disaster. If we begin to pull the bass apart and find it has been repaired with white glue, epoxy, JB Weld or other mystery glues we could do more damage then good.
This bass was not a big investment and does have a story that it accompanied Grandpa Jones on stage in the 1940s & 1950s but we can not prove any of its legacies (family stories) so it is an old, unlabeled, plywood (junk food) bass that needs brought back to playing condition to be enjoyed. The bass will most likely end up being a bluegrass bass with a life style of jamming and outdoor festivals. I have seen some REALLY rough old Kays that have every form of non-approved repair and they still sound good Of course a racing engine is fast and sounds good just before it blows up opinions welcomed.
We are getting ready to move on to the next bass in our collection that needs restored. It is (what I think it is) a 1939 unlabeled Kay C-1. At some point in its life it has been painted and retired as a decoration piece (so sad) and is currently unplayable. We plan to strip the paint and give it a new varnish finish.
The dilemma is the neck and back, the repair is solid BUT if you look inside the bass you can see the neck was repaired with a toggle bolt down through the neck into the neck block. A toggle bolt would not be my choice of how to fix a broken neck but there it is. :scowl: Also the back of the bass has been off and reattached with small finishing nails and glue.
We could go the whole way and take the back off, give it a new neck block and new neck or we can leave well enough alone and just refinish it and give it a new set up. Most often your pocket book determines how you approach your repairs. Because we are do it yourselfers and enjoy this process it could be a challenge or it could be a disaster. If we begin to pull the bass apart and find it has been repaired with white glue, epoxy, JB Weld or other mystery glues we could do more damage then good.
This bass was not a big investment and does have a story that it accompanied Grandpa Jones on stage in the 1940s & 1950s but we can not prove any of its legacies (family stories) so it is an old, unlabeled, plywood (junk food) bass that needs brought back to playing condition to be enjoyed. The bass will most likely end up being a bluegrass bass with a life style of jamming and outdoor festivals. I have seen some REALLY rough old Kays that have every form of non-approved repair and they still sound good Of course a racing engine is fast and sounds good just before it blows up opinions welcomed.
