WOW, says bassist14, owner of two ´39er kaysThe stripes were hand painted with Winsor & Newton lamp black artist oil paint thinned with a little Waterlox to make it flow out nicely, a thin paint brush, a steady hand, great eyes and 35 years of skill and experience. Everything needed to paint pinstripes can be purchased at a craft store…but the skill…that takes dedication, patience and persistence. There is no secret or substitute for just doing it…it is the only way to learn and acquire these skills.
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Double Bass Rare Kay TV-1 Bass
- Thread starter MollyKay
- Start date
The extreme make-over at The Molly & Monkey Ranch is lookin' better every day
. Beautiful. Methinks someone missed out on a great career in medical surgery. If I needed a vasectomy ... I'd know who to call 
.
Bob this bass is only refinishing project number three the first bass was just that our first bass and we were still figuring out how and what to do. I/we did not realize how important it was to refinish a bass a certain way and then complete it with the pin stripes to be restoration accurate. The discussion board has been very helpful and enlightening. You had pointed out to me in a post several months ago a Kay bass is only a refinished Kay bass unless it has the pin stripe detail. A nuance that was missed on the first bass. The second bass was the 1937 AS and that bass does have the single AS black stripe so we heard you loud and clear refinishing is one thing, restoring is a different level and attention to detail. So this bass makes bass refinishing project number three and the first time to try the Kay double stripe so thank you very much for the challenge to finish the job correctly. Every Kay restore/refinish from here forward will get the Kay double stripe thanks to your enlightenment and encouragement. We are just two working class people looking to make a worthy contribution to music that we love nothing more.
That is a wonderful job you both done. I have, or rather my dad has, been busy lately restoring a '38 Kay M2. Turned into a wonderful bass again. About the golden finnish: it made me think of the story about the actual color of Bill Blacks' bass. Was it gold or not? http://www.scottymoore.net/kaymaestro.html
Those pinstripes are really the icing on the cake. I could look at photos of this restoration all day long. You might consider putting up a photobucket page of all your work or even a simple website. I'd love to see that AS a well.
Wendy,
I just clicked the after pics and I am astonished, and I want you to tell Lonnie I said so! What you guy's have done is so beautiful and anyone who says different has their head stuck up some part of their own anatomy. Lovely choice of hues in the finish and I'm sure the difference is audible and open. I just found out that my "vacation" was canceled, and we were going to leave this Saturday...so maybe I can make it up and demo her when you guys are through!
I, for one, believe your contribution is worthy...hell, you got my bass back in working order! That meant the world to me, and ya'lls kindness was genuinely refreshing.
Matt
I just clicked the after pics and I am astonished, and I want you to tell Lonnie I said so! What you guy's have done is so beautiful and anyone who says different has their head stuck up some part of their own anatomy. Lovely choice of hues in the finish and I'm sure the difference is audible and open. I just found out that my "vacation" was canceled, and we were going to leave this Saturday...so maybe I can make it up and demo her when you guys are through!
I, for one, believe your contribution is worthy...hell, you got my bass back in working order! That meant the world to me, and ya'lls kindness was genuinely refreshing.
Matt
OK Wendy & Lonnie ... Now are you going one step further & pinstriping the f-holes to transform the TV-1 all the way to an S-1 or are you stopping at M-1 ? That work is so cool.
? That work is so cool.
From my conversation with Roger Stowers, the TV-1s were supposedly S-1s with gold paint. But that still doesn't explain the back having a larger arch.?.?
After watching this thread, its really got me considering restoring mine to the orginal gold. I'm torn though. The curl of the top ply is really cool.
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Its still got the paint on the scroll and heel, but thats it.
Does anyone have any suggestions on someone that would be good to talk to about repainting, near northeast Indiana?
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Its still got the paint on the scroll and heel, but thats it.
Does anyone have any suggestions on someone that would be good to talk to about repainting, near northeast Indiana?
Hey Matt does vacation being canceled mean you are being deployed sooner then you expected? If your Christopher Chang bass needs a safe place to hang out while you are gone entertaining the troops he can come live at our house. We would be happy to bass sit and teach him some English while he was there LOL! Safe travels and you are welcome to visit any time.
ArenW the TV bass we have is not like a Kay S-1 in any way. An S-1 should have the best highly flamed maple along with a real carved scroll head (no pasties volutes), an ebony fingerboard, ebony tail piece and real purfling around the body and F holes. The TV bass we have has none of these characteristic, in fact it couldnt be more plain Jane. The other cool thing we just recently observed on this bass is the F holes are larger just where the notches are. The circle part of the F hole seems to be similar to our other Kays but the notched area you can place two fingers in side by side and not touch wood. Maybe this bass WAS a factory experiment because it has some non Kay characteristics especially the swelled back.
As far as restoring your bass back to gold paint try some of the rockabilly sites. There are some highly skilled artists in this genre of music that do some excellent paint jobs. Two things though dont paint the bass with out a primer coat. This TV bass had a white and then a grey primer before they put on the gold paint. This was tremendously important when we went to strip it. If you put gold paint on the bare white wood the next person will have a difficult time getting the grain clean. Second the gold paint that was left on this bass was NOT big, sparkly, metal flake auto body paint like I see on some of the rockabilly basses. The gold was more a spray bomb gold with a matt sheen but please dont use a spray bomb that is just a description, not a suggestion. Your bass is beautiful and the wood is outstanding know you can wrestle with the decision should I shouldnt I restore good luck with it which ever way you decide and share your journey with us if you do restore!
That's a tough call ArenW. While it would be cool to restore it gold, the fact that it may be one of just a handfull (or maybe only) Kay with a maple top ply would make me want to leave it alone. It is a pretty shade of flame too, worthy of showing off.
Keep in mind that like Johhny Atomic said, that the gold paint they used back in the day got it's color from the bronze flakes used in it. I imagine it's probably the same stuff Gibson used to do their goldtop Les Pauls, so I would consult with a guitar restorer on the best way to do it properly. Half the fun of those old guitars visually is the way the finish 'greens' over time, and gold auto paint won't do that.
But since it has allready been stripped, and it IS so pretty, I might just leave it. Can you post some more pics of it? I'd love to see 'em...
Keep in mind that like Johhny Atomic said, that the gold paint they used back in the day got it's color from the bronze flakes used in it. I imagine it's probably the same stuff Gibson used to do their goldtop Les Pauls, so I would consult with a guitar restorer on the best way to do it properly. Half the fun of those old guitars visually is the way the finish 'greens' over time, and gold auto paint won't do that.
But since it has allready been stripped, and it IS so pretty, I might just leave it. Can you post some more pics of it? I'd love to see 'em...
FWIW, for now, I'd get rid of the remaining gold paint so that the scroll and neck heel match the very pretty finish on the body. If someday you wish to restore the entire gold finish, then go for it.
I have considered this in the past but have been hesitant. You can't get much uglier than a Kay scroll anyways so what is a bit of gold paint going to hurt?
I'm on the fence here...
I have considered this in the past but have been hesitant. You can't get much uglier than a Kay scroll anyways so what is a bit of gold paint going to hurt?
I'm on the fence here...
Sure, I understand. I was just offering my $0.02. I could understand leaving the scroll as it is and making the neck heel match. I could understand the logic and wisdom of any combination you choose. Hey, it's YOUR bass.
I think the body is really pretty.
Ooooohhhh
that top is gorgeous. Kay was really experimenting with this TV-1 model. The two TV basses are complete opposite in the flaming of the maple top. Just the fact that both TV models have maple tops verse the spruce top is a really cool discovery.
Thanks so much for adding to this thread. I also noticed you have brass tuners, this bass has nickel tuners. They are really, really different and only 162 serial numbers apart so they were most likely in the factory at the time in 1953.
Again THANKS for the pictures it really adds a lot of value to the discussion.
Thanks so much for adding to this thread. I also noticed you have brass tuners, this bass has nickel tuners. They are really, really different and only 162 serial numbers apart so they were most likely in the factory at the time in 1953.
Again THANKS for the pictures it really adds a lot of value to the discussion.
From conversations with Al Link at Englehardt-Link, I believed that Kay outsourced the manufacture of the tops and backs. The metal mould plates for the plywood tops and backs are very expensive to make and it is doubtful that they would have made a special mould for such a small run - far too expensive to be an "experiment". A more likely scenario would be for them to have bought some raw backs from H.N. White. The King and AS backs were deeper than the Kays. I've never had a King back and a Kay back off at the same time to compare, but Roger Stowers has speculated about a Kay -White connection (or cooperation) and this might be an example. I've seen quite a few Kay C1 models with maple tops, so the top could have been available in house.
They are really, really different and only 162 serial numbers apart so they were most likely in the factory at the time in 1953.
Again THANKS for the pictures it really adds a lot of value to the discussion.
When I was emailing back and forth with Roger Stowers, he said that my serial number put my bass in 1951 and that he believed that there were only 50 or so made.
So at this point it sounds as though its anyones guess as what the heck Kay was up to.
