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truss rod

This is an early 1960's Kay guitar that I bought for $65 and dropped about $150 into to get it to the final restore. The neck was separating from the body, it was badly beat up and someone had tried to do a restoration that didn't work well at all. Now it plays as it did when new.

I kept _all_ the original parts except: new fretboard, frets and binding (both the body and neck), new pick guard, new truss rod. The finish is Stew Mac Tobacco Brown and Amber, with Deft nitrocellulose as the base clear coat and Behlen as the final coats.

See more at https://picasaweb.google.com/chronicbluesguitar/KayGuitar?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKiqtufIk8HQmAE&feat=directlink

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Albums: Kay Guitar Refinish

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Comment by Madurobob on August 13, 2012 at 4:43am

On Shakori - they asked and I recommended some combination of:

A dedicated camping area for CBGers
Some workshops: perhaps 3 string playing, slide playing, building (in a recent festival with a little prep I built two complete guitars in about 70 minutes while explaining the process to about 15 attendees. Then, I donated the guitars to the festival to raffle off during Justin Johnson's set. Went *very* well).
An afternoon block at the coffee shop stage or something similar
Cheap admission for performers/workshoppers

Let me know if you have any other ideas. They seem open to at least having the discussion.

Comment by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on August 13, 2012 at 3:47am: I stand corrected: http://www.titebond.com/frequently_asked_questions.aspx

-WY

Comment by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on August 13, 2012 at 3:46am: Hmmm i dunno how that might work. I assume titebond original. Yeah, try it but i would also use steam . Check out frets.com and see his steam machine made from an old espresso maker (used the steamer attachment). Btw, this site is a goldmine of luthier info. Else glue fretboards down with the gelatin glue. Cheep and eeasy

Good luck!

Oh and we need to think about next years Shakori Hills!

-WY

Comment by Madurobob on August 13, 2012 at 3:03am: Cool. I'm going to try the steam iron trick on one of my scrap necks with a fingerboard glued on with titebond. I know its water solvent, but no idea how it will react to steam heat. I'd like to be able to replace fingerboards from time to time.

Comment by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on August 12, 2012 at 3:11pm: Yup. Plain 'ol house iron on steam setting. I had to break the fretboard off at where you see the dovetail begin to remove the neck by using a household steam cleaner (I don't got no fancy steamer type contraption from Stewie Mack). Then steam/heat the fretboard off in sections. I did manage to salvage the pieces so I could determine the scale and the radius. The fretboard was a compound radius that went from 9" a the bridge end to 6" at the nut. I had to work carefully as to not damage the neck or warp anything. The old hide glue did manage to loosen and separate as it should

One thing to note: I used gelatin glue -- a 1:3 mixture Knox unflavored gelatin to water heated to 150F. Makes a great glue.

-WY