Kay bass resurrection. Help!

stimpsonslostson

I created a thread last week about how I'd found my first ever guitar in a cupboard at my parents house (my brother had had it for the last decade).
I've decided to see if I can't resurrect it to its previous "glory". It's a Kay 1b, so the term glory is relative.

Here it is currently:
http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b625/stimpsonslostson/Mobile Uploads/IMG_20160430_101030890_zpsimkmrdca.jpg

Covered in stickers (which I MIGHT remove... I kinda like them), dusty & incredibly dirty.

Step 1. Plug in. Does it work?

YES!! After a fashion.
After some playing I made a list.
1. There's a switch that I always called"boost"- I assume it's some kind of coil tap. Well that's not working properly. I'll probably need asking for electrical advice before long.
2. The controls are bit on/off.
3. I suspect a new jack is in order.
4. The 15year old filth on the entire guitar especially the fret board. Yuk.
5. One of the ferrules from a machinehead is missing meaning that tuner is being pulled squint.
6. The strings are probably from the 1990s, do maybe time for a restring.

Progress updates.
Tuners.
I decided to start here as I know I can get a noise from the bass. It now needs to stay in tune when I put the new strings in place.

The tuner post is 10mm
http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b625/stimpsonslostson/Mobile Uploads/IMG_20160506_210456263_zpsuedyhwwd.jpg

& The hole 12mm. This is now non standard apparently (a p-bass has 17mm holes).
I'm searching for a replacement. Does anyone have any suggestions?
I'd like to use the existing tuners, do in looking for a 10-12mm ferrule (or bushing). I've tried the usual online shops but no luck.

In the meantime, I've cleaned the fret board off. Ew. It took lots of elbow grease & Lemon oil, but now i can handle the guitar without needing to wear gloves!

ICBM

I should have what you need, I'll have a look. If I don't have something at home there's bound to be one at the shop. I can give you a jack too.

I doubt "boost" is a coil tap, the pickups are usually very simple on these. It's more likely to be a simple resistive pad, like the 'Rhythm/Solo' switch on old Hofners.

I love getting old "junk" like these up and running again, so I'd be glad to help with anything you need - I owe you a favour anyway .

stimpsonslostson

Awesome, that'd be great!
I opened up the guitar today & it is indeed a resistor that gets brought into the circuit. It makes a surprising difference to the sound though.

I'm going to root through my parts box to see what other improvements I can make.
The neck feels like a toothpick compared to my usual 51 style p-bass.

ICBM

I have a 10mm/12mm ferrule.

If it was me, I would replace the resistor with a cap to give a bass-cut 'baritone' type sound, like the bridge pickup on a vintage Rickenbacker or some models of Gibson bass had - more useful than a volume cut.

stimpsonslostson

Thanks @ICBM It fit perfectly! I now have secure tuning!

I had the neck off last night as I realised it probably needed a shim. This allowed me to confirm the year of manufacture. 1969.

http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b625/stimpsonslostson/Mobile Uploads/IMG_20160516_221713587_zpseaivqjqe.jpg

I added (another) shim to the 1960s business card I found in there already & the action is much improved. Tweaking the truss helped too.

Next up is wiring...
And then deciding whether to remove those stickers.

TheOtherDennis

I'm convinced I had one of those when I was a teenager! I was desperate to be in a band, just to fit in with the other kids, and I remember wandering around Glasgow like a fart in a trance, desperate to find somehting that wasn't in the hundreds. I found one of those for about 25 quid (half my weekly wage in the cemetery at the time) in what we didn't call cash converters at the time.

I knew absolutely nothing about tuning it or anything, which was a bit of an issue given that it never stayed in one particular tuning for very long. (It even went out of tune of being out of tune quite quickly, if you see what I mean.) I would simply adjust the fingering to suit - moving it up the fretboard to compensate. I got pretty quick at doing that for a while.

I think I had it for two months before I sold it to fund my move to Stockport to go to college. It was even the same colour as that one.

I'd like to say "Happy days" but they weren't particularly, as I was pretty rubbish. It took me 30 years to make another attempt at learning a stringed instrument.

Still, memories and all that.

Good luck with the resurrection.

stimpsonslostson

If I recall correctly, this cost me a soda stream machine sometime in the mid 1980s. I used to gig it, but quit playing for several years so it was "borrowed" by my wee brother- I probably haven't seen it in a decade or more.

It holds tune ok & sounds pretty good when you get the jack sitting just so (next on the restoration is a new jack). 

I can't pretend it's a great guitar etc (my bargain basement 51 P-bass partscaster is WAY better in every measurable way), but it IS serviceable, makes a nice sound and isn't difficult to play. 

Sadly I'll probably end up moving it on eventually- I just don't have space living in a flat with two rapidly growing kids.

stimpsonslostson

Next update. I have removed the stickers!! It took AGES & lots of elbow grease but here is the result:
http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b625/stimpsonslostson/Mobile Uploads/IMG_20160522_074737095_zps1nmick2j.jpg

And a close up.
http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b625/stimpsonslostson/Mobile Uploads/IMG_20160522_074744873_HDR_zpstlostx00.jpg

I've not gotten around to doing the jack yet, buy that's tonights task.

Danny1969

God I had one of those, fair play to you for having the humanity to restore it, I would rather torture mine like it tortured me 33 years ago if I ever saw it again .... which is unlikely because I suspect it's buried in a shallow unmarked grave somewhere in Hampshire

ICBM

That's looking better .

I thought I had stupidly forgotten to tell you that I have some of the right knobs - but I don't actually seem to now, I must have used them on the last similar restoration I did.

stimpsonslostson

Danny1969 said:

God I had one of those, fair play to you for having the humanity to restore it, I would rather torture mine like it tortured me 33 years ago if I ever saw it again .... which is unlikely because I suspect it's buried in a shallow unmarked grave somewhere in Hampshire

After a setup it's not bad to play- it's perfectly serviceable & the short scale is rather good fun. Compared to the horrific Encore that was my first 6 string, this Kay is superb. it really drives home the development in budget guitars since I started playing, I have a Harley Benton 51 style P-bass that I've been modding up. it's a genuinely nice, great sounding bass to play & cost well south of £100.

usedtobe

That's come up really well!