1942 Kay S-9...

The Kay S-9 bass is coming along better then expected! Lonnie has cleaned up the edges really nice; he made all the edge chipping disappeared. When the bass is completed it will be difficult to see the edge repairs…very cool. The fingerboard is original and the ebony is of good quality. He scraped it clean, put scoop in it and filled in the bolt holes at the end of the fingerboard. It looks really fresh and ready for a light oil rub down.



The new end pin installation is putting up a bit of a struggle. Lonnie cut off the huge fixed wooden dowel that was used for an end pin while the back of the bass was removed. The hole is too large for the new USLA ebony end pin, so he is using the extra wood to make the diameter of the opening smaller. A light turn with his tapered end pin reamer and it should fit better then new. Lonnie just purchased some vintage German tapered reamers; he now has three sizes and can accommodate most any size end pin.



If he keeps this pace on this bass over the holiday, I expect to be thumping it by early December. My choice for strings on this bass will be a full set of Velvet Garbo’s, if the bass does not respond with that string we will move onto gut or Spiro’s. The bass sounded pretty darn good with a dead set of steel strings. I expect with a fresh set up, new strings and tight fitting back this baby should sing.



Stay tuned…