Kent Project

[cheepaxes]

I had posted something in the Asian Guitar area about adjusting the string spacing at the bridge on my Kent. For the benefit of anyone who stumbles across this later I'm going to move it to the projects section and tell y'all what I ended up doing - unscientifically and with little in the way of proper tools - in case the info is useful to anyone.

I wanted to force the strings to cross the bridge at certain places, in order to make the spacing more even and wider. I had considered cutting grooves into the plastic Kent bridge where they ought to be but was concerned that the bridge might be hollow and that cutting through to the hollow section migh be bad. I took off the bridge and determined that this wasn't a problem -- the bridge was solid plastic. Cutting notches into the bridge should be fine.

I moved the E strings until they were as far from the edge of the neck at the high end of the neck as they were at the nut. With the E strings in this position I marked the bridge at the point the strings crossed it. I measured between the strings and found that they were exactly 5 centimeters apart. This meant that I could put the ruler at the High E spot and mark the bridge at each centimeter to show where each string would cross with even spacing. There were already slight notches where the B and G strings crossed and they were in the correct location (or close enough) so I didn't do anything with those. The high E, low E, A and D all needed to have slots cut.

To make a starter slot I took a box cutter and held it over the gas burner on the stove for a few seconds, then pushed it into the plastic where I wanted the slot to be. This worked pretty well.

I then tried to use the box cutter to carefully shave a little bit of plastic away from the slots to enlarge them. Bad idea. The plastic is very brittle and twice, when putting sideways pressure on the bridge, small chips broke out of the bridge adjascent to where I wanted the slot. I was able to glue these back in with Super Glue and I'm hoping they will hold.

I tried filing the slots by wrapping fine sandpaper around the appropriate string for each slot and sawing back and forth. This tended to cut through the sandpaper before it cut into the bridge.

The best solution turned out to be using the string itself as a file. Sawing back and forth with the E, A and D strings in the starter slots seemed to do the trick. High E is OK using the slot I melted with the box cutter. I haven't strung it up yet, but I think it's going to work. Obviously something like nut slot files would have been ideal here, but I don't own any and buying a set would run me about $80, which I'd rather not spend.

The next step is to try making a pickguard for it. I ended up putting a set of DeArmond humbuckers on the guitar (they were already hanging around) such that I don't need the pickguard to mount pickups. I do need it to mount the jack and controls, and maybe to help shield the cavity. Any suggestions for easily workable pickguard material would be appreciated.

Below are URLs for pictures (HTML doesn't seem to work for me here): (1) the guitar, (2) the bridge, post cutting, with the low E where I want it but the high E not tight enough to sit in the slot and (3) post pickup installation.

http://www.scottmcknight.com/GOLDKENT.JPG

http://www.scottmcknight.com/KENTBRDG.JPG

http://www.scottmcknight.com/KENTPUP.JPG

-Scott

[cheepaxes]

I've done a couple things to try to make a pickguard to hold the controls. The first one that worked was a temporary fix - a small piece of plexiglass to hold a volume pot, pickup switch and jack. I've replaced that with something made from "Sculpey" - an acrylic plastic modelling "clay" that can be fired in the oven. I'm not sure this will work for the long haul. The first draft is somewhat amusing:

www.scottmcknight.com/SCULPEY1.JPG

www.scottmcknight.com/SCULPEY2.JPG

-Scott

[Michael Ambrose]

Nice!!

mmmmm... i do so love DeArmonds... and I've got such a soft spot for Kent's...

I'm working on completely refurbishing a Kent as well... an Americana model (their 335 clone)... Refinish in black (trying to retain the binding), GFS Nashvilles... a knockoff Bigsby B6 from Bezdez... new tortoise PG.

Kents did some SERIOUSLY wacky things... I'd really like to get my hands on one of those weird-ass thin semi-hollows with that wacky twelve-ply top and back binding... see what i could do with that.

so, in summation...

Yay kent!! Can't wait to see the finish product!!

[cheepaxes]

I've also got a Kent Strat copy that I once wrote a song about, or more precisely, a verse in a song. I used it as a main guitar during a particularly guitar-free time in my life, then as a backup guitar. Then, because it has an unusually long scale length (longer than a Strat) I tried making it into a baritone guitar. I didn't know what I was doing though, and it didn't work very well. The strings I used were too heavy and too long. Soon I may pull it out and try again, this time just using heavy guage guitar strings and tuning down to C or something.

My next-door neighbor has a broken Kent SG copy rescued from a barn. I may try to fix that too. Then I'll get together with my friend who owns a Kent bass and form an all-Kent band. :)

I'd be interested in seeing the Kent you're working on. When you get finished you can join my band.

-Scott

[VintAxe]

Hey Scott,

Thanks for documenting your work on the Kent, very useful.

I've never heard of the "clay" you used to make the pickguard. What was that process like; the end product is certainly wild looking.

I'm curious why you didn't just buy pickguard stock from Stew-Mac and cut yourself a new one? I've had luck cutting one out with a jewelers saw like this one. They are cheap on eBay.



Of course, beveling the edge is a bit more challenging. You can buy the bit from Stew-Mac but you need a router or other spin-fast power tool mounted to a table to cut the bevel. Ok, I probably just answered my own question. Probably too much of an investment for the occasional pickguard. I just happen to have the router and table from my house restoration activities.

I wonder if you could make a reasonably uniform bevel with some patience and a file?

BTW, I want to be the Bass player in your band, yes I do. I've got a Kent Hollowbody bass so we can't play too loud, it feeds back

[Michael Ambrose]

Appearing tomorrow night at Bob's Country Bunker:

CLARK AND THE KENTS

[cheepaxes]

Vintaxe said: "I've never heard of the "clay" you used to make the pickguard. What was that process like; the end product is certainly wild looking."

Scott: If you Google "Sculpey" or "Premo" you can get a pretty good idea of what's involved, and what's possible. I bought an acrylic roller, basically a heavy plastic dowel which you use like a rolling pin to flatten the clay. You have to work it some to get it soft, and you can mix them to get different patterns. I just made a flat piece of the black and put drops of "gold" on it and mooshed them down into the black. I made a template by tracing the shape I wanted on wax paper (because it was somewhat transparent and I could lay it on the guitar and see where I wante the pickguard to be). I cut out the template. When I had a piece of clay that was slightly bigger than I needed I put the template on top and cut around it with a knife. I used a box cutter but a table knife would have worked as well. Our oven isn't working so I put the thing on foil on a pizza pan and took it a few blocks away to my sisters. I heated it for 15 minutes in an oven preheated to 275. That should have been enough according to my reading of the instructions.

V: "I'm curious why you didn't just buy pickguard stock from Stew-Mac and cut yourself a new one? I've had luck cutting one out with a jewelers saw like this one. They are cheap on eBay."

S: The jewelers saw idea hadn't occured to me. I'll have to check that out as a possibility. I asked around for pickguard ideas for a while and never heard that one. I've spoken to others who have had success using plexiglass from the hardware store, cutting it to a rectangle big enough for the outer dimensions, then shaping it with a drum sanding bit on an an electric drill. I tried that. It took way to long (IMO) for me to get something that looked good, then I had it break on me while trying to drill the holes for the pot/jack/switch.

V: "Of course, beveling the edge is a bit more challenging. You can buy the bit from Stew-Mac but you need a router or other spin-fast power tool mounted to a table to cut the bevel. Ok, I probably just answered my own question. Probably too much of an investment for the occasional pickguard. I just happen to have the router and table from my house restoration activities."

S: The drum sander on the drill might make a decent bevel. I have a Dremel with a drum on it too, which would have been a good alternative if it hadn't broken (bad switch). At this point I consider the bevel to be a luxury.

V: "BTW, I want to be the Bass player in your band, yes I do. I've got a Kent Hollowbody bass so we can't play too loud, it feeds back."

S: Deal. We just need a drummer and a gig. I'll call the folks at Madam's Organ... :)

-Scott

[cheepaxes]

Michael Ambrose": "Appearing tomorrow night at Bob's Country Bunker:

CLARK AND THE KENTS"

You're from Jersey, no? Is the Court Tavern in New Brunswick still running? Might be a good place to book the Kents. :)

-Scott

[cheepaxes]

BTW, Steve and Michael, check your Myspace friend requests...

-Scott

[Michael Ambrose]

[cheepaxes]

"I still go there now and again... though i haven't actually played there in about a year or so."

I played there circa '87. It was one of the stranger gigging experieces I can recall. I remember the stage was covered in stained red carpet and there was an area where, if you stepped there, you would sink down into the stage -- there was no stage under the carpet. The monitors cut in and out constantly so your voice sounded like "in... oot... ot... ort... ub..." We finally asked that they be turned off because it was too distracting. The crowd was seated at the bar, turned to face us, about 25 feet away, all hip biker-looking guys and their hip biker-looking girlfriends. They frowned the whole time and never clapped. A very drunk woman had a fight with her boyfriend and threw her highball glass at him, missing and shattering it on the floor. She then started dancing to the band, spinning in circles until she got dizzy, fell on top of our pile of cases and passed out for 15 minutes.

I was in New Brunswick for work a few years ago and dropped in. I mentioned having played there and that it didn't look the same and the bartender told me that that was because the stage was downstairs. He took me down there to let me look. The stage had moved. He confirmed that it used to be where I remembered it. Not long after that I heard that they were going to close it. I'm glad it's still there. I guess it's been there practically forever.

-Scott

[Michael Ambrose]

I went on your Myspace and gave a listen... and you know, its funny... TOTALLY different crowd. Its almost become a CBGB of sort... the last... THEE VERY LAST bastion of original music in New Brunswick. And the hipster crowd has COMPLETELY changed since then. Booked on the right night, you'd get a HUGE hipster response. A few years backed a Rockabilly trio I had was booked to play a scooter rally (go figure), but my band bailed... so I ended up played as a one-man band (guitar, kick drum, and rigged a kick pedal to a snare drum), playing some old twangy country tunes mixed in with my own stuff... and closed with "Bikini Girls with Machine Guns"... you wouldnt BELIEVE the response I got!!

Yeah, the Court was touch-and-go for a while from what I heard... there was (and still is) A LOT of redevelopment going on down town. Its funny... they built this MASSIVE high-rise AROUND the Court... The Court sits on the corner, and the high-rise literally wraps around it!!

I'm hesitant to call it a "punk rock joint," because so many different kinds of bands play there... I think the best word that applies is "subculture" joint. The night I mentioned earlier, there was a "space rock" band opening, a hardcore-punk band, and a ska band headlining. Some nights you'll have all-hardcore/punk bands... some nights it'll be a reggae/ska show... indie, country, surf, garage... if there's a subculture to follow it, and if its moderately hip, you'll find it at some point at the Court.