Mystery Kent hollowbody

[cheepaxes]

[mcurrie]

[mcurrie]

I finally heard back from Lord Bizarre.

Here's what he had to say:

"Hi Mark !
well,it wasn't easy but I think I found something !
I think that that Kent is in fact an early 70's Morales (folower-up from 60's Zen-On) , possibly ESP-230 . But it could be that the trem-unit isn't original .
But definatly Zen-On/Morales , and possibly made at the FujiGenGakki factory Japan ."

I'm finding even less on that information than I have been on the Kent name itself. Any more ideas?

Thanks,
Mark Currie

[RuppMusic]

I sold a, Epiphone 5102T last year. I have lots of pics of it.

Although they look similar, the Epiphone had the typical Matsumoku neck plate and a different tremolo.

[Chilidog]

Mark,

I have the same guitar, bought at an auction 8 or 9 years ago for about $50. I'd never heard of the brand and wasn't sure what to make of it, but it looked nice. When I got it home and plugged it in, I was disappointed to realize that it didn't work, so I took it to Guitar Center, hoping that someone there could help shed some light. At the very least, it would be a nice wall hanging. And that's exactly what the guitar tech at GC told me, not worth the expense of repair. So, it became a wall hanging.

Having not played for a few years, I got the urge to pick it up again, but selling my Les Paul Studio and picking up a semi-hollow body, narrowing my search to an Epiphone Sheraton. My shopping has taken me through eBay, Craigslist, local newspaper and used guitar shops. After awhile, I became curious about the "wall-hanging" Kent and decided to look it up.

That's when I finally came across this site, when suddenly
"Eureka!"...there it was: your question and photos of the Kent Whatchamacallit. It's identical to mine, right down to the Bigsby and "Made in Japan" plate. Mine is missing the pickguard and has a black drywall screw where the top strap lock should be. There's a short in one of the pots and the condition of the pickups is undetermined. But they're the same.

So, there you have it, two owners of the mystery guitar. I want to thank you for your post and photos. Without it, I might have spent $499-$1,000 scoots on a used Epi when I may already have one. The question is: how does it play? After a visit to a more seasoned guitar tech, I'll find out. In the meantime, I'll share what I learn from the local Seattle guitar shops. How does yours play?

[mcurrie]

[cheepaxes]

[mcurrie]

[mrblanche]

[mcphoto]

[mcurrie]

[cheepaxes]

How thick was the shim? If you had to raise the bridge that much you should be able to get by with a thinner shim. I've never needed more than the thickness of a credit card. I would try snipping a piece of an old credit card, the width of the neck pocket and extending about 1/8th to 1/16th" from the bridge side to the nut side. Put it up against the bridge end of the neck pocket. If that's too high, try using a piece of match cover cardboard. It doesn't take much. It really seems as though there should be a happy medium between so low that the strings pop out of the grooves and so high that the bridge is wobbling at the top of its travel.

-Scott

[mcurrie]

[kota]

[mcurrie]

I'll give that a try as well.

Does anyone know of a replacement tuner for those offset hole ones? Not sure if you can tell by the pictures or not what I'm talking about. I don't really want to drill any extra holes, so a drop-in replacement would be great. As it stands now, the tuners are very sensitive. Too sensitive actually.