c.1960 Kay "Barney Kessel" Archtop Electric Guitar

This very cool Kay "Barney Kessel" hollowbody archtop electric is owned by a friend of mine. He's got a pretty extensive collection of crazy old stuff, though I didn't know he had one of these up his sleeve. These are pretty desirable, bling-tastic guits and they also have that delicious 50s blues-romp sound in spades.

I'm guessing this one dates to the late 50s or early 60s judging by the modified "Kelvinator" headstock and slightly different hardware compared to the mid-50s models. It's in great shape and plays well "right out of the case." The only wear and tear is the usual finish weather-checking and lacquer crackling.

The interesting thing about these Barney Kessel models sold by Kay is that in the years before these models were rebranded to the Kessel line, the same instruments existed in much less wild format: they were a bit more reserved and didn't have the crazy batwing pickguards, gold hardware, and big old pickup surrounds. Instead they had more understated, Gibson-y looks.

I don't know which I like more...

...but for those who want to show off, does it really get any better than this? It's like hanging your favorite car's body trim from a strap and playing it!

Pretty slick...

The truss rod adjustment is in the heel on these guys. The neck on this particular guitar is also a lot thinner than the 50s models I've played/worked on before. It's less "Kay baseball bat" and more "40s Gibson."

It's a looker (and a sound-er!) throughout.

c.1920 Lange "Banner Blue" Banjo Ukulele

This adorable, no-frills soprano banjo uke (13" scale on the dot) was made by Lange in New York (makers of Orpheum and Paramount) and the "Lange-made" stamp on the dowel confirms my suspicions that a good number of unbranded but similarly-built ukes were probably also made by Lange. It also puts credence to the idea that a number of often unmarked lower to mid-range tenor and 5-string banjos of similar style may have been made by Lange as well.

At any rate, this uke is all original save a new Grover bridge and a replacement (vintage parts bin) skin head which I installed this morning and let dry over the afternoon. Tomorrow all the moisture should be gone and the uke will sound even better than it does now, which is already quite nice and mellow. Work included the head and bridge as well as a cleaning, fret level/dress (just a very light one), and setup.

This has a pretty-typical 7" head.

Simple headstock, ebony nut.

Here's the Banner Blue decal.

No dots, nickel-silver frets, and the board was originally dyed/painted black. The frets are set directly into the surface of the neck, rather than in a separate board.

The hardware, except for the bridge, is all original.

This has a good-sized heel for stability over time. The neck brace is rather simple -- you just screw it down to tighten the neck up to the rim. Just in case, I added some very slight shims to make sure it seated well and snug.

This version of this Elton tailpiece uses tabs rather than the bizarro "hooks" like on later models. This makes it infinitely easier to string with loop or ball-end strings.

The entire time I was working on this, Oona was saying things along the lines of, "you working on a little banjo...? For the little girl?" -- "What little girl, Oona?" -- "The little girl, so she can play it. That little girl, the big sister!" -- "Oh, you mean Oona?" -- "Mhmm." -- "Well, we can share it after work." -- "I share it!" ...and here's the snapshot of that sharing...!

But, fat chance "little girl," you already stole my old red 20s Oscar Schmidt uke and won't give it back!

Sound clips...

Yes, I've been bad about sound clips, but they're all up now. Enjoy!

c.1922 Weymann Style 35 Banjo Mandolin

I've worked on a few Weymann banjo-mandos, including some pretty fancy ones, but this plain-Jane style 35 retains all the rugged build and effective design elements of the more expensive stuff. The serial places it at 1922-ish and its 13 1/2" scale and big-slab ebony fretboard is familiar to me from working on their "Mandolute" line of regular mandolins.

Work included mounting a new skin head, scrounging a few replacement hooks (9 out of 16 of the hook/nuts on this guy are unoriginal and sort of hodge-podge), a fret level/dress, replacement bridge, cleaning, and setup. As expected, "she plays great," and has a sound I didn't expect right off the bat: warm and woody and sweet and not brutally-loud. It's more like playing a regular mandolin with some sort of effects pedal on than playing a "typical" banjo mandolin where one has to adjust his or her playing style a bit to get the most out of the instrument.

The smaller-than-normal 9 1/2" head gives this a very "ordinary mandolin" feel in the lap, as there's no big 11" rim making this feel oversized. The new skin head also looks great with its translucent look.

New bone nut (which I left unpolished to look right with the worn-in look of the instrument). The headstock veneer is "dyed something."

Nice pearl dots in a thicker ebony board. There's no worry about this fretboard extension dipping!

The very cool, vintage 3-foot ebony bridge came in an assortment of bridges sent to me as a gift by another repairman. I've been looking for a chance to use it and it fit perfectly on this fella. The width and spacing of the feet also make up for the use of a skin head on the instrument: even if the head "dips" a little with the weather the wider bridge means the action and tuning should remain stable.

I moved the assortment of original hook/nuts to the "playing" side of the instrument.

I lubed the recessed tuners and they work just fine.

You can definitely see the heavy-duty contruction on these guys: big multi-ply maple rim, good sturdy shim-based neck brace, and an additional stabilizer bar that's adjustable. Note the small area of top-layer rim delamination at the 10 o'clock position. It's only right at the "foot" of the rim and doesn't run up any farther than that.

Weymann label on the back of the headstock. The serial and style number are stamped into the top of the headstock.

...a couple of new rosewood shims for the neck brace...

To "tighten" this bar you actually turn "counter-clockwise" to pull it towards you: this then pulls the neck tighter to the pot and adds extra stability compared to many other brands. You could actually probably play this just fine without the additional (main) neck brace and its shims, but it's nice to have both!

The original tailpiece still has its cover! I muted the "extra string length" under the cover, too, to cut down on overtones.

c.1925 Vega Style K Banjo Mandolin

Having worked on so many of this particular model of banjo-mandolin, I start to feel deja vu every time I get one on the shop. Fortunately, the serial numbers (which are consistent and place this one at 1925) on Vega banjos let me keep my head straight. Like all the rest of the style Ks I've encountered, this one turned out to have a great, mellow, but sprightly tone that achieves that semi-magical "clop clop" horse hoof thing when you dig them just right. Also, like all the rest of these style Ks, these sound best playing melody lines and crosspicked rather than chordal chops or full strums which would give you more of that clangy tenor banjo tonality.

This one was pretty clean and already had this nice Remo head installed so my only work was to give it a fret level/dressing, cleaning, new bridge, replacement (period) tailpiece, replacement (new) hook & nut, and set it all up. It plays "right on the dot" and has a 13 3/4" scale.

Vega styling is similar in feel to Martin instruments: restrained and simple with their inherent "class" in the way they're built. Like Martins, they ooze confidence and security.

That's a rosewood headstock veneer.

Bar frets in an ebony board with pearl dots. Note how Vega has a good-sized "tongue" under the fretboard extension to keep it from dipping. Other makers didn't bother and many of the extensions on other brands tend to warp out of shape over time.

I go back and forth on the type of bridges I use on banjo-mandos. Since this instrument wasn't overly raucous or super-bright to begin with, I opted for a banjo-style bridge to keep it chirpy and sing-songy in tone, and good on volume. I ran out of rubber grommets to mute the extra string length so I wrapped a bit of leather at the tailpiece to mute the extra overtones. I also put a tiny bit of foam underneath the fretboard extension to cut down on slight extra overtone ring from the head.

All the rim hardware is original save one hook/nut set. I love the tortoise binding Vega tended to put on the "foot" of their banjo rims.

The finish is in good shape overall and is all original, as well.

The cream-buttoned tuners work just fine.

The big old heels used on these guys tends to mean they stay very stable over time.

Serial.

The original tailpiece would have had a "cloud" cover and would have been riveted to the tension hoop. It had split in two pieces and the cover was long gone. Interestingly, a hanger for a tailpiece was included with the instrument and I used that to mount this replacement (same-type as the original) tailpiece.

A "tennis-jo" case comes with the instrument.