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Thread: My re-worked Kentucky KM-150

  1. #1

    Default My re-worked Kentucky KM-150

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    I'm an amateur luthier and have a lot of work into this. Story is I found it for $60 and was really excited, because I wanted a Kentucky (I can't afford a high dollar mando). So I get it home and try to adjust it to play nice, but it really couldn't be adjusted all that much. The fretboard had a ski jump where the neck meets the body and it just couldn't be set up correctly. So, I pulled all the frets, sanded the fretboard true and refretted. Made a new bone nut to replace the plastic and put a new ebony bridge on it.

    I sooo believe that luthiers earn their money. The amount of tweaking on the nut slots alone was a lot of work but I didn't want to go too deep and have to repair a slot. These new strings have been detuned and retuned a lot. The bridge was fit to the top and I still had a take a small amount off the top of the bridge base to get the saddle to go down low enough. If anything, the action could be raised a little bit, but it plays good now all the way to the last fret with no buzzes! The refret went OK. Next time I'll have better nippers for the tang. The frets required some leveling of course, and I only have a cheap crowning tool. Next time hopefully a better tool for that.

    I believe this is a 2010 model since the serial # starts with 10. What I know about it is the truss rod is conventional single action, not the dual action that you see on a lot of modern instruments. The body is all solid bookmatched woods, but not carved. Still, it's better than some budget mandos out there. It has a nice ringing tone and I like it.

    I had a flatback Gibson A-00 for a while and also a Loar something or other, but they are sold.

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  2. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to StevenWayne For This Useful Post:


  3. #2
    Mando-Afflicted lflngpicker's Avatar
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    Default Re: My re-worked Kentucky KM-150

    Steve, Wow, that is a lot of good actions to take to improve the playability of a mandolin. Sounds like just what the doctor ordered, and good for you that you have the talent to do so. I would love to hear it played or play it myself. Congrats on a fine job!
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  4. #3

    Default Re: My re-worked Kentucky KM-150

    Good work, Steven. I hope you get a ton of pleasure and fun out of it.

  5. #4

    Default Re: My re-worked Kentucky KM-150

    Thanks for the responses.

  6. #5
    Down the road I go Trav'linmando's Avatar
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    Default Re: My re-worked Kentucky KM-150

    Steven , I have to say that I admire your willingness to put the time and effort into this mandolin. As a guy myself that enjoys working with his hands, I understand the details you went through to achieve a comprehensive overhaul of your mandolin. Well done , sir.
    Very few of us know, how much we have to know, in order to know, how little we know.
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  7. #6

    Default Re: My re-worked Kentucky KM-150

    Thanks very much. This was only my second fret job. Turned out a little better than my first. I've made quite a few nuts over the years but it gives you a feeling of accomplishment when you make a decent nut from scratch. Finally, I have some decent miniature files. An old Nicholson set I found at a garage sale!

  8. #7
    Registered User Otis_Spunkmeyer's Avatar
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    Default Re: My re-worked Kentucky KM-150

    Do yourself a favor and buy a tone-gard.

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