I didn't know what I was in for when I was rummaging around RJ's Music store. I liked to see what neat and interesting vintage guitars and amps he had picked up. He had a lot of those department store brands from the 60's and 70's that have become vogue. Behind some amps and a display I found an old jazz guitar body, tobacco burst in nice condition, 3 pickup holes, and it looked like that was about it. No neck, bridge, or tailpiece, but he produced a bag that had the original 3 pickups and wiring harness. How could I pass that up for $20? Just a few weeks later, I ran across a student bass neck, complete with tuning machines for $5.00, and , I knew what I had to do!

The neck on my Jazz Baritone is a 29 5/8" scale. It came from an anonymous Student bass guitar. Converting this neck for the Kay body is where most of the work was! Mostly because I didn't want 6 on-a-side tuners on a Jazz guitar, I wanted the classic 3 on-each-side. It seems some production baritone guitars have a scale length of about 30 1/4" and are tuned a full octave lower, others are 27 3/4" and tuned down a 4th or 5th. My scale is close enough to the octave scale, and I want something I can tune down to easily play in E flat. (Why E flat? It seems a lot of hymns are written in that key, and it's easy to play on keyboards - so the guitarists suffer.) Maybe I'll tune down an 11th, that way E flat can be played as a D and A flat is a G, it will all depend on string gauge and tension, that'll be the final step in the experiment.

I had to think of a way to add material to the headstock. Again, if I would have had the right tools! I figured if I could lap the new onto the original, I would get a strong union. First I cut the headstock in half, when you're talking about an inch to begin with; it was tricky with my circular saw turned table saw. Then I straightened the curves on the headstock design; I didn't want to have to get too fancy when routing the channel in the new pieces. The hardwood I had available was the poplar I used to make my S-300D pickup rings, but it was only about 3" wide. So I used 3 pieces stacked side by side, routed the channel and glued everything together. The last step will be to dowel it through the existing bass tuning machine holes, both to fill the holes and add extra strength. I'm not too concerned about the finished fit, since I'll veneer the front when I'm done. So far it looks like this, it would make a good paddle! I'm dreaming up a unique headstock shape that will also offer me straight string pull across the nut. The big hurdle is the proximity of the D and G tuning machines at the very top of the headstock, and making it look good!

Canoeing - anyone?