Early K & F dilemma

Dale R Stiles · Post by **Dale R Stiles** » 9 Oct 2013 8:59 pm

Okay, so I got a soft spot for strays.

This is what I bought:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221270827772

And this is what it should look like:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/151136976031

Now when I was bidding, I had a plan in the back of my head to polish up the metal and tuners and sell them at a profit -- put the wood aside and call it a day.

But when I had the steel guitar in my hands, well, that aforementioned thing about strays kicked in.

I tinker with winding pups but not sure I'm up to doing a Direct-String (Boxcar) from scratch. Then there's the chunk they dug out of the body. And there's probably a better chance I'll wake up tomorrow with a full head of hair than finding a K & F head badge.

I'd welcome any input?

Thanks
Dale

Noah Miller · Post by **Noah Miller** » 10 Oct 2013 4:37 am

I've owned two K&Fs, one of which I purchased recently and just had the pickup restored. To be honest, neither is a purveyor of any superb tone. The first one had very little sustain, and my current one is a bit better but still not extraordinary. The boxcar pickups are a bit thin and reedy-sounding. I purchased both of them for very little in order to flip them; while I plan on hanging on to my current one for a while, I don't see it becoming part of my permanent collection.

I'm not sure if that's any help.

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 10 Oct 2013 6:34 am

Looking at what you bought on eBay, it appears as if someone installed a different pickup in the cavity shown at some point, then removed the pickup.

I agree with your statements regarding the difficulty of finding another K&F badge or a boxcar pickup, although I have seen both appear on eBay in the past.

It's a project, all right.

Dale R Stiles · Post by **Dale R Stiles** » 10 Oct 2013 4:53 pm

Thanks Noah

That's the kind of input I was wanting. I'm not one to dance from foot to foot but the body has a better heft to it than I expected and I'd started to reconsider a quick turn on the hardware.

Haven't heard a K & F or an early Princeton before so wasn't sure about the sound of the Fender Direct-String (boxcar) pickups. I like the sound of the early "trap" pickups which I think are just better wound boxcars in a different shaped housing?

Good Eye Brad

It's not finished but no doubt that they trenched out the body for a pickup. I think they realized that any regular pickup mounted in the original spot would be taller than the factory boxcar and require a higher bridge.

I think that cavity probably took any real dollar value out of the body, but I'm warming to it as a project.
And I need another project.