1960s Kay 6100 Grand Concert Penncrest: Bolt Neck All Solid Woods: PRO Luthier Restoration

Penncrest flattop made in Chicago by Kay for JC Penney in the 1960s. Nearly identical to the Kay Grand Concert 6100, but with a cover over the neck screws and a neck angle adjustment!

The most interesting feature is the adjustable bolt-on neck. It has 3 mounting screw and a fourth height adjusting screw, like 3-bolt Fenders! All solid woods: 2-piece book-matched spruce top, mahogany back, neck and book-matched sides. Beautiful tortoise 2-ply binding. Most spruce/mahogany guitars have a dark red "mahogany" stain, but this one has a natural buffed lacquer finish. The nitrocellulose lacquer is starting to get that gorgeous vintage checking. Rosewood slab fingerboard with a 14 inch radius. The flat neck heel gives it a Fender-ish feel. Rosewood pinned bridge. Bleached bone nut with a Zero-fret. Nickel-silver frets. Unusually long 26 inch (66cm) scale, which gives it a snappy sound. Martin 000 sized body.

Master Luthier Henry Nelson: I did a full restoration and setup. Since the neck is bolted on It was easy to take it off and get it just right. I adjusted the truss rod, which has a lot of adjustment left. Then I levelled the frets, crowned and polished them. I removed any sharp fret edges and rounded them till they feel like glass. Then I rolled the fretboard edges for that broken-in vintage feel. The nut was pretty tight and grabbed at the high E string, so I opened it up a bit. In guitars with Zero frets, the nut determines the width of the strings, but not the height.

It was missing one tuner button. I replaced it but it's not a perfect match (it's whiter than the rest). I also added tuner bushings to tighten up the posts and make them turn smoother. Except for the replaced button, all the rest of the tuner parts are original. I lubricated them with solid lithium. I reinstalled the neck and adjusted the angle for a 2.5mm action. Since the neck is adjustable, it will NEVER need a neck reset! I filled in a few voids in the lacquer and buffed it it a gloss shine. The pickguard was starting to lift so I glued it back down. The bridge was starting to pull up, so I carefully re-glued it and it's as good as new now. The original bridge pins had crumbled to pieces. I installed a new set of black pins with small white dots. Finally, I strung it with new Earthwood .011 80/20 bronze strings and adjusted the action to a very low 2.5mm.

Henry Nelson Luthiery stuff might cost more than other listings, but we think it's worth it. We're not going anywhere. We stand behind our gear. We do research and accurate descriptions. We test our stuff and usually do restoration work; sometimes light, sometimes intense (read our item descriptions for details). I'm an experienced luthier and I use traditional techniques and materials: hide glue and nitrocellulose lacquer. I even make my own French polish and shellac from scratch. In addition, our vintage gear holds its value, unlike new stuff. We have a no-hassle return policy. The return shipping is on you, but the item price and shipping to you is refunded. Simply return it in the same condition in a timely manner.