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Thread: Restoring a Kay "Lyre" Guitar

  1. #1

    Default Restoring a Kay "Lyre" Guitar

    I 've seen these Kay "cut out" guitars for years and just got this one to restore.

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    I has several serious issues, back coming off, missing a top brace, neck and heel blocks loos, needed a neck re-set.

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    I was able to pull the neck using the new Stu Mac heating rod in a soldering iron (first time using it. So so results, but i didn't hit the pocket right and went into the heel block, but eventually worked). I then very carefully removed the back keeping the binding attached to the back as much as possible (primarily because it was coming off that way already). Happily the back came off almost perfectly.

    The issue I'm pondering right now is the curvature of the top. This is solid maple, almost certainly heat pressed with boxwood kerfing and cloth back strips, The top had three wooden braces (one missing), matching the arch as well as a large wooden brace above the Lyre cut out (which was re-enforeced with a thin spruce backing with the grain going in the opposite direction.

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    I can see the neck and heel blocks are both loose at least to a degree, but my bigger concern is that one of the remaining braces has pulled loose at the ends under the arch of the guitar top.

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    I am wondering how best to deal with this. My inclination is to gently clamp the brace and top back together and re-glue, but I don't want to crack or split the top in the process. Perhaps some gentle heat prior to attempting that? The other option would be to simply cut an appropriate "shim" piece to fit into the gap, then glue that to the top and the brace. I'm a bit suspect about that approach, but I figured, I'd ask the community and see what they have to say. I also assume I'll need to stabilize all the loose braces, end blocks etc before cutting and installing the missing brace.

    I will say that I am pleasantly surprised at the quality of the build and how nice an instrument this will be if properly restored.

    Thanks for any advice!

  2. #2

    Default Re: Resting a Kay "Lyre" Guitar

    And the thread title should have read "Restoring a Kay "Lyre" Guitar!

  3. #3
    Registered User Greg Mirken's Avatar
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    May 2008
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    Default Re: Resting a Kay "Lyre" Guitar

    No shim; you want to support the original arch of the top. How hard is it to press the brace and top together?
    With the top as it is would you need a stupidly tall bridge?
    Shade Tree Fretted Instrument Repair, retired
    Nevada City, California

  4. #4

    Default Re: Restoring a Kay "Lyre" Guitar

    Hi Greg,

    Yes, I just couldn't bring myself to just shim it. I went ahead and experimented with the treble side... the lesser separated of the 2. It was a delicate thing to get it closed, but after several different approaches, I was able to get a 4" C clamp to close it and glued it up with hide glue. It was tough getting the clamps to gain foothold on the arched top, but I used a lead pellet bag as a caul and that gave it purchase without damaging the top. I did gently heat the top before each attempt, but did not wet the area before warming. It's currently clamped and drying and I'll check it out tomorrow.

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    The bass side is about twice as separated as the treble but since I was able to close first one successfully, I'll try with this side as well. This time I think I'll wet the area beforehand to hopefully make it a bit more flexible before heating. I may also go really slowly with this side, maybe even a day or 2. Time is always your friend in restoration work.

    I was able to purchase the original bridge to this guitar in a separate auction and am already in the process of re-setting the neck, so bridge height should not be an issue down the road.

    I am beginning to wonder if this is Maple or Birch. I had originally though Maple, but I'm seeing more open grain that I'd expect and more grain pattern that I'd expect in birch. Here are a couple shots. I'd appreciate opinions.

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    Last edited by Mandolin Cafe; Feb-28-2021 at 12:24pm.

  5. #5

    Default Re: Restoring a Kay "Lyre" Guitar

    I've had very little traffic here, so I decided to go ahead and move forward and just see what would happen. As I mentioned in my last post, I was able to get the treble side glued back in place with no ill effects. The bass side was much more open and warped, but I wet it several times about 1 hr before beginning to work it, then gently heated the area before attempting to clamp it. I was able to get everything closed up again, although even with the lead pellet bags as clamping cauls on the outside curvature of the top it was tough to get the clamps to hold in place. Eventually, I was able to get it all clamped up and successfully re-glued.

    The next issue was replacing the missing top brace. The challenge was to match the curvature of the top with the replacement brace's contour. I used an old house restoration trick to match millwork using a contour gauge duplicator to copy and transfer the top arch to a template. This was tough to do because the brace was just under 12" across and I only had a 5" contour gauge.

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    The trick that made it all work was to use a line level to level the frame of the contour gauge then transfer that contour to the plans in three separate readings all measured against a base line on the paper. By keeping the level constant I was able to duplicate the actual arch top contour which I first cut out of paper then glued onto the brace material to cut it out to shape. Clamping through the Lyre cut outs was a bit of a challengenge, but ultimately worked out fine.

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    After letting it all dry overnight, here's the result.

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    I'll clean up the squeeze out today and get to work on re-gluing the neck and heel blocks next.

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