60's Kent Guitars & Basses

[clankenstein]

I got my Ibanez in a music shop full of copies-no Kents that i remember,was it a brand for export only?

[Dave W]

I got my Ibanez in a music shop full of copies-no Kents that i remenmber,was it a brand for export only?

Kent was a brand name of an importer in New York City, that's why you wouldn't have seen one new in New Zealand. They imported from more than one Japanese factory, and at one point in the early 60s imported Hagströms with the Kent brand name.

Apparently Jack Bruce also played one.

Getting back to this, the other day I saw the same pic on FB identified as a Zim Gar bass. Another NYC importer's brand name. Pretty sure it was made by Teisco.

[clankenstein]

Ahhhhh...I see!

[Thornton Davis]

After a long time of looking I finally found a 1967 Kent 833 Violin Style bass a few weeks ago. It needed a major cleaning and a tuner replaced. It also needed to have the neck pickup rewound cause it was dead.

After a good cleaning and polishing with Virtuoso, picking up and installing a set of NOS exact replacement tuners and having the pickup rewound it's all back together playing and sounding great.





TD

[Pilgrim]

Those have great style!  Nice.

[DAVE RICCI]

I also have a Kent 833 bass that has a bad tuner. Could you please tell me where you were able to find replacement tuners. I've been searching the internet and am having a hard time finding what I'm looking for. Thanks

[Pilgrim]

I also have a Kent 833 bass that has a bad tuner. Could you please tell me where you were able to find replacement tuners. I've been searching the internet and am having a hard time finding what I'm looking for. Thanks

Most often, the answer is to set up an Ebay search and be patient.  I've waited months for stuff like that to turn up, but it usually does.

OTOH, a Kent has zero collector value, so if you find a full set that would fit in place and replace the originals, that would be a good option.

[Thornton Davis]

I also have a Kent 833 bass that has a bad tuner. Could you please tell me where you were able to find replacement tuners. I've been searching the internet and am having a hard time finding what I'm looking for. Thanks

Dave, I have a couple of spare original tuners and ferrules from an 833, which tuner are you needing?

TD

[DAVE RICCI]

It's the "D" string that's the bad one.