Baxendale Conversion 1950s Kay Jumbo Acoustic Guitar – Natural Top / Sunburst – Includes Hard Case –
Scott Baxendale has spent the better part of five decades building and repairing guitars at the highest level — working at Gruhn Guitars in Nashville, owning Mossman Guitars, building custom instruments for Carl Perkins, James Burton, Joe Walsh, Willie Nelson, and Jorma Kaukonen, among many others. But the work he is perhaps most celebrated for now is his Baxendale Conversion — a trademarked, proprietary remanufacturing process that takes 1940s-1960s Kay, Harmony, and Silvertone acoustic guitars and transforms them from mass-produced department store instruments into world-class players. The premise is straightforward and the results are genuinely extraordinary: the old Chicago-built guitars used excellent, well-aged tonewoods that decades of production have only improved, but they were built with ladder bracing and structural compromises that limited what those tonewoods could actually do. Baxendale's process removes the back, repairs any structural issues, strips all the original bracing, and replaces it with his proprietary scalloped X-bracing pattern in quarter-sawn Adirondack or Engelmann spruce. A new neck set and refret follow, the fingerboard is planed or replaced and radiused to a proper 12 or 14 inches, a new compensated bone saddle and bone nut are installed, and period-correct Grover Sta-Tite tuners replace the original hardware. The guitar goes back together as something genuinely different from what it was — structurally sound, properly set up, and capable of a voice that the original instrument could never have produced. Baxendale clients include Jeff Tweedy, Nels Cline, Luther Dickinson, Buddy Miller, Patterson Hood, REM, Drive-By Truckers, My Morning Jacket, and the latest Green Day album. That is not a list assembled by coincidence.
This particular guitar started life as a 1950s Kay — believed to be a Model 26, which sat at or near the top of Kay's lineup at the time and was built with the kind of old-growth spruce and maple that simply cannot be sourced today at any price. The natural top with sunburst back and sides is a striking combination that shows off the aged wood beautifully. After the Baxendale conversion process this guitar sounds huge and warm — the kind of voice that stops people in the room, with the harmonic complexity that only genuinely aged tonewoods can produce paired with the projection and focus that proper X-bracing delivers. The action is comfortable with plenty of room on the saddle to go up or down. The guitar presents with the natural patina and honest aging of an instrument built in the 1950s — it looks great, with the character that only time can produce. Lovely checking, shown in photos. Comes with a hard case, the original bridge and saddle, and the original fret wire from the conversion.
- Make: Kay (remanufactured by Baxendale Conversions, Athens, GA)
- Model: Believed to be Kay Model 26
- Era: 1950s
- Country of origin: USA (Chicago, IL — original instrument)
- Body shape: Jumbo
- Top: Solid spruce, natural finish
- Back and sides: Maple, sunburst finish
- Bracing: Baxendale proprietary scalloped X-brace (Adirondack or Engelmann spruce)
- Neck: Original, reset by Baxendale
- Fingerboard: Radiused and refinished by Baxendale
- Nut: Bone (Baxendale installed)
- Saddle: Compensated bone (Baxendale installed), full life remaining
- Frets: New (Baxendale refret — originals included in case)
- Tuners: Grover Sta-Tite period-correct (Baxendale installed)
- Conversion: Full Baxendale Conversion — rebraced, neck reset, refret, new nut and saddle, new tuners
- Condition: Used VG – natural patina and honest aging consistent with 1950s instrument, presents beautifully
- Includes: Hard case, original bridge saddle, original fret wire
Ships carefully packed and insured for full value. International buyers are welcome — please contact us for a shipping quote before purchasing.
About Mill River Music
Mill River Music is an independent, human-powered music shop located in downtown Northampton, MA, run by a team of players, enthusiasts, and certified repair technicians. Every piece of used gear we sell is personally inspected, tested, and set up before it ships — we don't list it until we'd be happy to play it ourselves.
As Martin and Taylor certified techs, we hold our guitar work to a high standard, and we're committed to full transparency about the condition of everything we sell. No surprises.
When you buy from Mill River, you're supporting an independent local business that genuinely cares — about gear, about players, and about doing things right. We're here every step of the way. Reach out anytime.
