I know a tiny bit about some of the restorations that Ken has sponsored and made happen, and the many basses he has brought back to life. I certainly don't know all of the stories; I know he has given a lot of work to several luthiers and made a lot of basses sing better than ever before.
Ken currently has an expose thread going about the cheesy, illegal, and unscrupulous things that a few luthiers have done. Its good information to have out there, to be sure.
On the other hand, there are some talented, scrupulous luthiers doing beautiful work these days. Does anybody have positive, successful, major rebuild stories to share? With either a modest bass (like mine) or some of the less modest instruments that many of you have?
Here's my thread on a positive experience with Jed Kriegel and his work:
http://www.smithbassforums.com/showt...0039#post20039
I would be interested to hear more stories from luthiers and/or bassists where instruments were drastically improved, transformed, rebuilt, and/or restored...