Kent Buys (Corvallis) is a master instrument repairman. At his shop, the Troubadour Music Center, he carefully restores and repairs a variety of international and national stringed instruments while also teaching his apprentices, trained thirteen since the 1970s, the finer points of this painstaking work. He takes great pleasure in returning repaired instruments to his performers, far more than he would by performing himself. Buys also hosts musical performances at the Center.
Bio
Kent Buys is a master instrument repairman who’s shop has repaired over 35,000 instruments. His shop, which also sells a variety of instruments, focuses on guitars, mandolins, violins, banjos, and international instruments; serves as a teaching studio; and also hosts occasional concerts. Buys also has experience repairing instruments in the sitar family and ouds as well as Chinese and Japanese stringed instruments. As a young man, Buys apprenticed with Charles Chase at Folk Music Center in Claremont California in the late 1960s. He learned difficult repair and restoration, from simple set-ups to archival quality restorations. He also passes on the training he experienced by mentoring apprentices—at least thirteen apprentices as of 2021 including his son Ryan Buys who put up with him for seventeen years. Some even go on to become skilled craftsmen themselves. Kent Buys first teaches his apprentices to understand the instruments: how they are played, how they are built, and how to determine what parts may be missing or damaged. He must also teach his assistants to recognize the types of woods, glues, and the different finish groups, such as lacquer and varnish groups. Structural assessment comes next. This involves checking all the braces inside the instrument; instead of removing an instrument’s back, Buys inserts mirrors and flashlights into the interior with close inspection whenever possible. Repair and restoration work may include a large variety of tools to choose from including dental tools; Buys estimates that he has 50 specialized files alone. The final stage involves finish work, a skill that takes an apprentice many years to learn. Instead of replacing parts or stripping and re-varnishing archival-quality instruments, Buys works with existing materials; their aged wood and finishes gives older instruments their coveted sound. At the Troubadour workshop, as Buys notes, "like people, each instrument is different and each requires individual care."
