1940s Kay Archtop Rubber Bridge Bass Guitar Conversion

Before anyone asks -- yes, this bird has flown. A friend convinced another friend (local) to grab this before I even had a chance to do a video of it.

I've known this instrument for a while, now, though. Years ago I got it playing "well enough" for its owner as a normal, acoustic 6-string. It did sound nice that way but really needed a neck reset. This time around the instrument was traded to me in lieu of work, so I set about doing what I wanted to it. In this case -- I converted it into a guitar-scale, rubber-bridge-equipped, electrified bass. It's even got a set of ancient flatwound strings on it. Yip!

The most curious bit about the instrument itself is that it has flamed-maple veneer ply for the back and sides but the top is actually solid flamed maple. Wild, huh? It definitely has its own sound -- clean and woody and with decent warmth, actually.

Modifications and repairs included a neck reset, dowel installed through the body from the neckblock to the endblock (for added stability), modification of the original bridge top to have a rubber saddle, tailpiece swap for something that holds bass strings and allows enough afterlength for normal 34" scale bass strings to be used, pickup cavity cut and install of the pickup and wiring harness, a mild level/dress of the frets, tuner swap-out at the headstock, and setup work. It's all done up.

If you haven't heard what these are like, this other Kay sounds almost identical (same Japanese bass pickup, too). If you want to see similar Kay-made models, check out this one with a spruce top and this one in sunburst.