2010s Kay K162 Vintage Reissue Hollowbody Electric Bass Guitar

Overview: Original K162 basses are very scarce. This is one of the more recent reissue models that was made in Korea. It's a quality build with a retro sound and good looks and has a few modernized features to make it easier to live with.

Tone: Like the old ones, it has a simple bar-magnet, single-coil pickup. It's thumpy and round-sounding with a nice, upper-mids punch to the sound but not much treble-forward response to speak-of. In the video there's a little undue light background noise because I'm sitting right next to the amp and, in that orientation, am crossing paths with some sort of interference from the room's wiring or other electronic gadgets just so. Two feet farther away from the amp and there was no noise, but I was too worn-out when I did the video to move the amp over so I could sit at a different angle.

Feel: Unlike the old guys, the neck on this one is a faster C-shape which is welcome to the hands and familiar if you've played similar Hofner repros of recent manufacture.

Interesting features: It's a great copycat of the original bass design and the lucite-looking headstock veneer/detailing is spot-on. Compared to an original, the bonuses are better tuners and a bridge with some adjustment ability for compensation (it's like a Hofner bridge). The finish appears to be poly rather than nitro or something thinner, though that does make it a lot more durable.

Repairs included: I had to tweak the setup, adjust a few frets, and replace a missing truss cover. It's playing spot-on and ready to go.

• Weight: 7 lbs 12 oz
• Scale length: 31"
• Nut width: 1 1/2"
• Neck shape: slim-medium C
• Board radius: 12"
• Body width: 14 3/4"
• Body depth: 2 3/4"
• Body wood: ply maple
• Bridge: adjustable rosewood (archtop style)
• Fretboard: rosewood
• Neck wood: maple
• Pickups: 1x single coil
• Action height at 12th fret: 3/32" bass and 1/16" treble (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: feels like 95w-35w or similar
• Truss rod: adjustable
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: medium-bigger

Condition notes: It's almost new and has been cared-for well. There may be light scratches or scuffs here and there that I'm not seeing but it looks more "shopworn" than anything. The truss cover is a replacement I whipped-up as the original was missing.

It comes with: It's got its original, nice, 2-tone hard case.

Consignor tag: DGMT