1950s Kay Jumbo Archtop Rubber Bridge Bass Conversion

This conversion sounds and feels almost identical to a black-painted mod of the same model Kay I worked-on recently (click here for a video and details). I did this one up for its owner per request in this style and the black one was sort of a "prototype" version. It was one of the most fun rubber- bridge basses I'd worked-on yet and I was very happy with the way this one turned-out, too. It's fun to both play these unplugged and on the couch or in front of a mic for recording and, when plugged-in, they sound like the very best mix between an upright and a Hofner-style electric bass.

The instrument itself started-out as a '50s Kay jumbo-sized archtop guitar that had some old work done to it -- including either a respray or refinish job throughout. I modded the headstock by replacing the guitar tuners with a set of 4 Grover Imperials (which turn-out to be great for this job as their slightly-larger shafts help with the bigger bass strings), Manny leveled/dressed the frets, I cut the pickup route and fit a wiring harness, modded an old archtop bridge to fit a rubber-topped saddle, and then modded it to suit bass stringing with a simple "non-tailpiece" load at the endblock.

The pickup is a Strat-sized, Alnico-magnet, lipstick-style single coil and the strings are D'Addario Extra Light bass strings -- 95w-35w or similar. These old Kays have longer, 25 3/4" scale necks.