1960s Kay Rubber-Bridge Hollowbody Electric Bass Guitar Conversion

Overview: Jose continues to impress me with his rubber-bridge-mod basses. This is the third one he's done using this type of old Kay, bolt-on-neck guitar. It's a great model to use as the scale is on the shorter side, the body is relatively thin, the body is ply and so it's durable, and the music-note stencil thing is all-plus! This started out as a guitar and got conversion to a "pocket bass" with a rubber-saddle bridge (ie, "rubber bridge"). The sound out of these is round, bouncy, and "acoustic" in nature -- they sound a lot like an upright when plugged-in. Due to the rubber saddle, they intonate on a straight line at the bridge and don't bend out of tune when plucking hard like you get with a normal pocket-bass configuration (which drives me nuts). They're also acoustically loud-enough to stick a mic in front of one for recording use.

It's got a lipstick single coil pickup fit at the neck and a simple volume-plus-jack wiring harness. We use old Strat trem claws as tailpieces on these and, these days, we make-up a very specific rubber-bridge design with a steel base and rubber on the top, fit with adjustable posts below it so action adjustment to taste is easy-peasy. I prefer the sound of roundwound strings on these guys as it's got a more marimba-like punch to it, but they can be strung with flatwounds for a darker, old-jazz-sound, too, though the smaller tuner posts may require hunting-around to find the right sort-of string to suit. Due to the long extra-string-length behind the bridge, normal long-scale electric strings can be used with no issue.

Repairs included: It got a level/dress of the frets, pickup cut and fit, wiring harness install, new bridge made-up to suit, tailpiece install, new bone nut, headstock mod down to 4 tuners, cleaning, and setup work. Jose did it all. It's playing spot-on and ready to go.

• Weight: 4 lbs 5 oz
• Scale length: 24 1/4"
• Nut width: 1 11/16"
• Neck shape: medium-full C/D
• Board radius: flat
• Depth at first fret: 1 1/64"
• Depth at seventh fret: 1 1/64"
• Body width: 13 3/8"
• Body depth: 3"
• Body wood: ply birch
• Bridge: adjustable rubber-saddle
• Fretboard: maple
• Neck wood: maple or poplar
• Pickups: 1x lipstick single coil (Alnico magnet)
• Action height at 12th fret: 3/32" bass to 1/16" treble (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: 95w-40w or similar nickel-wound
• Truss rod: non-adjustable
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: medium-lower

Condition notes: It's been modified! Aside from that, there are the usual light-to-medium scratches, scuffs, nicks, and dings throughout the finish. The finish has also weather-checked a bit in the clearcoat. The tuners, nut, bridge, pickup, and harness are all non-original.

It comes with: Sorry, no case.

Consignor tag: MULK