1960s Kay K1160 Music Note Rubber-Bridge Electric Bass Guitar Conversion (No 4)

Overview: This is number four of four Kay K1160 "music note" parlor guitar to rubber-bridge electric bass guitar conversions we finished-up in January of 2026.

This model has a 24 1/4" scale length, 14 frets free of the body, and the rubber saddle intonates "at scale" so it's easy to keep the instrument in tune. We use 95w-35w extra light roundwounds but any long-scale strings can be used. I stay away from proper flatwounds (they like to unwind on slim tuner posts, mostly) on these, but I've done plenty of these up where people have requested them and, when you find the right set, they work just fine.

I prefer roundwounds because they give a more bouncy, marimba-like, upright-like sound as opposed to normal flats which will give these guys a darker, Hofner-esque sound. A happy medium to cut finger-noise are D'Addario tapewounds, which (for all intents and purposes) sound very similar to normal rounds.

Anyhow, while these are very simple guitars (all-ply and bolt-on necks), the conversion process actually has a lot of thought and time put in from years of making these mods and these basses are disastrously fun one you have one in your grip -- I borrowed one for a 2-hour jam last night (1/20/26) and the round, bouncy, upright-like attack was the perfect thing to blend into the mix of acoustics and light electric lead stuff up at my buddy's house. It's also a lot cozier to play for a couple hours with something so lightweight and short in the lap compared to a long-scale, solidbody critter, though one does need to back-off on the aggression side to get the most out of playing these.

Repairs included: The conversion process includes a level/dress of the frets, side dots added, a pickup (Danelectro-style lipstick) and wiring harness install (simple 1 volume and jack), fitting of a new tailpiece (we squash used Strat spring hooks into shape for this, these days), mod to the headstock (fill extra holes with pearl dots, fit new tuners or mod the old ones), strap buttons get added, and a new bridge is fit. The bridge has a steel "saddle plate" with the rubber saddle glued to its top and we've been using some nice, narrow, but rugged thumbwheel posts for the adjusters recently. It's playing spot-on and is ready to go!

• Weight: 4 lbs 1 oz
• Scale length: 24 1/4"
• Nut width: 1 5/8"
• Neck shape: medium-full C/soft V
• Board radius: flat
• Depth at first fret: 0.91"
• Depth at seventh fret: 0.94"
• Body width: 13 1/2"
• Body depth: 3"
• Body wood: ply birch
• Bridge: rubber-saddle/steel base
• Fretboard: maple
• Neck wood: poplar
• Pickups: 1x lipstick single coil
• Action height at 12th fret: 3/32" bass to 1/16" treble (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: 95w-35w
• Truss rod: non-adjustable
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: medium-lower

Condition notes: The finish has natural wear and tear -- nicks, dings, scratches, etc. throughout. Overall, though, it looks nice. The factory sprayed the black fret markers a little off (they make contact with the back of the frets above them) which is a visual quirk. It's also, of course, highly-modified from its original setup.

It comes with: Sorry, no case.

Consignor tag: MULK