Kay basses: D or Eb neck?

envika · #1 01-28-2009, 04:49 PM

Do Kays have a D neck or an Eb?

Also, are the necks really that much thinner than most other upright necks?

tomshepp · #2 01-28-2009, 04:53 PM

Mine is a D neck. I think they all are. But I could be wrong. The neck, which is original, is quite thin.

Phil Rowan · #3 01-28-2009, 05:23 PM

Mine's also a D. And +1 on the necks being thin (although I'd rather put -1, since it kinda makes it tough to keep my left hand relaxed.. I'll keep dreaming about having a shim and ebony board put on).

fdeck · #4 01-28-2009, 05:31 PM

Mine's a D.

The shim and thick board is an idea. That would also decrease the understand.

Jake deVilliers · #5 01-28-2009, 06:11 PM

Kays have D necks as everybody's reporting and they do have thin and narrow necks.

My smaller hands like the narrowness but adding depth really makes them nicer to play. Carbon fibre reinforcement and a thicker ebony board make a big difference in both sound and feel.

e.maynard · #6 01-28-2009, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jake deVilliers

Carbon fibre reinforcement and a thicker ebony board make a big difference in both sound and feel.

Can you detail the Carbon Fiber install?
As in 2 square rods routed in the neck - epoxied perhaps, below the fingerboard? I've done this on a Bolt On Fender neck with great results.

Never thought about it on a Kay.

EggyToast · #7 01-29-2009, 11:38 AM

The neck on my Kay snapped at one point and was fixed with a shim, making it thicker. The fingerboard was also replaced with an ebony one. Not sure when, though -- before I owned it.

I don't have a point of comparison to see how much different it feels from an "original" Kay, but I appreciate the extra thickness. I'll take a picture of it when I get home.

Jake deVilliers · #8 01-29-2009, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by e.maynard

Can you detail the Carbon Fiber install?

I think there's a photo in the 'Gallery' section of www.crescentbeachguitar.com in the Kay pix. I left the end visible so any repairperson later on can see what's in there.

I use one piece of 1/4" x 1/2" x 17" carbon fibre from Luthier's mercantile. They weigh only ~57 grams. I made an ugly but servicable fixture for routing a slot in the board and install it with 24HR Cold Cure Epoxy.

In order to keep the gluing surface of the board all wood I glued a skinny maple ripping on top. The epoxy and wood plane well, the CF not so much - don't ask me how I know.

GerardSamija · #9 01-29-2009, 12:35 PM

You and Maiken did a lovely job restoring the much-abused finish on that Kay Jake, very nice work. Often the old lacquer is so clouded and chalky that the depth of the veneer figure is somewhat lost... but of course, unless some idiot has gone over the thing with a bucket of paint as happened in this case there's no excuse to fiddle with it.

I wonder; with the steeper angle on the neck/higher bridge, how's the belly on that thing for soundpost distortion under the treble foot and above the post? A bit more pressure now. I don't see a circular reinforcement piece in the soundpost area of the belly, just the back, and more often than not at this age the poor things are just about ready to pop through...

Jake deVilliers · #10 01-29-2009, 02:53 PM

You mean like this '39 Sunburst top!

Thanks for the kind words Gerard. Maiken's poor bass was slathered in brown crap and it was a real shock to see what was lurking beneath! The bass got a lot lighter too!

The bridge is 5 7/8" at the centre with the string heights at 5mm - 7mm at 38% humidity today. The top is down a couple of millimetres in front of the treble foot and has been like that for a while. If it changes for the worse I'll slip a patch in there for sure.

GerardSamija · #11 01-29-2009, 03:18 PM

Sure, about exactly like that '39 sunburst. Or like this old blonde, the ex-Major Holly, long played by Russell Jackson. Seems there was one less PA in his van than usual when he hit some washboard along the Hope-Princeton Hwy some years ago, leaving room for the bass to jump up and down a few times on its back. Poor thing. I put in about 1/8" of maple, two layers with the grain offset about 10degrees, a circle about 4" diameter. It's held so far. That unfortunate bass has had its adventures... some drunken customer at a Whistler eatery once got overly inspired to play the bass after Russell's acoustic set, and while no one was looking the idiot tried to sneak the Kay out the back door. Security cameras caught it, as he bashed the head into a doorframe really hard and tore the upper block and a chunk of rib apart. Restaurant never paid for the repair, and Russell never played for them again. Still, the thing is one of the nicest sounding Kays I've met.

I'd not worry if the belly is only a bit distorted. So long as the post is not overly far from the bridge the distortion is normal enough and doesn't get worse very quickly. It's when you get some cowboy putting the thing over an inch away from the bridge and cranking the adjusters up a mile that things get more pothole-like. If the bridge is under 6" it sounds sensible enough. I know, some of the old Kays have rather shorter bridges, and it's nice getting a bit more height to bring out the full sound.

EggyToast · #12 01-29-2009, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EggyToast

The neck on my Kay snapped at one point and was fixed with a shim, making it thicker. The fingerboard was also replaced with an ebony one. Not sure when, though -- before I owned it.

I don't have a point of comparison to see how much different it feels from an "original" Kay, but I appreciate the extra thickness. I'll take a picture of it when I get home.

Here it is. Picture turned out pretty well, too.

http://eggytoast.com/img/bassneck.jpg