1960(ish) Kay upright bass fingerboard-- replace or plane?

Could you post a picture showing the thickness of the fingerboard as well as the divots?

 

Theres still plenty of meat left on that fingerboard and it's a beautiful and unique piece. I wouldnt replace it unless it's really neccessary. Some of the old Kays had very thin fingerboards but yours has plenty of thickness left to plane it down.

You may not be aware but there is also an entire repair sub over on the double bass side of talkbass. You'll find some very experienced luthiers over there that can give you a better idea about the value.

 

That board doesn't look original to me, it's way too thick. I would opt to plane it down. You really have nothing to lose.

 

Happy to help. Just make sure you head over to the double bass side of the site or you'll get some funny responses from the bass guitar guys.

 

Looks like a bass that someone was playing rockabilly bass on. Those old Kay's are super popular with guys who play slap upright and that can really do a number on a softer rosewood board. Its hard to tell from the pics but it looks like the grooves get deeper as you get closer to the bridge. That would likely come from years of smacking strings against the fingerboard.

 

Looks similar to the pau ferro on my Fretless EB

 

As a player, I’d much prefer an ebony fingerboard, so long as the ebony is thick and good quality. I’m no Kay collector though, but I’d be willing to bet people would pay a bit more for a well set up Kay with an ebony board.

 

Echoing previous comments.. plenty of meat, I'd say plane it down (could maybe fill a bit with CA glue?), and once the grooves develop again, then consider swapping for the ebony.

 

If it sounds good, plane it down.

 

Brazilian rosewood fingerboard, factory original. Plane that one first. If it fails your needs, then proceed to board #2.

 

I mentioned in PM that this looks like a stock Brazilian rosewood fingerboard. If you swap it out, someone will want it. I have one on hand that I don't think I'd let go for less than $150.

I've heard it said by a couple of slappers, and this could easily be a minority view, that they prefer the softer Kay woods over the ebony, maple in particular. Speculating, it could be that a little bit of give in the board makes a four-set gig less painful.

 

What Condino said.

Am I wrong in thinking the rosewood sounds a little different than ebony?

 

If you drop two similar dimension pieces on the tablesaw or other hard surface, one of Brazilian rosewood and the other ebony, it is very audible. The Brazilian rosewood will be loud and full of harmonic richness and overtones. The ebony piece will hit with a dull thud. A primarily arco player will often prefer the ebony because of those dampening characteristics that will tame too many overtones and rowdiness that get amplified by the extra power of a bow. On the other hand, a pitz player will often find find the Brazilian rosewood more preferable because those extra overtones help the weaker short note. You will get similar reactions with tailpiece materials. The same reason why guitar players get all excited about sparkly overtones with Brazilian rosewood yet you very rarely see an all black ebony acoustic guitar- as a whole, not every exciting voice. There are exceptions, but as a whole...

When all other things are the same, if we inject 100 units of mechanical energy into an instrument with a pitz attack, approximately 4 1/2 units of soundwave come out. The rest is lost to friction and mechanical dampening and such lost within the body. When using a bow for arco sound production, the number goes up something in the neighborhood of 18 units. That is 4 times the power, hence the preference for some dampening and taming.

Not all Brazilian rosewood is soft and wears fast, just like not all ebony is dense and super durable. As a primarily pitz player, I much prefer a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard and find that with approx 75 gigs a year (...not this year ...) I only need a light dressing about once every two years that takes maybe 20-30 minutes of bench time. I always get excited when I see beautiful figure and color variation in old Kay rosewood fingerboards, especially when it matches the tailpiece. On my personal instruments, I try to use the same board for both fittings....

 

You 'gotta' strut those high heel red boots on the gig when you get the old Kay back up and running!

 

Not at all. I think slapping and pizz sounds much more “earthy” on the rosewood board on my Kay; which has been planed three times due to rockabilly slapping. The next time it will be replaced with a nice ebony board as it’s only about a third of an inch thick now. I find that ebony has a much more pronounced click to it than the rosewood for slap styles and the pizz notes appear to sound more defined and have more sustain - depending on the string choice. I am basing this on rented basses with ebony fingerboards that I’ve used on tour when it wasn’t feasible to travel with my bass.