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Double Bass Kay Bass

#4
Ron B said:
I have a carved bass, but I am thinking of buying a second bass
for a backup.
As far as the Kay Basses are the older earlier models from the 1940's or even 1950's compare to the later basses of the 1960's.
Are the older ones better.
Click to expand...

The earlier ones seem to be more responsive than the ones from the sixties but the later ones can be set up to sound very good too.

Its more about the individual bass than anything else.
 
#6
I had a 62 Kay for about 20 years. It was one of the good ones, but the 37 Kay I have now blows it away. I think that with the advent of steel strings, Kay increased the thickness of the tops. Still, it is all about the individual instrument. There are also new plywood basses that are worth checking out.
 
#7
ctxbass said:
I had a 62 Kay for about 20 years. It was one of the good ones, but the 37 Kay I have now blows it away. I think that with the advent of steel strings, Kay increased the thickness of the tops. Still, it is all about the individual instrument. There are also new plywood basses that are worth checking out.
Click to expand...

thanks ctx, I will have to play some from the 30's, 40's and compare to later 60's
 
#8
ctxbass said:
I think that with the advent of steel strings, Kay increased the thickness of the tops.
Click to expand...
I have a M1B 41 Kay, and because of Steel string (I think) the top on the bass side is .... (I m searching for the english word....) pushed inside:help:. With steel strings the bass sounds choked. I put gut strings a month ago, At first the bass sounded dead, now a month later, the bass sounds really good. Better that ever. I think that this model was not built for high tension strings. But, thats my experience and I do not know anything about lutherie to prove this.

Francois
 
#9
bassbuddie said:
I have a M1B 41 Kay, and because of Steel string (I think) the top on the bass side is .... (I m searching for the english word....) pushed inside:help:. With steel strings the bass sounds choked. I put gut strings a month ago, At first the bass sounded dead, now a month later, the bass sounds really good. Better that ever. I think that this model was not built for high tension strings. But, thats my experience and I do not know anything about lutherie to prove this.

Francois
Click to expand...

Well that's interesting that the earlier 1940's Kays sound better with gut strings, it seems that it is a popular bass for country
and bluegrass and gut strings.I would use it for Jazz and steel
strings like Thomastik Spirocore Weich
 
#10
I'm about to go pick up the 1947 Kay that I juts purchased and it's been used for Jazz for the past 3 years with steel Thomastik's (FWIW). I was AMAZED at the sound that came out of the instrument when I went and auditioned it. I honestly couldn't believe that a beat up old plywood bass could sound so good. I'll be posting some pics this evening, I am WAY WAY WAY excited

:hyper:
 
#11
RobertUI said:
I'm about to go pick up the 1947 Kay that I juts purchased and it's been used for Jazz for the past 3 years with steel Thomastik's (FWIW). I was AMAZED at the sound that came out of the instrument when I went and auditioned it. I honestly couldn't believe that a beat up old plywood bass could sound so good. I'll be posting some pics this evening, I am WAY WAY WAY excited

:hyper:
Click to expand...

looking forward to pictures
 

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