Your thoughts on old Kay Value Leader basses.

[rockear]

Vintage Guitar Magazine ran a story on these basses:

Kay Jazz Special and Value Leader

$80 in 1960 is ~$900 today, so that one for $500 is practically half-off, from a certain point of view...

 

[Tim Skaggs]

These, Supros, and a few others similar to these were showing up at a blues festival I used to attend back in the late 90s. They were just starting to become desirable for actual use, not as a decoration. Their prices hadn’t reached much over $100 at the time, but some of the bassists I spoke to were willing to give a little more. They had a tone & a look the blues players wanted at the time. Some of them had passed up the Kay, Supro types and gone with original Musicmasters, which were about the same price or cheaper at the time, but significantly better quality.

I looked at a few that were a little over $100 and passed on everything I saw. Even in perfect condition, none had decent intonation and all sounded a little like a washtub bass, which is what the blues players wanted, but not me. I might give $$500 for a half dozen of them if I thought I could sell enough to keep one for well less than $100…

 

[Jaycat]

I think I now have all the information I need.

Thanks everyone. I will search elsewhere for something cool looking.

 

[Water buffalo]

Edit: by the way, someone suggested above that the design of the Value Leader bass is faulty because the bridge is placed wrong for the scale length. It's a floating bridge, so that's not a concern. The first thing I did with my Value Leader guitar was to slide the bridge to the right spot to correct the intonation.

Not to beat a dead horse, but every one of these basses that I see has the bridge in the same location as the guitar. To be correct, the bridge would have to be positioned below the control knobs.

Kay Jazz Special and Value Leader

It's interesting that the guitar version (with the single pickup) is widely available for under $400. The only difference is the fretboard.

 

[Guitalia]

Not to beat a dead horse, but every one of these basses that I see has the bridge in the same location as the guitar. To be correct, the bridge would have to be positioned below the control knobs.


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It's interesting that the guitar version (with the single pickup) is widely available for under $400. The only difference is the fretboard.

The pictured basses appear to be examples of the 24 1/2'-scale version. In which case the bridge would be properly positioned.

 

[Lowbrow]

I have experience owning/playing a few Kay basses — including the 5930, 5925, and Speed Demon. These, with the ‘speed bump’ pickup in an approximate P position offer better sound and are a better quality. Note that you can sometimes find some models badged as ‘Truetone’

 

[Ostie]

If I was looking for a wall hanger or a conversation piece, I might pay $100.

 

[sean_on_bass]

well i give Kay credit for trying