1938 Kay M-4 Upright Bass - Blonde

Very rare early Kay model from 1938, only produced for 1937-1938. The previous owner had purchased the bass in the late 80s/early 90s (can’t remember which), and was told it had been owned by Rufus Reid. Neither he nor I can confirm the veracity of this bit of trivia, though.

The M4 is the blonde version of the original flagship M1-AH model, details below from Gollihur’s Kay model info page:

• M1-AH: Original flagship model named for company designer Alvin Hawes; viol, select woods, various patterns, ebony or rosewood fingerboard, 3-piece neck, carved scroll, edge purfling, fancy tuning plates; '37-38, rare.
• M4: Same as M-1AH, but blonde; '37-38, rare

This instrument was in rough shape when I bought it. Upon purchase, I immediately drove it down to my bass whisperer, Les White of the Honeytone Bass Clinic, who performed the following repairs:

• Reglued neck*
• New rosewood fingerboard
• New rosewood nut (Made from the original fingerboard! I will include the remnants of the original board for posterity)
• New bridge w/ adjusters
• New wood endpin (I’ll include the hollow tube endpin it came with, as well)
• New tailpiece cable
• Glued all cracks
• Installed new Evah Pirazzi Slap strings (gut G/D, synthetic A/E)

*While I was initially going to have Les do a full neck reset to accommodate the option for modern steel strings, I use this bass exclusively with a gut string setup, and I find the shallower neck angle suits roots playing (particularly slap) better, so I opted to have Les reglue it instead. The neck is extremely stable with the work done, and could be reset if desired in the future.

Also includes:

• Upton Rev Solo pickup
• Kay waterslide decal which I never got around to putting on
• Basic cover

Local(ish) pickup. The bass is located in Seattle, and I’m happy to meet a very interested party partway (Oregon/northern CA), Bellingham, central WA, etc).