Here is a sweet old Kay K395 Electric Mandolin, in Very Good condition, with a freshly reset neck and optimized set-up.  This Kay mandolin is made in the Venetian style, a favorite of the Kay company.  It dates from the early 1960s, was made in the USA and has a pickup with a very wide dynamic range.  The pickup is not especially strong, so you’ll have to boost the volume a bit on your amp, but the tone control provides everything from a mellow acoustic sound to a very bright and cutting sound fit for a rock band.  It will function well in jazz or folk music settings.

Coming into the shop, the neck had pulled free of the body and the action was unplayable.  We removed the neck and reset it (the angle was fine), but typical of many of these old Kay instruments, the Dovetail joint was not sharply cut and the neck, despite shimming, wanted to continue to pull free.  We opted to glue it, let it set and then reinforce the neck with a bolt through the neck heel, countersunk, doweled, sanded smooth and finished with black lacquer.  It has left us with a functional and playable instrument.

In addition to fixing the neck issues, we cleaned and lubricated the tuners, leveled and crowned the frets, applied DeOxit to the potentiometers and lemon oiled the fretboard and bridge.

The action on the mandolin, at the 12th fret, is 5/64ths on the Low G answer 1/16th on the High E.  The neck has a slight bow in it (also typical of Kay instruments) which has resulted in the A, D & G strings tending to fret out above the tenth fret.  You could remedy this with a raised action, but we think the best course is to constrain playing to the first ten frets and keep the action as low as possible.

Please be sure to check out the photos carefully, as we have tried to capture this cool old Kay from all sides.

There is a mark on the top of the mandolin, where the bridge had been set (improperly) for many years.  We moved the bridge in order to lock in the intonation and the mark has become visible.

This Kay K395 comes in its original chipboard case, rather worn but completely serviceable.

This Kay K395 is sold AS IS and is not returnable unless it arrives in a condition other than as described or photographed, here.

Price: $600.00 plus $60 shipping (Lower 48 USA, only)