1965 Kapa Continental Bass *FINAL PRICEDROP* NOW £300 posted £400

[bassist_lewis]

I am regrettably selling my Kapa Continental due to buying a Fender JMJ Mustang bass. I bought this from Wunjos in London about 3 years ago and its done maybe a dozen gigs in that time. Its a really nice bass to play, 30" scale, lightweight, balances well and has that thumpy vintage sound, and strung with flats (LaBella or Thomastik). It's in vintage condition, so quite a few dings and scratches, checking on the back of the body and the neck, some of the inlays are set too deep into the fretboard but don't feel like they're going to come out, and the frets aren't overly worn. It has some quirks, the tone knob is very subtle, and the bridge is one piece of metal with height adjustment ie. no control over intonation or individual string height. These instruments are very rare, I can't find much about them online and I've not seen one for sale since I bought it.

I've installed Loxx straplocks but will include the original strap pins ad screws in the sale. I'll even throw in the nice Leather strap and crappy gig bag. Rest assured I will use tons of bubble wrap and get hold of a proper guitar box to ship it in.

postage to UK only

Edited October 2, 2018 by bassist_lewis

[PawelG]

Very cool. Good luck with the sale!

[Shaggy]

Never seen or heard of these before, but the pickup looks exactly like the bridge p/up on my old mid-'60's Kalamazoo KB1 - I think made by Gibson.

Nice rosewood board on this too!   Vintage bump

[alstocko]

Is that a short scale? Looks nice!

[bassist_lewis]

It is! Forgot to mention that in the description

[pmjos]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiAqcxlwwws

One of these....

https://uniqueguitar.blogspot.com/2010/02/kapa-guitars.html

 

Edited August 1, 2018 by pmjos
more info

[bassist_lewis]

Thats the one! Thanks pmjos!

[stewblack]

Only thing putting me off is not being able to adjust the intonation. How does it play beyond the 12th fret? Does it stay close or do end up bending strings into tune?

[bassist_lewis]

8 hours ago, stewblack said:

Only thing putting me off is not being able to adjust the intonation. How does it play beyond the 12th fret? Does it stay close or do end up bending strings into tune?

The intonation from the 1st up to the 14th fret is very good, certainly scales are in tune at that point, but at about the 15th fret it gets a bit iffy especially if you're playing chords. If you were to play the D or A at the 19th fret with the corresponding open string it will be out of tune.

[stewblack]

Ok, thank you.

[OLD KAPA]

I have a Kapa bass..long story that's only interesting to me. Anyway, the bridge is gone and I have not been able to find an original replacement. If you still have the bass, could you let me know what the string spacing at the bridge is?

[bassist_lewis]

I sold this a couple of years ago, so I can't tell you the string spacing, sorry!