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50s Kay


MorrisrownSal

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Posted

I agree with the previous posters.

That Kay is over-priced.

 

I have handled a few of those guitars over the years (mainly providing a valuation for friends who found one in their uncle's closet), and/or restringing them and getting them playable.

 

On the good side, they ARE cool and funky, in an old-school sort of fashion.

 

On the down side, the action is usually crazy-high, and the overall quality of manufacture is mediocre.

 

I would gladly pay $100 for that particular guitar, but not $300 +.

 

[mellow]

Posted

Grunt... I see this guitar as one of two great ways to get the Ryan Adams sound... the other way is to use my J50 after the strings have been on for 7 months...

 

Ha ha! Love it. I'm a huge RA fan, have found myself looking at Harmony's for the same reason. I'll have to try to just let the strings go really dead.

Posted

Back in the '70s when I used to scour flea markets for instruments, I'd pass on this stuff every time.

 

But some of the Kay & Harmony archtops from the '30s were really nice!

Posted

I had one of those for a few years...actually just sold it this past summer for about that same price. They are cool guitars BUT...take a look at that wraparound bridge. That made the action very high. I actually had the bridge replaced to make it playable. they also often need a neck reset. Tiny frets and a baseball bat neck. Mine came in a cool faux alligator chipboard case with a red interior.

 

Also the headstock logo is missing on that guitar. They were often taken off of those guitars to put onto a more desirable Kay that was also missing a headstock logo.

 

Cool guitar if you can stand the quirks...

 

 

thoughts on this? The action is real high. The guitars sounds dry and....uncomplex. A neat little number.

Is it even worth it to pick this up cheap? It would neat a lot I guess... refret, neck set, etc...

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/Kay/Vintage-1950s-Flat-Top-Acoustic-Guitar.gc

Posted

The guitar is a tad high assuming it needs a neck reset but not that bad for a Kay cutaway Jumbo (or Mastersize as the Silvertone version was called). The biggest issue I have with these guitars is despite the chunky neck they tend to have fairly narrow 1 9/16" nuts which in the end is why I never settled in with one. I agree with Dotneck on this one though. The last one of these I owned, the first thing I did was get rid of that funky wrap around bridge and go with a regular pin bridge. I cannot seem to get away from those bridges though - my late 1930s Regal 12 string has one.

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