Kay acoustic from the 60's

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Well my neighbor/friend today bequeathed me a Kay guitar that her parents bought for her in the store at the Lemoore Naval Air Base when she was 16 years old, which would make it 1966. I have tried to do some research on this particular model, but since there is no model number (at least visible) on the thing, I have not found an identical guitar on the internet. This is similar I think to the 00 body style? 15" across the lower bout, 14 frets at the body. It has what they called the "Kelvenator" head plate treatment, which is actuall very thin aluminum. This company made guitars for Sears, Wards, etc...remember the "Silvertone"? They made it!

As you can see it has a brownish sunburst painted body. It appears to have Tortise binding and the pick guard is red tortise. The grain shows through on the back pretty well and looks like mahogany. The bridge and fretboard are either BRW or perhaps a walnut (I've read both treatments were used on these). The bridge is pinless and the string feeds through the front of the bridge and then wraps up and over the back to the saddle. Never seen that before.
It is in pretty good condition. I don't see any cracks. The neck is bowed up and from this a slight fretboard hump is created at the body. It looks like the nut and saddle are plastic and are still in serviceable condition. I have not yet removed the truss rod cover on the headstock, but I assume there must be a truss rod in there. The action is of course high, but if the neck can be straightened out some with the truss rod, and the bridge shaved a little bit and the saddle brought down a little, it should be playable. I am kind of anxious to give it a whirl.
I had my first guitar in 1966, something someone gave me and can't remember what brand it was. I purchased my first guitar in 1969, a "Ventura" Dred made in Japan. My next guitar purchased in 1972 was a Hohner "Contessa" Dred made in Germany. How'd I get off on that?? A bit of remenicing I guess.
Anyway, my thoughts are to try and make this guitar playable and leave it as is, totally original if possible. I think even the tuners might be okay, but there is a screw in the back missing. Interesting....the posts come through holes in the front of the headstock and there are no bushings, nuts...nothing on top, and this seems to be original.

Kevin

[Kevin Sjostrand]

....a couple more pics.

[darren]

Cool Bridge - I guess that saddle slot isn't very deep if the strings have to get under it, right? Let us know how this turns out.



Screws in the pickguard? :):):)

[Kevin Sjostrand]

you are right about that bridge Darren, slot can't be very deep, but probably about the amount exposed.
In the pictures I found of these guitars they all have screwed on pickguards. It is also quite thick, kind of dome shaped.

Kevin

[B. Howard]

You're not kidding about excess relief, hope the truss rod works and does not suffer from a slipping anchor. Also, is it just the lighting or has the neck joint shrunk or shifted? Looks like white wood peeking out at the body joint.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

The heel is tight against the body, but that area on both sides is light....like the finish is worn off...strange....unless the heel is set "into" the heel block and has slipped out...but no way they would have worked that hard on a joint on an el cheapo guitar.
I'll get a closer look at the whole deal tonight and let you all know what I find.

Kevin

[Darryl Young]

Very nice! Is the soundhole bound?

[Kevin Sjostrand]

There is a purfling like ring in the soundhole, yes. No rosette as you can see.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

So last night I adjusted the truss rod and got the neck "straighter", but the neck will still have to have a reset. I made it almost playable up to about the 4th fret, lowered the strings at the nut and saddle a little. I fixed up some missing screws on the tuner plates and stripped holes in the headstock, so that is working good.
So, I'm not going to work on it now, got other things to do, but perhaps in the cold of the winter I'll attempt to remove the neck and deal with it.
Any help from you guys on how to do this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Kevin