This guitar is terrific. It was given the once over by Ben Thiry of Seven Wards Guitar in Minnesota.
I can now highly recommend his work. Ben re-braced the guitar, neck work, fret work, new bridge, saddle, nut...the whole nine yards.
It plays and sounds incredible now. This Kay is probably from the mid to late 60's and sports a spruce top with maple back and sides. This is a pretty rare wood combo for Kay. I think I have only seen one other example of this model. Maple lends to a brighter tone. I was concerned about that as I am not a fan of bright tones in either acoustic or electric guitars. In this case, the maple excels at simply knocking the mud out of the mids and lows. Chords and single notes are crystal clear.
I believe this Kay came from a little later in their history. A time when they were trying to compete and stay relevant against the Japanese invasion of cheaper instruments. I think it dates to this time because of the wood combo, open back Grover tuners, and those sexy inlays on the neck. A little more upscale than the usual dot fretboard inlays in an attempt to woo some customers. Great neck on this one with a slightly flatter radius, terrific tone and playability.
 |
| A few wham-o's on this guitar, but that never hurt anyone. I like 'em like that! |
 |
| I forgot to mention the maple neck as well. Super rare choice for Kay guitars. |
No comments:
Post a Comment