From The Workbench - 1960's Kay Dreadnaughts

A couple of posts ago we had a look at a 1960's Kay Dreadnaught.  This is a really unique instrument so I thought I would share a few photos of a couple of other Kays that are being worked on.


Here is a Kay Dread that I have on the workbench right now.  This guitar is in need of a lot of attention.  I initially had to shim the nut and make a new saddle for it.  The neck angle was a bit off so I was hoping to avoid having to do a neck reset by monkeying with the saddle and nut a bit.  No such luck.  The action was screwy and with the neck angle being sufficiently off as well as some space showing between the heel and body a neck reset was needed.

The difficulties of restoring this instrument have been compounded by the fact that it has been worked on before.  This was clear to me before I took the neck off as I could see some glue between the heel and body.  There were numerous other tell tale signs that this guitar had been worked on before.  A cardboard shim for the nut, a poorly cleated crack, etc.  None of the work is professional and only makes things more difficult now.  But hey, I'm not a pro either.  I'll have a go at getting this guitar back together again properly.


These guitars deserve our diligence.  They are made with quality, solid woods and are usually built like battleships capable of withstanding some blows that many other guitars might not be able to handle.  In terms of the woods that are used - I'm not sure who was using what back in those days.  Was Kay using a less quality spruce than Martin or Gibson?  I would think the wood quality was pretty similar.  This guitar is spruce and mahogany with a rosewood bridge and fretboard.  The difference I would guess would be in the craftsmanship.

We have to assume that the attention to detail in the old Martin and Gibson factories was a bit superior to the attention being given in the Kay factory.  You can generally see something on many Kay guitars that could have been done better if the object wasn't to just push out as many guitars as they did.  I don't doubt that there were many skilled craftsman in the Kay factory.  I just believe they were probably forced to take some short cuts or work a little quicker.

Have to repair the heel joint as a few pieces pulled off when I steamed the neck off.  I can usually get the necks of quite cleanly, but this neck had been off before which may have compromised the joint.

The second photo shows the kluson deluxe tuners that Kay often used on many models.  They are in good shape as you can see.

The third photo is the Kay bridge.  A singular design and good piece of rosewood.  Kay often attached their bridges with a bolt on both sides of the bridge along with glue.  The design for the bridge is one you will see on most Kays and is a great way to help identify their products.

I really like these guitars, but they can be a bit persnickity with regards to the repair process.  I have seen them cause really skilled luthiers to pull their hair out.  A lot of work to do on this one.  We'll see how it turns out.

1939 Supertone Singing Cowboys Guitar

You might think I am featuring this guitar because the accent red color on it happens to match the color of my garage.  Not quite - I am featuring this Supertone singing cowboys guitar because it is from 1939 and it is in immaculate condition.  Seventy five years old - all original - and really quite pristine.

Picked this one up off of ebay for practically nothing quite some time ago.  I think people shied away from it because it was in such good condition that it looks like a reissue.  There were a couple of reissues of this guitar.  Harmony did one in the fifties and there was a more recent chinese reissue.  When i got the guitar i even thought that it was a reissue when i took it out of the box because it was so clean.  Paper tag in the soundhole and stamps confirm it to be model 237 stamped in 1939.  I believe these were actually made in 1938.

In terms of playability, most of these cowboy guitars are far from desirable.  Many of them are considered wall hangers and make great decorations.  I can't imagine a lodge in Montana or Wyoming that doesn't have one.  I would say the one cowboy guitar that was fairly well built was the Gene Autry model which began as a Supertone product and eventually became a Harmony product.  No one ever expected these instruments to be used in any sort of professional setting.  They were made to catch on with the cowboy craze and western movies of the 1940's.  There were numerous versions of the cowboy guitar that came under different names.  Of course we have The Singing Cowboys and Gene Autry, but there was also a Roy Rogers model, a Home on the Range model, The Plainsman(which hung on the coattails of a Gary Cooper movie with the same title) and far to many more to mention.  They are fun guitars to own as the whole idea of stenciling a guitar seems to be a thing of the past - although Martin, Gretsch, and Collings have all come out with recent examples of stenciled guitars with a cowboy theme.

This guitar actually plays okay.  It could use a neck set and if you were really concerned about tone you might add a fixed bridge, but i think I'll just leave it be.  Look how pristine the body of this guitar is and how nicely the stencil has held up against time.  I wouldn't want to cover that up with a much larger fixed bridge. In terms of it being rare, you will find these kicking around on a fairly regular basis.  You will almost certainly be able to find the Gene Autry model just about any week you look on ebay.  As far as this particular instrument goes you will see the reissues now and then but it is somewhat rare to find an original like this one and even more difficult to find one is this nice of shape.  I'm not sure what that means.  As I stated earlier folks are not beating down the doors for these types of instruments.  Nonetheless, I think if you are a collector that this makes a nice funky addition to that collection.  They represent  not only an important period in guitar making history, but an important cultural time in our history.  I can't think of to many things that are more American than an American made guitar featuring our love affair with the cowboy.

You don't see many faux granite fretboards with red dot fret markers

the headstock is a helpful way to identify the maker of this instrument.  A definite Supertone/Harmony characteristic

Gretsch G5265 Jet Baritone

The great Gretsch guitar name has been around for almost as long as guitars have been electrified.  If I had the dough, I could think of 4 or 5 models that I would like to have in my collection.  With their cool stylings, unique tones and a history of players that any guitar company would love to hold claim to, Gretsch guitars hold a pretty special and unique place in guitar history.

Just imagine at one time Brooklyn, NY had both Gretsch guitars and the Dodgers as ambassadors of the neighborhood.  Now, this made in America product of the past is a little more tricky to pin down.  They were bought out by Baldwin Piano in the late sixties ceased production in the eighties, went through a few generations of the Gretsch name attempting to reinvigorate the company and were eventually acquired by Fender instruments.  Made in America, or made in Japan, or made in China?  It's a bit sketchy.  Apparently there is an American custom shop but most of the product is from the Far East.  There is a lot to wade through if you are a through and through Gretsch fan.

Nonetheless, Gretsch(or fender or whoever) has been producing and reissuing a lot of instruments lately with classic names like Electromatic, Jet, Falcon, Country Gentleman, and Tennessee Rose.  All names that could double as a really cool kitchen appliance or western movie character.

All this backstory leads us to todays subject - The Gretsch G5265 Jet Baritone Guitar.

looks like a giraffes neck on a guitar

This guitar absolutely required a bit of a review here.  I dare you to venture further online and attempt to decide if this is the guitar for you.  The reviews are all over the place and fairly polarized.  Some folks loved it and a lot of folks had a lot of problems with it - so I'll try to sort through some of it.

One of the big problems people had is that the guitar is called a baritone guitar but when they received it in the mail they were surprised to find that it is really set up as a six string bass.  This is a contemporary problem and shows where most people are doing their shopping these days.  I can't fault people as I take a fair amount of chances on ebay and if you think about it this is how dad and grandpa bought their guitars back in the day from the Sears or Montgomery Wards catalog.  They would look at a picture, read the description and hope that the guitar was all it claimed to be.

I had the good fortune of actually playing this guitar in a little hometown music store so I knew exactly what I was getting.  It is true that this guitars name is a bit misleading as it really is set up as a six string bass.  This can be easily modified by restringing it and cutting a new nut to accommodate the skinnier strings.  I happen to really like the bass setup.  That is how I initially played it and it is what drew me to the instrument.  I can remember picking the guitar up and just fingerpicking it without any amplification.  I knew it was going to be something special.  Plugged it in and it really soared.  It was a sound I had never heard before or at least a sound I had never been able to create with any other instrument I have ever owned.  This guitar gets a lot of work in the studio.  It provides some wonderful colors to a tune and can be used as a backing pad just as well.  I've never used any effects - just fingerpicked it coming straight out of a dry amp.  Playing triads on the higher strings can really add a new dimension to your tune.

As a songwriter, the most important aspect of this guitar for me is that it inspired me to write. This is probably the best compliment i can give an instrument.  The sound was so unique that a song came running out of me within a short time of owning the instrument.  The best part is that i am sure there are more songs stuck inside this guitar waiting to come out.

It's a long guitar with an almost 30 inch scale.  Even so it plays with ease.  The strings fret easily and the fretboard and neck are both smooth as one could expect.  It comes with a pair of Gretsch mini humbuckers and a real deal Bigsby tremelo system.  This is where many have assessed the problems lie.  The guitar does not come with a roller bridge to accommodate the Bigsby and so if you are wanging away on that Bigsby there may tend to be some movement in the bridge as the strings are carrying it along with them when the trem is being used.  This is a valid point and something that was overlooked in the design.  I don't get to involved with the trem so it's a non issue for me.

The guitar stays in tune(if you are not wailing on the trem), it intonates properly, is easy and fun to play and like all Gretsch guitars is quite a looker.  That's generally all the assessment i need.  Yes, it's made in China and there are a few design flaws that some seem to consider a bigger problem than i do, but this guitar gets a two thumbs up from your grandpas guitar.  If you are really nitpicky about your setup, you might want to spend the extra bucks for something else.  If you are looking for a wonderful new tool to add to your arsenal at a very reasonable price point than this instrument is worth taking a look at.

1960's Kay Dreadnought

Here we have a 1960's Kay dreadnought.  This guitar follows as a great companion to the Kay jumbo in the previous post although a bit more of a project and not quite as amenable as the jumbo was.  It took a lot to get her to its current state.  Again, I pulled the bridge on this one.  The old bridge was shaved down way beyond where it should be.  It was so thin that I'm surprised it supported any string tension.  When I pulled it off, it came off in pieces because of how thin it was.  Thankfully I had a period Kay replacement bridge that fits nicely.

The real work on this guitar was the neck work done by James Ralston.  I steamed the neck off and attempted a reset, but had little luck.  I sent it to James and after a lot more hours than either one of us expected he got it reset to perfection.  James had to do a bunch of work on the fretboard as well as a fair amount of fretwork to get everything to where it should be.  The neck is now straight and plays great.  I like the neck on this guitar.  Its not as smooth as the aforementioned Kay jumbo but it has a unique profile.  It has that baseball bat depth but the fretboard is not as wide as you would expect.  Note the nice big frets and the oversized pearloid dots.

The amount of time James had to put into getting this dread to act nice was a lot more than any low budget guitar should require.  A testament to his work ethic.  He comes highly recommended by me.  Check out his website at roadtoastguitars.com

The good news is that I probably have one of the few Kay dreads from this period that plays well, has a straight neck and intonates properly.  The guitar itself is not rare, but the fact that it plays well is. 

Note how the Kay dread features more of a square shouldered body.  To my eye is doesn't look like any other dread, which is amazing.  Again, just think, Kay was a company that was pumping out tons of guitars yet they were still able to incorporate elements of style and design that said this guitar is uniquely a Kay.  Kay had many elements of design that made their instruments unmistakable.  There are still a number of their older models on my wish list.

1950's/1960's Kay Jumbo

All of my life I have considered songwriting to be a trade.  A trade not unlike that which the carpenter , plumber, electrician or house painter performs.  I am sure I envy the carpenters skills more than he envy's mine.  As much as I would like to fancy myself a woodworker, I have put the bulk of my time and efforts towards the task of songwriting.  Needless to say, because of this effort I feel that I am a competent writer and a somewhat incompetent carpenter.
Through the years I have considered the guitar the tool of my trade.  I played one guitar for years, wrote tons of songs on that guitar, played tons of gigs and watched as that instrument accumulated  the nicks, scratches and road rash associated with a well loved and worn guitar.  I kept this guitar in shape.  I buy good products and then treat my possessions well.  I am a firm believer in the old adage "if you buy crap, you are going to buy it twice".

Then something happened along the way.  It wasn't that I had plans to separate myself from my number one guitar(it still gets a lot of playing time) it was just that I felt that guitar needed some company.  If you follow this blog you will see that my number one now has quite a bit of company.

I have become a somewhat fastidious collector, quite adept at finding a diamond in the rough.  In fact, that is essentially how I focus my efforts - finding the diamonds in the rough.  I search out instruments that cost very little and seem to be somewhat unwanted due to their condition or lack of super vintage pedigree or distinction.  This is the world I live in because this is the world I can afford to live in.  It's not for everyone which I suppose is why it is for me. 

With that said I have found another diamond in the rough.  A 1950's/1960's Kay jumbo guitar.  There is something about the Kay line of guitars that keeps me coming back to them.  I love the design elements, the look of most of them and their history.  They are often very hard to date.  Kay never used factory order numbers because they were churning out so many guitars for the department store trade they probably felt no one wanted to know that they were the proud owner of guitar number 135,632 off the line.  You will find serial numbers inside the body of most Kays but that information has been deemed essentially useless unless someone stumbles upon a secret log one day.  It is unfortunate we can't date most of their instruments, but in some ways this just increases my fondness for these guitars as there will always be some intrigue and mystery tied to them.


I would love to know what the serial numbers were intended for


This guitar required quite a bit of work to get her up and running.  When I got it the neck was pulling away from the body - the bridge was warped and lifting - a small metal bar was used as a saddle - the frets needed work and the spruce beneath the bridge had been mangled in a previous repair attempt.  I pulled the bridge and soaked it.  I then clamped it down for days and was very happy to find the bridge had reclaimed its old shape.  I had a lot of time consuming touch up to do after the bridge was off.  I had to fill a lot of chips with tiny pieces of spruce.  It was clear a previous owner wasn't particularly patient when pulling the bridge off in the past.  The bridge border shows a fair amount of abuse.

The bridge was replaced and is tight to the body.  I then took off the neck and sent the guitar to James Ralston of Road Toast Guitars.  James did a magnificent job resetting the neck as well as refretting the guitar and cutting a new saddle slot.  A lot of these old Kays are infamous for somewhat poor intonation due to a certain part not being in the right position.  This was the case with the saddle.  Remember these were mass produced guitars - in order to love them you have to be willing to deal with some of the faults.  Thankfully in GuitarWorld there aren't too many things that can't be fixed.

What we ended up with is probably one of the most tonally balanced guitars I have ever played.  This is a ladder braced jumbo - but the ladder bracing combined with the big body make for a wonderful combo.  The bigger body knocks down some of that trebly ladder braced tone while kicking up the mids and rounding out the lows.  The lows on these x-braced jumbos(and on many dreadnaughts) can be overbearing in my opinion.


James did an amazing job on the neck and fretwork.  This guitar is surprisingly one of the easiest instruments I have ever played.  Remember its a Kay and supposed to be a bit wonky.  Not so.  I will put the playability of this guitar up against any $2000 instrument out there.  It is straight as an arrow and the action is perfect as is the intonation.

You don't see many pearl parallelogram inlays, especially on an instrument that wasn't considered a top of the line product. 


 

 

Here is a shot of the unmistakable Kay headstock.  The woods used on this guitar are beautiful.  They used mahogany on the faceplate to match the back, sides and neck.  The top is spruce with a rosewood fretboard. 

 

What a beauty.  I wish you all could play it to hear and feel what I am talking about.  This is the kind of guitar that keeps me on the hunt.  It is a real score and worth way more to me than what I payed for it.  Keep an eye out for this jumbos sister dreadnaught in an upcoming post.





1936 Supertone Flat Top with F-Holes

 

Here we have a 1936 Supertone flat top guitar with f-holes.  That's right, looks like an archtop, but it is not.  The top is flat with a couple little f holes cut into it to make for a spunky/punky sounding guitar.  Here's a little photo - maybe you can see what I'm talking about.

For a time Supertone was the brand name used by the Sears & Roebuck Co. to classify their musical instrument catalog.  I have always loved the "Supertone" brand name.  Someone in the marketing department at Sears got right to the point.  Although, on occasion with some of their instruments, the name might be a bit misleading.  This guitar was actually made by the Harmony musical instrument company which Sears purchased in 1916.  Harmony built most of the Supertone guitar models in the 1930's for Sears along with Regal, Oscar Schmidt and Stromberg Voisinet(which later became Kay) rounding out their manufacturers.  This guitar has an S-36 stamped on the inside back which indicates that this guitar was made in the spring/summer of 1936.

 

This is the type of guitar that defines this blog.  Depression era/department store branded/working man(or in this case child) guitar.  I say child's guitar because this instrument is at best 3/4 size.  It measures 31 3/4 inches from the top of the headstock to

the base with a 21 1/2 inch scale length.  It is all original with the exception of a tuning post that was changed out some time long ago.  The guitar is in great condition.  I love finding these almost 80 year old survivors.  Again, I can't help but wonder who owned it, where it came from and how and why it survived this long in such good shape 

 

I can't put this guitar down.  It is so much fun to play and has such a funky tone, that I find myself reaching for it every chance I get.  Because of the size of the guitar, the tone is compressed to give you that nasaly/bluesy sound, but the volume is not.  This little thing is surprisingly loud.  I would have to say that it is currently my favorite instrument.   It plays great for its age and short of replacing the nut, I wouldn't do anything to it right now.  This guitar makes me want to play guitar and was well worth the very minimal ebay purchase price.  She was headed to the island of misfit instruments if I didn't grab her and just goes to show that one mans trash is another mans treasure.  Yes she is a cheapie, but a rare cheapie in that I have never seen another up for sale anywhere. 

the headstock helps to identify this guitar as a harmony product

 Keep your eyes open in the future as I have another tiny Supertone round hole flat top guitar to display.  She needs a little more work than the f-hole flat top so it'll be a while.  But she is a fun little thing as well.

A little trip to Japan

I have a huge soft spot for 1960's Teisco type guitars.  These Japanese made guitars hailed under many different names and were made in numerous different factories.  As far as I'm concerned they have rarely been matched in terms of the boldness of color choices for their instruments and the funkiness factor associated with many of their designs.  Crazy pickup configurations, loosey-goosey wammy bars, and nasty tones make these guitars a blast to play.  These Japanese guitars are difficult to make your main axe as they tend to be cantankerous and difficult to keep set up properly if overused.  But, they make for a great guitar if looking for a specific sound(namely nasty Hound Dog Taylor type blues) or if you just need a little taste of unrefined tone and construction.  In short, you might not want to marry one of these babies, but boy are they fun to take on a date now and again.

HY-LO Guitar and Amp Combo

This was the first electric guitar and amp set up I ever owned.  It was purchased when I was a kid from a local fellow in town for $10.  This fellow was the original "American Picker".  He would go to tag sales on a regular basis and buy things that he could in turn sell at the swap meet.  Of course, in hindsight I wish I had told him to keep an eye out for more guitars.  Here I am some 30+ years later and I still own this combo.  I figured when I became a big time songwriter I could sell this combo off for big bucks as it was my first rig.  Well, the songwriting thing didn't exactly pan out and now this rig is worth about $59.95.  Once you get past the Gold Foil pickups(which were discussed in a previous post) this guitar is nothing to write home about.  I plan on pulling the pickups and dropping them into a more functional guitar shell.  They sound great and have a unique tone that is hard to match.  The amp is a tube amp, that again is no great shakes except for a wild tremolo setup.  This thing can get super watery or slushy in a second.  It really is its own thing and probably can't be classified as a tremolo - I just haven't come up with a clever enough name for the sound the amp pumps out.

Kingston Guitar

Here is another one from my youth.  I can't even remember where this guitar came from, but it has somehow managed to survive with me all these years.  I actually just got this guitar up and running again and have been having fun cranking it up.  I am partial to the single pickup models of these Japanese guitars.  I don't want too many choices, I just want to plug in and play - and that is what this guitar gives you.  Again, you have to wrestle this guitar a bit as its not the easiest to play, but the tone you get is great and well worth the lack of easy play.

Teisco/No Name Guitar

Here's one I picked up pretty recently.  I loved the color and the chrome pickguard.  Funny how a Japanese made guitar can remind me of a 50's/60's American made car.  Unfortunately, the neck suffered some damage in shipping - fortunately, the seller was a compassionate ebayer who worked out a deal with me and even sent me a new neck to fit the guitar with.  The guitar has a great and unique tone as the pickup is placed closer to the bridge giving you a real trebley type of tone.  Its great to A/B this guitar with the previously mentioned Kingston to hear the contrast in tones.  It is a shame that the neck was damaged because this was one of the better playing Japanese guitars I have had my hands on.  Hopefully the new neck will be comparable.  This guitar is fun to look at so I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

the chrome pickguard is hysterical.  I think I might have bought the guitar because of it.  it is obviously like a mirror.  the pictures don't do the guitar justice - its a real looker

I've never seen an inlay in a pickup.  again the pictures don't do it justice.  its a cool touch.