FACTOIDS & TRIVIA
The Kay Company of Chicago,
Illinois was one of
the largest manufacturers of guitars in the U.S. until the late 1960s.
They
sold guitars under the Kay name, as well as house brand names such as
Airline
(Montgomery Wards), Custom Kraft (St. Louis Music), and Silvertone
(Sears
Roebuck). Kays are generally considered budget instruments, but they
did
make excellent upright bass viols and their top-of-the-line guitars are
well
regarded. As one Kay executive put it, "Harmony made the Fords, Kay
made
the Buicks, and Gibson made the Cadillacs." Kay's top-of-the-line
electric
archtops were the Barney Kessel signature models that Kessel endorsed
for
several years in the late 1950s. Kay dropped its topshelf, full depth,
spruce
top jazz guitars in 1960 after Kessel left to endorse Gibson. The
remaining
jazz models included the newly introduced, Jazz II which
used the same pickups as the Barney Kessel signature model and, like
the
Kessel model, had flame maple back and sides. However, with a bolt-on
neck, shallow body, and laminated construction, the Jazz II was not in
the
same league as the Kay jazz guitars from the 1950s.
Body: Thinline hollow; laminated 1-piece flame maple top and back, laminated flame maple sides, double bound top, single bound back
Finish: Amber Sunburst, nitrocellulose lacquer
Neck: 1-piece maple, bolt-on; black plastic headstock overlay with metal name plate
Fingerboard: Brazilian rosewood, bound; pearloid "shark fin" markers
Number of Frets: 19
Pickguard: Acrylic
Bridge: Bigsby aluminum on aluminum base with Bigsby B-6 tailpiece
Nut: Bone
Tuners: Grover Rotomatic, nickel
Pickups: Two, Kay Gold K single coil with adjustable pole pieces
Controls: Tone and volume controls for each pickup, 3-way pickup selector
Scale Length: 25 1/2 inches
Neck Width at Nut: 1 5/8 inches
Body Width at Lower Bout: 15 1/8 inches
Body Depth: 2 inches
Weight:
n/a
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