Kay acoustical guitar from the 60's

[Kevin in California]

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

[TonyinNYC]

Pretty cool. Seems like they took a few shortcuts though. Screws to hold on the bridge and pick guard? Blech!!
Is the neck heel separating from the box Kevin? In the last pic it looks like there is a clear bright line in that area where there is no finish. I'm not sure I would shave the bridge. I would do a neck reset instead. Why take any more shortcuts than the manufactures have already taken? If you shave the bridge, will there still be enough meat left above the string pass through holes to prevent the bridge from splitting? from the pics, it seems there is a little saddle left as well. Might wanna chop that down too before doing major surgery.
Cool little guitar though. No doubt about that.

[ken cierp]

Not an expert by any means -- but I believe the collectable Kays have a very thick raised and elaborate Kelvenator emblem the "half" Kelvenator and aluminum stickers came later.

[Kevin in California]

Yeah Ken, that is what I read, and it is the archtops and electics that would have any collector value. I thought I'd just make some noise with this one.
Right Tony, the string pass UNDER the saddle so the slot can't be very deep. Not sure how the pressure ends up on top of the saddle, but my guess would be LESS forward pressure and more DOWNWARD pressure.....so who cares!! The heel is not separated, but your right it does look like it in the picture. Must be reflection.
Yeah, this was not an expensive guitar, probably sold for around $60 new. The back braces are (at least the visisble one) is crooked, and they are not carved, just squared off edges. No back seam reinforcement strip either. I'm thinking there must have been some bushings over the tuner post originally that are now gone. I found a set on Ebay that look like what probably was once there.

The neck bow is not TERRIBLE, but it does have the hump at the body...but I don't play up there anyway.
I've never taken a neck off. I would assume this is a dovetail deal. If I take the neck off, seems I would have to remove the fret board also to get things straight?

I'm sure I can find info on removing the neck, but how do you get the glue in the dovetail joint? I sure don't want to spend too much energy on this, when I could just build me a new guitar. :>)

Kevin

[TonyinNYC]

True. If it isnt worth anything, then fix it up enough so you can hear it! I understand now.

[Tim Benware]

Yeah Ken, that is what I read, and it is the archtops and electics that would have any collector value. I thought I'd just make some noise with this one.
Right Tony, the string pass UNDER the saddle so the slot can't be very deep. Not sure how the pressure ends up on top of the saddle, but my guess would be LESS forward pressure and more DOWNWARD pressure.....so who cares!! The heel is not separated, but your right it does look like it in the picture. Must be reflection.
Yeah, this was not an expensive guitar, probably sold for around $60 new. The back braces are (at least the visisble one) is crooked, and they are not carved, just squared off edges. No back seam reinforcement strip either. I'm thinking there must have been some bushings over the tuner post originally that are now gone. I found a set on Ebay that look like what probably was once there.

The neck bow is not TERRIBLE, but it does have the hump at the body...but I don't play up there anyway.
I've never taken a neck off. I would assume this is a dovetail deal. If I take the neck off, seems I would have to remove the fret board also to get things straight?

I'm sure I can find info on removing the neck, but how do you get the glue in the dovetail joint? I sure don't want to spend too much energy on this, when I could just build me a new guitar. :>)

Kevin

It is a dovetail, I've done several resets on similar Harmony/Silvertones of that era. If there is no adjustable truss rod (depending on what year some did some didn't) , you can heat bend the neck to improve its relief. If you think you'd like to try I can PM you some instructions on how to do it.