A co worker has given me a Kay guitar. From what I have been able to find out that it is a K1 (I think). The body looks in good shape. I tuned it up and plugged it in for a test run and immediatley it was out of tune. I don't think this guitar has ever had a set up. Is it worth my time and effort to do something with this guitar?












I don't think this is worth very much money, except to this guy in France.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/KAY-SG-guitare-elect ... 483ddafa52

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The strings surprisingly don't look that old to me. Firewood has crossed my mind. Seems like a cool guitar but not sure if I should waste my time or not. I was asked at the beginning of the work day if I would like a cople of guitars that she was going to donate, so I said sure! I spent all day wondering what it could be. A few thoughts were it would be some closet classic, or maybe a MIJ Squier. Even a lawsuit guitar! It turned out to be this one. The other one was a junior size acoustic by a brand called Nexttech. I think that company makes cheap electronics. I dropped that one off at the Salvation Army on the way home.

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No intonation. The strings hook into the "ashtray" cover and the bridge has little indents to guide the string. All I can do is adjust the neck and tune it. The neck looks like it has a but of a curve to it. I don't know if adjusting the truss rod will even that out or not. I didn't have too much time last night to do anything with it other than plug it in to see if it works.

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Art? hang it on a wall or if you put a red bow and a green bow on it, it could be a Christmas decoration. keep some slack in the strings, dust it off regularly and you have a cool pop art piece

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

I wouldn't sink a lot of money into it, but I would set it up as well as can be, align the neck a bit better, and work on the tuning gears a bit. It could be fun.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

My wife has a BFA in fine arts, so she could paint it and we could hang it. I bought a cheap Crescent Strat copy a couple of years ago to learn how to set up guitars. We thought about painting that one, but a couple of weeks ago I decided to get rid of it and "make room" for a guitar I've been hinting at for Christmas and then this Kay shows up. I wonder what else I could make room for?

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I'd set it up and give it a go. What have you got to lose. Some of these old cheap guitars were a lot of fun and played fairly well. Some of the pickups were pretty hot too. It might be a screamer. I don't think the Kay you have is really worth much, but who cares.

I've never been a gear snob and I've played everything from Frankenstrats to Tiesco Del Rey's. I know lots of gear snobs who can't play to save thier lives and their stuff never leaves the house and they've never been in a band. One has a nice Paul that set him back eight grand, nice guitar but 8 grand for bragging rights?LOL

As long as it doesn't cut my fingers it's all cool. I tried a guitar made by James "Super Chikan" Johnson while he was performing at a local Blues Festival that he made from an old ceiling fan. It was seriously cool. He had some he made from gas cans too. I really love being a professional photographer and getting press passes. You meet some great musicians and get to try some seriously cool stuff.

My point is, it's not who's name is on the headstock, It's what you can do with it. I'd rather have a one of a kind than any mass produced Gibson or Fender. My cheap stuff will sit on the same stage as my other gear.

Check out "Super Chikan" he's a great blues guitarist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzcWvJ6RKZo

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Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal

Very cool sopro!! Thanks for the link!!

No problem. He was one of the nicest guys I ever met.

Hey Yodacaster, does the Kay have a "zero" fret? If it does it might help with the intonation. My Supro has a "zero" fret and no intonation adjustments as well as no adjustable truss rod and the intonation and action are perfect on it and always have been since I got it in 64.

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Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal

Since a soldering iron is not part of the process, set 'er up and slap on a new set of strings. One never knows.

Enjoy,
John.E

Had one similar loaned to me as a kid. Had a similar 70's disaster in for repair last year. I call em a 70's disaster but their not all like that. A term of endearment. The neck pocket was too low cut and the body had warped under string pressure (great neck).

They fetch around £20-50 in the UK. Some people are crazy for em and will pay more for a good example, because they do have a very particular sound to em.

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No no and no

Despite being mostly low budget guitars some Kays were surprisingly good and sounded really good especially some of their hollow and semi-hollow body guitars like the like the Upbeat and Barney Kessel models which can fetch upwards to $1,600 these days.Yours may be a K-100 Vanguard model made from '61-'66 although only worth about $250 it would be a sin to consign it to the woodpile.The guitar has lasted almost 50 years and is in good shape for its age and would be a funky addition to any collection when given the proper attention.A lot of cheaper guitars from the 60s had no allowances for setting intonation yet mysteriously intonated pretty good as is.You may try slackening the neck screws and pushing the neck to the side a bit to allign it better and then retighten. I did this with an old Woolworth's Audition 4 pup 60s guitar a coworker had me fix up once and it did the trick.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

It could have that secret ingredient you're after one day when recording. I'd put flatwounds on it. Probably a unique tone that could be used.

I second that slide guitar suggestion.

I am not sure what a zero fret is. Could you explain?

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