Right now all I can say is that the whole pickguard assembly was made by some previous owner, with recycled Kay pickups. No American company offered this combination of pickup placement and strings-through-guard on any factory stock model.
Statistics: Posted by Big Beat — Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:02 pm
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I'm sorry to say, I'm thinking Frankenstein here. I've never seen that combination of features on any Chicago-esque instrument.
That pickup config, mid and bridge, is definately a custom cut... as is the selector and the pot on the upper bout.
Gumby headstock with Kessel Kleenexes? Definately never happened.
I can't tell from the pics, but is that a string-through body? DEFINATELY not stock.
The dead giveaway is the set neck. You'd be hard pressed to find a single solid-body guitar come out of Chicago with a set neck. Even the top-of-the-line National Resoglass axes had two/three-bolt necks. Off the top of my head, I can actually only think of four guitars that come close... the Roy Smeck, a corresponding Kay (both finished in this nasty textured countertop material, though some Smecks turned up in natural), the Stratotone Newport, and Kay's answer named the Stradolin... all with some crazy neck-through design... NONE which would be confused for this piece.
Like I said, this one's got Frankenstein written all over it.
Pull the pickguard and shoot some high-res pics, especially of the pots. Try and pull some pot and pickup codes if you can.
If you can, pull the neck and check the pocket.
For a split second, I wanted to entertain the idea of this being a Murph... just a though... i can't remember if Murphs were set-neck or bolted.
Anyhoo...
POST MORE PICS!! I'm jazzed on this one!! hahaha...
Statistics: Posted by Michael Ambrose — Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:00 am
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http://www.vintagesilvertones.com/forsa ... aster.html
Airline was a brand rather than a manufacturer - so an Airline guitar (sold in Montgomery Ward's) could be made by Kay or Harmony or Valco or a range of other companies. Valco also made Supro and National. But Kay and Valco were both based in Chicago, so it's not impossible they collaborated.
McKee might have been a small department store. Is there any kind of number (on a foill or metal strip on the back of the heastock? That would be the Valco serial number)
Statistics: Posted by simonm — Sat Dec 08, 2007 5:43 am
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I'm not sure what you mean by the "traditional supro set-neck and finish" - Valco switched to bolt on necks by around '57, this looks like a 60s gtr to me. The typical finishes on solid-bodies were a thick plastic ("no-mar") coating from this time on too.
Statistics: Posted by simonm — Fri Dec 07, 2007 2:18 pm
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Statistics: Posted by VintageGuitars_89 — Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:15 pm
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