Kay Strat

[ocgiii]

I bought this at a Goodwill store cheap. I'm not sure what the model name/number is, or what year it was made. I cleaned it up and it sounds great. It's got a baseball bat neck, like a Fender B, it's got a capital letter 'K' written in the pickup cavity, and the serial number on the back of the neck is '66-829-1'. Switch is 3 way, the neck looks like mahogany, the fingerboard appears to be maple, and there no fret dots! Anybody??
http://ozgeier.smugmug.com/Other/Kay-Gu ... 2330_ECTUg

[VintAxe]

Hi ocgiii.

I don't have any Kay literature that pictures your strat. My 1990's Kay catalog displays strats but they have the 1970's style bullet truss rod (no truss rod cover) and headstocks painted to match the body.

I would guess that your strat was made in the 1980's, but it's just a guess.

Here's a link to Kay's current production strat:

[Bassassin]

Hi - these are pretty common in the UK, usually in a natural finish, but otherwise apparently identical. Here's one that recently sold on Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Kay-Electric-Guit ... 0469578335

As you can see from the label on the back, these are made in Taiwan & the model number's K-32.

I think these were made in the mid-70s & are probably the first "copy era" Kay guitars. The neck construction's interesting, it's the same sort of mahogany ply that was common on early Japanese guitars.

I've actually owned two examples of the bass version of this - a Precision copy called the KB-24. Very heavy, incredibly solidly built (if not exactly well-made), and surprisingly authentic-sounding:



Do you know what the body of yours is made from? All the Strats I've seen have been sandwich-construction solid timber (possibly mahogany), as were both of my basses. The large black oversprays on the contours of your guitar are common on ply bodies, to hide the laminations.

I think these Taiwanese guitars are a sort of mid-point between the Teisco-esque budget Kay imports, and the late 70s / early 80s Korean-made Kays. These were made by Cort and some of the through-neck original designs were very impressive.

Jon.

[ocgiii]

There are differences however. The one I have has a white truss rod cover that curves as it meets the nut, and the serial number is stamped on the neck, and not on a label. That one on ebay is a beauty however, I wish mine was natural finish, and tele shaped, with a B Bender installed.

[Bassassin]

I think the truss rod covers are made to match the pickguards, the Ebay one will be contoured but the perspective of the photo doesn't show that.

The necks & other hardware are similar enough to establish that they come from the same manufacturer, and minor differences will likely be down to period of production or even regional localisation.

Very attractive guitars anyway.

J.

[Phoenix59]

I bought a sunburst Kay Strat new at a small music store in Oklahoma City. It must have been 1978 or so.

It sounds like the one you are describing -- huge neck (I can't see the pics in the link). This one, as I recall, had a truss rod cover shaped sort of like a spear point, and made from the same w/b/w material as the pickguard.

[rosemary4444]

However the laminating process allows timber, a generally environmentally benign material, to be used for much longer spans, heavier loads and complex shapes.