Unknown Kay guitar

[Cinaed666]

Hello, I was wondering if someone here knows a bit about this guitar here.
I'm a player, and I found someone selling a nice looking 70s guitar.
The brand is Kay, and it's presumably made in the early 70s. He doesn't know anything about it himself either.
It looks a bit like a les paul, so I tried googling for Kay les paul copies, but I couldn't find anything that looks
remotely like it.
Pictures: (I'm sorry they're not higher quality)




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kay_Musica ... nt_Company
The pickups look a bit odd... Single coil I guess, but they remind me of P90s a bit...

Anyone?

Also, I'm thinking about buying it, if it turns out to be any good.
The seller is asking 150€ for it. (about 210 USD)
I'm sure it'll be an improvement over my 2010 Epiphone SG

[VintAxe]

From what I can see in your pictures the guitar appears to be a Taiwan Kay built around 1979-80. Here is a picture of a K-1 which is SG shaped but is otherwise similar to your guitar:



It sounds like you will be able to play the guitar before you buy it. I would check the intonation carefully. If it is off, there is not much you can do to fix it with the non adjustable bridge. I've also heard those pickups are pretty microphonic at higher volume.

The price seems a bit high to me. You can buy guitars of similar quality all day long on eBay for $150 USD.

[Cinaed666]

Thanks for the info! I'm sure in the US you can find them dirt cheap, but here in Belgium these tend to be rare and very expensive.

I hope the guitar is in great playing condition, as I'm looking for something cool but cheap to gig with.

And yes, I can test it out before I buy it, but it would be a shame to come back empty-handed because it's quite a long trip for me.

EDIT: After some googl'ing I have yet to find the exact same guitar, but the KAY K-2 looks a bit more like it, albeit still an SG model.

[VintAxe]

I have the 1979-80 Kay catalog that shows SG and Les Paul copies. I would say this guitar is more of an attempt at a Les Paul Jr. copy and is not pictured in the catalog. So, this guitar was likely produced for a short amount of time since the copy body shapes from Taiwan were gone by the 1982 catalog.

[doctor Guy]

Hi Cinaed 666
I think some people might want this to add to a colection or nostalgia
but for gigging if I had to chose I would keep the Epi put your money into
a good setup by a reputable luthier in your area. It cant be that bad I have a 2001 epi dot and its one of my favorite cheap guitars but after 2004 they switched from Korea to china and have not tried those

[Spud1950]