Kay K6845 Archtop ???

[Vincenzo]

Hi I was wondering. Is this a Kay K6845 archtop?

The guy said it was early 60's and I found an article saying these were built from 61-65 except the picture that i see with the K6845 shows a full-Kelvinator headstock and mine has a semi(half)-Kelvinator.

Also if you know what it is, what is it worth apprx? I payed 300$ the guy had it for 400$. It sounds so amazing. Really rich and full (besides some lower frequencies).

[Spud1950]

I checked the Kay catalogs in the Vintaxe collection and here's what I found.The K6845 does indeed appear in the 1961-1965 catalogs,but it has a totally different headstock shape,no truss rod cover, and and does not have a logo badge as yours does. The Kay logo is painted on. Archtops with the headstock shape like yours first appear in the 1966 catalog, and the only archtop model with that exact headstock badge is the K6840 on page 24. There is no model K6845 that appears after 1965. The K6840 is almost exactly like yours, the exception being the fret board markers, which are triangular shaped with rounded off corners instead of dots. I cannot find an exact model like yours with the dot markers. As you may be aware,the tail piece on your guitar is not original.

[VintAxe]

It is interesting that there is no exact model match to your Kay in the literature Vincenzo. Your guitar exhibits a curious mix of features.

Based on the headstock profile and the badge I would say with some certainty that the guitar was built between 1966-68. The strange thing about the neck to me is the missing dot inlay at the 3rd position. This characteristic is seen in the earlier 60's budget archtops offered by Kay but all later models have the 3rd position dot.

The finish on your guitar is the same as the Kay 6858 and my best guess is that this is what it is. The difference is the headstock badge, truss rod cover and the missing 3rd position marker.

I'm wondering if your guitar isn't a transitional model made with a new style body and old style neck parts. Kay certainly never threw anything away and it's not unusual for their guitars to exhibit a mix of old and new parts as they used up old inventory.

It's also possible that a previous owner has mixed parts trying to restore the guitar back to being as original as possible. As Spud1950 has correctly pointed out the tailpiece is definitely a replacement so the instrument has been tampered with in the past.

[Vincenzo]

Thank you Spud and VintAxe! That's really helpful.

I think your definitely on to something thinking that its mixed up. I also was looking into the K6858 in this article (see below) and it says they were built between 57-66 and the k6845 was built between 61-63. So it's definitely possibly they might of combined it, or it was a transitional guitar like you mentioned.

I'm curious why you said "Based on the headstock profile and the badge I would say with some certainty that the guitar was built between 1966-68"

Just because these guitars from my resource said they're built from 57-66. Why 68?

Yeah the tailpiece is definitely not original, although I do like it very much so it's not the worst thing. I'll also want to find a replacement pickguard since they are holes meaning it was there. Was it original or a modification. I dont know.


Also what would you appraise this guitar apprx? It plays like a million bucks and sounds like it too. I'm definitely never going to sell it.

Also, i want to slightly polish the logo, since it's some sort of metal what would you recommend to not damage, but just to get rid of some gunk build up. There's also some dirty, or something on the back whats a good material to clean a guitar and not to damage the varnish/finish.


http://books.google.ca/books?id=msEJ8cM ... ay&f=false

[VintAxe]

Hi Vincenzo.

I see you are looking at Michael's excellent chapter on Kay guitars. This is an excellent resource.

I'm not sure what model you are referring to when you say it was built between 57-66. If you go to page 173 and look in the lower right column you'll see Michael has dated the Kay 6858 between 1966-68 which is correct.

The arched headstock profile on your guitar was only used by Kay between 1966-68. Although Michael's book doesn't illustrate achtops from this era it does picture a 1966 flat top Country II acoustic on page 162 that displays this feature. It is the left photo on the upper left of the page.

If you want to see what Spud1950 and I are looking at you may want to consider subscribing to the Catalog Library and looking at the Kay catalogs yourself.

As far as metal polish on guitar parts, I only use Flitz, non abrasive and does a great job. Just buy the small tube, it will last forever.


It's hard to say what will remove the unknown substance on the back. I generally start as non aggressive as possible and move up. My most non aggressive solvent is Rubbing Alcohol, give that a try first.

As far as value, $300 seems a little high to me for this instrument given no pickguard and changed tail piece but it all depends on where you live etc. I sold an early 60's Kay archtop about 4 years ago for $175 that was also missing the pickguard and had no case. The buyer lived in France so he had to pay an additional $60 shipping charge to obtain the guitar. So, at the end of the day he spent $225.

I agree with you you that they have lots of volume and are fun to play. If you plan to keep it, don't worry about price, just enjoy it.

[Spud1950]

[Vincenzo]

Thanks a lot guys, I really appreciate all your help and I'm impressed with your knowledge. Really cool forum. Yeah I thought I was paying a bit high in price but I couldn't leave without it.

Do you know any other types of Metal Polish, maybe I can pick it up at a Reno or Canadian Tire. I guess as long as it's a Metal Polish and non-abrasive.

I'm going to get the pickguard for it and I'm putting an 60's DeArmond gold foil pickup on it. (Running the wire under the pickguard).

Thanks I didnt know rubbing alcohol wouldn't damage the finish!