1959 Kay Solidbody

[pcarson]

Hi,

I'd like to thank you for the great website. History: I went thru a brief period in the mid 1980's collecting guitars when I was inthe USAF and stationed in Abilene TX. There was nothing else to do but cruise the pawnshops.....and I mean nothing. I picked up this Kay guitar only b.c. it looked cool....no other reason and goofed around with it....but didn't play it much, I had a nice Gretsch at the time. I went to the P.I. and left the guitar with an artist friend in LA...who worked for the LA Times and he put the guitar on the cover of the weekend magazine once...it looks cool, like I said...really cool. I got the guitar back and it sat collecting dust for the next 15 yrs. I pulled it out the other day....started playing it and it was.....wonderful. Such an incredible sound and easy to play....it sounds much better than the cheap ass guitar that it was supposed to be at the time. An amazing sound....perhaps time has been ever so kind....anyway...I had no idea of the year and model until I came to this site, bought some time and looked thru the catalogs....which put this Kay as a 1959 Sizzler....thanks again....who knows what this is worth, I cannot remember what I paid for it....and it doesn't matter....I put this guitar up against a 1980's Tele and it sounds better....much be the age of the pups.

[VintAxe]

Cool pcarson, glad to hear you dusted off the Kay and let it speak again. Here's an interesting coincidence. Just yesterday I received an email from the person that currently owns Kay guitars. They still make a variety of acoustic instruments as well as student and intermediate grade electrics. Anyway, he was on the site looking over some of the company catalogs from the 1950's. I think they are considering the feasibility of reissuing a few of the old models. Before long we'll be able to get modern reissues of all our favorite body styles. You've got a great looking guitar and it looks to be in good hands. Keep playin' it. sb

[Thomas]

Great looking guitar. Its not always the price that makes an good guitar. It must feel right too...

/Thomas


PS, I shuld change that strap

[pcarson]

No worries...I'll change the strap....Have you seen one that has "Kay" on it? Let me know......You're right tho...the guitar feels right and its just one of those things that is hard to describe. I'm not a great guitar player and I'm not even that good. This guitar takes me up a level and thats enuff for me. I know that I said "cheap ass guitar" in my initial post, but....in comparison.... it isn't really and is not so different than what was out there at the time....I mean this WAS 1959...solid body guitars were fairly new at the time....Kay was mostly producing hollow bodies and that was their forte....however, not many playable ones exist from that time. Funny that this model has outlasted all of those.