Old Kraftsman

[kmrvintaxe]

Hi. Any information regarding this Old Kraftsman guitar? I love the way it looks. Any opinions about the sound?

[cheepaxes]

You're probably aware that Old Kraftsman were made by Kay. I don't know about that model. It's hard to tell much from the small picture. I have an Old Kraftsman hollowbody electric that probably dates back to WWII. Mine is in rough shape and I doubt I could say anything about the sound of the brand in general based on the sound of mine.

-Scott

[VintAxe]

Hi kmrvintaxe, interesting guitar you've got there.

I don't have a positive ID for your guitar but I do have some thoughts.

As suggested by Scott, most Old Kraftsman guitars were made by Kay and have counterparts in the Kay guitar line. In this case, I think your guitar is from the Stromberg-Voisinet era of Kay history (essentially the 1920's).

I've seen that asymmetrical headstock that drops off on the treble side on mandolins of this era but never a guitar. From what I've seen, that headstock style disappears by the 1930's never to be seen again until Fender revived it on their 12 string in the 1960's.

Also, I've read descriptions of Stromberg-Voisinet guitars of the 1920's having "colored marquetry" around the top as can be seen on your guitar. This is pretty unusual since other guitar makers of this era tended to keep their tops free of this type of decoration.

Unfortunately, I don't have much 1920's guitar literature to research my hunch. Stromberg-Voisinet was making guitars for everyone during this era so if you can get your hands on early Speigel, Sears or Montgomery Wards catalogs, you might find guitars like yours. Stromberg-Voisinet was also building for Oahu and Regal so you might check their early literature as well.

From what I can tell, your guitar is a rare bird and should be looked at by someone that has deeper knowledge of early guitar making than I.

Good luck with your research. You might consider picking up a copy of Michael Wright's "Guitar Stories Vol 2". I think you can still find copies for $15-$20 and it has a fairly detailed history of Kay guitars in it. sb

[kmrvintaxe]

Thanks a lot for the replies. Both have given me a lot to chew on. I have also read that style of headstock referred to as "Stauffer".