c.1950 Orpheum by Kay 000 Guitar

Update 2012: Originally I labeled this as a dreadnought guitar. As a fellow player pointed out, it really is more of a 000 guitar considering the tighter waist, even with the square shoulders.

Totally cool guitar. Long 25 3/4" scale, solid mahogany back and sides (one piece back) and neck, tortoise binding everywhere including the fretboard... which is rosewood... and a rosewood bridge... and did I mention the sound? Big, bright, and full. Great old-timey ladder-braced rumble and super projection. This would make a great blues, bluegrass, or fingerpicking instrument.

Work included... bridge shave and reglue, cleaning, fret dress, setup, etc. The tuners on it may change to some Klusons before I let it leave the roost, but I wanted to get some photos of this since it's so fun.

Original bone nut. "Orpheum" in name only -- this was made by Kay. Here's another one, but in Hawaiian square neck fashion.

Nice big frets on a rosewood board with a thinner side to side profile gives this a much more modern feel.

The bolt holes covered by MOP near the pins are simply filled holes, but I re-installed the original bridge bolts in the wings when I reglued the bridge and then covered them over with MOP. Insurance?

Love the flashy flamey tortoise all over. Really fun stage guitar! I'd love to hear this with a Baggs M1 in the soundhole.

Solid one-piece mahogany back. Did I mention there's only one 1.5" hairline (repaired) crack on the whole guitar? And it's hiding in the middle of the back.










Nice purfling, too.