1959 Kay K6118J Cutaway 000-Size Flattop Guitar

This awesome-looking old Kay seems to have been built only in 1959 and 1960. It's the cutaway version of a 000-size design that the company had been making since the early '50s and while it's not high-brow in construction, the cool-factor is hard to resist. The "Jet Black" finish was first sold in 1959 and while I can't confirm whether it's a '59 or '60, I want to believe it's a '59.

A customer traded this to me and it came in its run-down chip case and very clean. There's mild pickwear and use-wear throughout but, overall, it's super-clean for an old Kay. Its only downside on the looks-patrol is a missing headstock logo and my replacement bridge.

Work included a neck reset, bridge replacement (the original was coming up and it was one of the wrap-over stringing designs which are 100% a pain in the butt), fret level/dress, new compensated saddle, new (old) bridge pins, and a good setup. These are pretty dang long-scale and have ladder-braced tops, so I strung it with 50w, 38w, 28w, 20w, 15, 11 gauges and it's happy with them. The neck is straight and has a very '50s Gibson-sort-of cut to it with a slightly-narrower 1 5/8" nut width and mild-to-medium C-shaped back profile and ~12" radius to the board.

How's it sound? Well, I really did not like the sound when I played it with my usual nylon picks, but when I banged on it with a Blue Chip pick it came right to life and added back the missing velvet and warmth on the bottom-end that I was frustrated with. So -- pick choice does matter a lot on this box. I like it a lot with the Blue Chip. It's got that rumbly, aggressive, almost angry lower-mids-friendly Kay voicing and likes to be banged-on hard with a flatpick (think rockabilly strumfest!) best or fingerpicked. It's actually very, very sweet as an open-tuned fingerpicker. I was serenading my kids to sleep on it last night in that capacity -- slapping a capo on it and making use of that cutaway as I moved it up and down the neck to get into different keys.

Specs are: 25 3/4" scale, 1 5/8" nut width, 1 13/32" string spacing at the nut, 2 3/32" spacing at the bridge, 15 1/4" lower bout, 11 1/4" upper bout, and 4 1/8" depth at the endblock. Action is spot-on at 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE at the 12th fret. Strings are 50w-11 and I suggest no heavier than that for standard tuning. The top bellies a little behind the bridge due to the ladder bracing and high tension.

The catch on these guitars is that they're all-ply -- the body is all ply maple with a black paintjob and a nice nitro finish sprayed over it (with all the customary old weather-check beauty). The neck is poplar and must be reinforced pretty well as the neck is slimmer than usual and dead-straight at pitch. It has an original bone nut and a Brazilian rosewood fretboard decked-out with medium brass frets.

Note the extra strap button at the neckblock -- that's an "antiqued/relic" one I added. The neckblock is big enough that it fits perfectly right there.

When I reset this neck I both shimmed-up the joint and glued it pat and double-bolted it on the inside, too. It's not going anywhere and the bridge and saddle are both nice and tall. The fretboard extension is shimmed-up so it's on-the-level with the rest of the board post-reset.

Isn't the pickguard awesome? I relocated it just slightly to make it fit better with the soundhole's lines. The folks at Kay slapped these on willy-nilly.

My new bridge is a standard Martin-style replacement. The original Kay one was awkward and rectangular in shape but this will hold-up much better over time and has the standard pin-hole stringing and a drop-in saddle for easy action adjustments.

How about that original set of Kluson tuners?