1950s Kay 6116 000-Size Flattop Guitar

September 16, 2019

1950s Kay 6116 000-Size Flattop Guitar

I've worked on 5 or 6 of these Kay 000-size guitars and this one might be the best tonally. It's a little more open and warm than usual, though they've all sounded far better than they should. They're really a tiny bit larger than 000 (as they're 15 1/2" on the lower bout), but they feel like one in the lap.

This one was in for work for its owner and it came in a bit of a sorry state: the top was stripped, the original (wrap-around-style) bridge was missing, and the back and sides had been refinished in a bit of a gross "natural" look. It does have one feature that I really like on it, though: a fast, modern, slim neck with something like a ~10" board radius and a non-adjustable steel rod reinforcement. This style of Kay neck was only made in the late '50s and very early '60s, so it has to date from around then. It's their best neck type as far as I'm concerned as it makes them fun to play.

Work included: a fret level/dress, hidden bolt-reinforcement of the neck joint, cut and install of a new rosewood bridge, a new bone saddle and nut, new tuners, new strap buttons, sealer finish coat for the top, cleaning, and a setup. The neck is almost perfectly straight tuned to pitch, though the treble side has ~1/64" of relief. Action is spot-on at 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE at the 12th fret. String gauges are light because that's what these necks need -- it's a custom 50w, 36w, 26w, 20w, 15, 11 set. I think regular 46w-10 might be even healthier on it.

Scale length: 25 3/4"

Nut width: 1 5/8"

String spacing at nut: 1 3/8"

String spacing at bridge: 2 1/16"

Body length: 19 1/2"

Lower bout width: 15 1/2"

Waist width: 9"

Upper bout width: 11 1/4"

Side depth at endpin: 4"

Top wood: solid spruce

Back/sides wood: ply maple

Neck wood: poplar

Bracing type: ladder

Fretboard: Brazilian rosewood, bone nut

Bridge: Indian rosewood, bone saddle

Neck feel: slim C, ~10" board radius

Condition notes: refinished all over, replaced bridge, replaced tuners, filled pickguard-screw holes and control-knob holes on top (from before it got here). The frets are also quite low but still suffice. The new sealer coat to the top didn't spray as nice as I wanted -- parts of the finish are fine but parts of the wood must've had some ick in it from sitting-around as the finish didn't like those sections as well and slightly beaded-up. It's par for the course, though, as the rest of the finish is worse -- har har.