1930s Old Kraftsman (Kay) Wood-Amplifying Guitar

Oof! To not have time to grab a video! I was sad about not recording this one, but maybe it'll be back again at some point and I can grab some audio.

This is an odd instrument made by Kay in the late '30s and early '40s and it's a resonator guitar but does that resonator magic by isolating a wooden disc/soundboard in a cutout hole in the top rather than through a spun aluminum cone inside the guitar. So -- the disc sits on top of the guitar and a floating-style bridge/tailpiece setup is used. The disc itself is lightweight and unbraced and as a result, an adjustable bridge is pretty useful to keep the action correct season to season.

Does it work, though? Oh, yeah, it's definitely louder than your average guitar. It cuts a lot like a really good archtop and is louder than your average Dobro, but it's definitely its own sound. It's sort-of woody and airy and "poofy" at the same time. These are all good sounds, though, in its way -- it makes a great guitar for a fingerpicker as it has so much reserve volume -- but it definitely compresses when whacked hard with a flatpick.

Anyhow, this one had oodles of amateur work done on it in the past, unfortunately, including a bunch of side repairs and a wonky refret. I ameliorated all that, resuscitated the original wooden disc (the previous guy had made a replacement one but this was -- fortunately -- included), gave it fret seating and a fret level/dress, added decent tuners (not great-looking in context but not fussy for the new owner), and set it up. It's now playing fast and easy and is rolling-along happily with its new tribe.

The body is ply mahogany throughout save the sides which are solid. It has a mahogany neck, ebonized fretboard, and some of the coolest soundhole cutouts you will ever see at the upper-bout.