1940s Kay "Cyclops" Flattop Guitar

While it's not branded as such, I know this instrument as the Montgomery Wards "Carson Robison" model and it's very distinct with its "cyclops" oval soundhole way up high on the body. Usually there's a Carson Robison script below the bridge on these and all of them were made in the very late '30s and early '40s by Kay (in Chicago) for Wards.

This one has no branding on it but it's clearly the same thing and it's cool as heck. It's between 0 and 00 in size, short-scale like Kay "parlors" from the time at 24 3/8" and has a very-playable, medium-V neck shape with a good radius to the board. I'm not sure if much work was done on this before it got here, but the bridge had been lightly-shaved and a new saddle installed and the tuner buttons were replaced before it got to me.

I finished the job -- leveling and dressing the frets, fitting a taller saddle, regluing a loose brace, and giving it a proper setup -- and now it's playing spot-on and has a great, folksy, old-timey, dry, woody sort of sound. It's ladder-braced but takes a pick nicely and it has more warmth and lower-mids than your average Kay ladder-braced flattop from the time. I like it as a fingerpicker, too, and the 14-fret neck joint is nice to have.

I guess I'd use this anywhere you might want to use a Kalamazoo KG-14 as it does roughly the same job (though I think it's easier to flatpick chord-backing on this with a good sound), though the same caveat applies -- stick with 52w-11 gauges for E-to-E standard pitch or 12s if you detune or open-tune.

Repairs included: a fret level/dress, side dots install, new saddle, brace reglue, restring, and setup.

Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: mahogany

Bracing type: ladder

Bridge: rosewood

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 52w-11

Neck shape: medium soft V

Board radius: 10"

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-smaller

Scale length: 24 3/8"

Nut width: 1 11/16"

Body width: 13 3/4"

Body depth: 4"

Weight: 3 lbs 6 oz

Condition notes: it's in good order but does have one filled/repaired hairline crack to the treble side of the pickguard. There's also a ton of pickwear around the soundhole and lots of small scratches, nicks, and dings throughout. It's not ugly, though. Everything is original to the guitar save pins, saddle, and tuner buttons. The original Kluson tuner plates are still there under the 1941-style covers. The bridge looks like its top deck was shaved a little bit. I'm not sure if this has had a neck reset but the neck angle is good and there's plenty of saddle. Being ladder-braced, the top does have a little belly behind the bridge but it's stable in service (any old Gibson has the same thing, to be honest).

It comes with: a period chip case.