1960s Kay Value Leader K1963 Hollowbody Electric Guitar

I've handled a few of these but this is the cleanest one I've seen yet. Post-repairs it plays fast (though the neck is fairly fat) and easy and has a retro, bluesy, rootsy sound that craves fingerpicking or dirty-amp rocking. These are hollowbodies so they have a sort-of up-front, retro sound that's not too colored by overtones or chime. You can pick them a bit like an acoustic in that way and they deliver the goods -- sort-of like an old Danelectro, too.

It arrived here in great shape but, to my dismay, all of the volume/tone pots were completely frozen. I spent some time trying to get them working but gave-up and rewired the harness with fresh ones. Guess what? That sounds a heck of a lot better, too, compared to the questionable originals I've played-through on others. It's like removing wax from its ears, so to speak. The other work was normal, glorified-setup stuff.

Things to pay attention to: the cool factor of the knobs, the 4-way rotary switch (neck, middle, bridge, and all three), the controls-and-pickguard all on a single grounded plate (well, now it's grounded to the tailpiece, anyhow), and the fact that it's a flyweight for all that gear on board.

Repairs included: a fret level/dress, compensation added to the bridge (3-wound, 3-plain), side dots, cleaning, and replacement of all pots and caps in the wiring harness -- plus a ground wire to the tailpiece. After that -- a bit of cleaning and setup.

Body wood: ply maple (hollow with center post)

Bridge: maple adjustable

Fretboard: maple

Neck wood: poplar

Pickups: 3x original single coil

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast)
String gauges: 46w-10

Neck shape: medium-full C/D

Board radius: 10"

Truss rod: non-adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-wide

Scale length: 24 3/8"

Nut width: 1 5/8"

Body width: 13 1/4"

Body depth: 1 3/4"

Weight: 5 lbs 7 oz

Condition notes: it's very clean for its age and all-original except for added side dots, replacement pots/caps (500k & orange drop caps), and a new strap button. There's minor finish weather-check here and there and small scratches and then some wear on the sides from where the guitar bumped-up against the latches of the case (I see these on almost all old Chicago guitars because of those original chip case designs).

It comes with: its original chip case.