1950s Kay K-125 "Peanut" Electric Guitar
I was smitten with this guitar when I first pulled it out of the consignor's case. He'd brought a lot of cool Chicagoland electrics in for sale but this is the one that caught my attention first. I love "Thin Twin" pickups (they're like the angrier cousin of Danelectro lipstick-style pickups) and it's hard to beat the gush-factor of a one-piece neck and body configuration (like an old first-gen Stratotone).
This Kay model was only made in '52 and '53 as I recall, and like other Kay products, is delightful and strange. It has the absurdly-long 25 7/8" scale length that all the "professional" Kay guitars tend to have. This lets them detune beautifully but also means that per any given gauge the tension will be a little higher than on a "normal" scale. It's currently wearing 10s but they "feel" a little bit more like 11s because of that, though the action is fast so it's not noticeable.
Work was full on this instrument, but after repairs, it plays fast and spot-on and is solid, reliable, and ready to go. The fretboard got a plane/level and refret with jumbo stock -- the longer fret tangs help keep the neck stiffer and as long as you don't overstring it (12s tuned E-to-E) it should stay true for the long haul now that it's done.
I decided early-on to replace the entire wiring harness (volume/tone pots and cap) as the original was seized and quite dirty. I replaced the "hard-corded" output with a standard Switchcraft 1/4" jack at the same time and modified the "on/off" switch to instead be an "on/off for tone" switch. That lets you dial-in a "tone pot engaged" sound and then flip it to "off" for a more straight-to-jack tone -- Esquire style!
The guitar also arrived here with a damaged coil on the pickup so I rewound it to around 6k turns (and similar output) with standard "42 wire." I didn't wax-pot the pickup (but could if you'd like) as the microphonic, body-sensitive thing is part of the charm of these pickups and guitars.
What else? The bridge got full compensation for the modern 3-plain, 3-wound format strings, it now has side dots, and I added a strap button to one of the tailpiece-mount screw locations. I also added two "downpressure" screws to the tailpiece trapeze to give the back of the bridge even downpressure from the strings. These are all small improvements but they wind-up letting it play like a fancy new guitar rather than a funktastic, ill-treated old one. I've played enough bad-playing "peanuts" and Stratotone-peanuts to know that these are often miserable to play until they've been properly serviced like this.
Repairs included: a board plane and refret with jumbo stock, several replacement (vintage) buttons for the tuners, minor hairline/dryness crack fill, mostly-new wiring harness, pickup rewind, bridge compensation, setup, etc...
Body wood: one-piece poplar, neck included
Bridge: rosewood adjustable (archtop-style)
Fretboard: rosewood-a-like
Neck wood: poplar
Pickups: 1x original Kay Thin Twin/Jimmy Reed-style blade single coil
Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 46w-10 lights, unwound G compensation
Neck shape: medium to bigger full C
Board radius: 9 1/2"
Neck relief: straight
Fret style: jumbo
Scale length: 25 7/8"
Nut width: 1 11/16"
Body width: 10 5/8"
Body depth: 1 3/4"
Weight: 5 lbs 2 oz
Condition notes: it's mostly-original but I did change a few things -- the wiring harness is replacement bits except for the switch, the bridge has been modded/compensated, the frets are brand-new jumbos, and the pickup has been rewound. There's also an added strap button at the tailpiece. The top/back has a small hairline crack in it that's been filled and is stable -- and has been stable. There's playwear and usewear throughout the body but overall it's in great shape for this particular model and it has the absolutely-cool firestripe/tortoise pickguard material, too.
It comes with: a period chip case.
Ready for some "before" pics of the inside? See below...
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