1930s Kay Kraft Style A Archtop Guitar

Overview: Kay Krafts continue to be popular at the shop. They're odd, they stand-out, they look great, and they fill a very specific sonic niche that caters to a few styles very, very well. This one is a Style A as it has mahogany back and sides rather than maple (Style B) or rosewood (Style C). It also has lovely decals still extant on the lower bout and the tobacco-brown sunburst finish is a nice touch, too.

Tone: These are aggressive, loud, snappy, and zippy. They will punch sort-of like a banjo or resonator guitar and the voice suits use as a gypsy-jazz lead/fill instrument, country-blues fingerpicker, or trad-jazz chord-snapper. Bare-fingers fingerpickers can pull some extra warmth out of them, too.

Feel: While the neck is on the medium-V side of shapes, it's quicker than most Kay Krafts and has a very curvy 9 1/2" board radius.

Interesting features: The gold floral decals on the lower bout and the celluloid headstock veneer with its gold-stenciled decorations are pretty hip details. These are certainly eye-catching guitars. These also have an "adjustable neck" gizmo with a bolted neck joint at the heel. We mod these to be "locked" in one position for stability's sake but the idea was a nice one at the time.

Repairs included: Ancel did all the work on this one -- he "set" the neck angle via shims at the neck joint and a "locking bolt" hidden at the neckblock inside. After that he fit a same-period (but not original) adjustable Kay archtop bridge to it. He then leveled/dressed the frets, cleaned it up, and gave it a good setup. It's playing quick and easy and is ready to go.

• Weight: 3 lbs 14 oz
• Scale length: 25 3/4"
• Nut width: 1 3/4"
• Neck shape: medium V
• Board radius: 9 1/2"
• Body width: 14 1/4"
• Body depth: 3 3/4"
• Top wood: solid spruce
• Back & sides wood: likely ply mahogany
• Bracing type: hybrid
• Bridge: adjustable rosewood
• Fretboard: ebonized maple
• Neck wood: maple
• Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: 46w-10 extra lights
• Truss rod: non-adjustable steel
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: medium-low

Condition notes: We use "gypsy-jazz"-style gauges on these guitars (10s standard, 11s max) due to the quite long scale length (for the time) and the predilection for necks on these guitars to warp when using 12s due to the increased tension from the long scale. If you like the gypsy-jazz sound, then Savarez-style strings with silverplated copper windings might be for you as they work beautifully on these guitars to "warm up" their bottom-end while still sounding saucy. Anyhow, back to the guitar itself..? It's mostly-original but has a replacement (period) bridge, replacement nut (I believe), and a replacement endpin. It is missing its original pickguard There are light scratches and scuffs here and there throughout the finish. There are a few smaller veneer hairline cracks on the sides near the neck joint. I'm fairly certain the sides are ply so this is a non-issue and they look to have been glued-up at some point anyhow.

It comes with: Sorry, no case.

Consignor tag: MCH