1930s American Conservatory (Kay) 00-Size Guitar

Overview: This is a very cool-looking old Kay-made guitar under the American Conservatory (at that point, ex-Lyon & Healy) branding. It has a Gibson-like headstock cut and L-00-like body shape but it's ladder-braced like a Kalamazoo KG-14. It came to us with a tailpiece (old, and unoriginal) on and, initially, we were thinking of setting it up without one. Post-repairs we decided to keep it because it sounds tip-top with it on and it has oodles of volume.

Tone: I can see this as a killer old-time backup guitar -- it's woody and punchy and cuts really well. It's plainspoken but very endearing.

Feel: It's got a medium-bigger V neck with a modern, 1 11/16" nut width and quite-steeply-radiused fretboard (for the time).

Interesting features: Like most Kays, the scale is very long so lighter strings are suggested to keep the instrument happy. The small sunburst and swirly pickguard really are reminiscent of Gibson-style guitars from the time and give it a nice "blues appeal." 

Repairs included: Jose did an awful lot of good work on this one to get it playing up to snuff. It's had a neck reset, fret level/dress, bridge re-reglue (and pinhole fill/cleanup) and new bone saddle with proper compensation, pickguard reglue, new bone nut, side dots added, cleaning, and setup work. It plays bang-on and is ready to serve.

• Weight: 3 lbs 2 oz
• Scale length: 25 3/4"
• Nut width: 1 11/16"
• Neck shape: medium-bigger V
• Board radius: 9 1/2"
• Body width: 14 1/4"
• Body depth: 3 3/4"
• Top wood: solid spruce
• Back & sides wood: solid 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: 50w-11
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: medium-wider

Condition notes: It's all-original save a period tailpiece and a new bone nut and saddle. There's a ton of small scratches, scuffs, handling-wear, etc. throughout and lots of weather-checking to the thin old finish, but I'm not finding any cracks.

It comes with: It's got a chip case (not pictured, good for storage).

Consignor tag: CMET