Vintage Acoustic Guitar

rare 1960's Kay made Airline archtop guitar

This is an auction for a very rare example of a Kay made acoustic archtop guitar labeled as an Airline for sale through Montgomery Wards. Similar models were sold with the Kay and Silvertone names, but few seem to have gotten this really neato 'batwing' style mod pickguard. It is an all birch guitar like so many Chicago manfacturers made. It is painted to look like the back is flamed maple and top is spruce, but it is birch through and through. Probably all solid. It seems like this was a more deluxe model, though, as it got a nice set of 'Double Line' Kluson Deluxe tuners. This style of tuner dates the guitar to about '64-'68, which fits with what I know about Airlines from Kay. It is a killer looking model. One thing that dropped my jaw about this guitar when I first saw it was the hefty thick Brazilian slab fingerboard it has! Man, that is a lot of rosewood! If you had to buy that board today you'd be taking out a loan on something to get it. If you could even get it. In comparison it makes a '60 Strat 'slab board' look like it was Olive Oyl from the Popeye cartoons. Whoa! Thats alotta Rosewood!

This was a guitar came to me from a friend who often finds guitars that need some attention and repair work in the area and funnels them to my hands. Which is good, because most of these guitars would end up on the scrap heap if I didn't take them into my guitar orphanage and nurse them back to health. This one came to me in relatively good condition apart from the fact that it desperately needed a neck reset. Desperately. It had strings about 1/2" off the fingerboard at the 12th fret, so there was no chance of playing it unless you wanted to break out a slide. Or have vise gripes for fingers.

I saw the potential, though, and I picked it up and gave it the once over before taking it to my repair guy to get started on. He got going right away. He steamed the neck off and reset it at the proper angle it needed to be at. He then pulled the first ten frets. He then planed the fingerboard straight, replaced the frets, and recrowned the frets where he could to make it more even. He then strung it up and gave it a nice setup. And man, what a difference all that work made! It went from a ski jump to a smooth and sexy player in no time.

What you have after all that repair is a truly cool old vintage guitar that is now in tip top playing order. It has better action and performance than it has a right to have with low even action, but it all came at the expense of my pocketbook (which is now why I am at a point that I have to sell it and move on). But, it will treat someone well. I have shown a photo of the action at the 12th fret so you can get an idea of how low and comfortable it plays, so take a look. It has a little bit of buzz up higher from the action setup, but nothing really bad. The usual stuff. If someone wanted less of this, you'd probably crank up the action a touch. Nothing shocking there. I like it where it is, though. The neck width is nice and round, and the neck profile has a deep round shape that was common on some 50's and 60's Kay guitars. It kind of reminds me of a fatter round Tele neck. Or if the later 60's Gibson neck was a little wider (not a pencil). I really love the feel of the neck, it is easy and even to get around on, is not hard on your hand in any way. It has its original Brazilian rosewood adjustable floating bridge. It has a bit of height on it if someone wanted to lower it down, but I like it where it is. It has the perfect chemistry of comfort and maximum volume and tone like an archtop should. Thanks, luthier. Nice work!

Condition wise it is pretty clean overall. No cracks that I found anywhere. There are some small nicks and scuffs around. A couple of the tuner buttons are a little chewed up from something (maybe a reaction to something it touched, a lot of vinyls in the 60's eat away at plastic and finish as they aged). Whatever the case, they work fine. Cosmetically it is pretty clean. It has a slight wiff of smoke and some yellowing to its hardware and tuner buttons, as the former owner was a smoker. I cleaned it up once already and it made a big difference. I think it is not very prevalent now. It adds kind of a cool patina to the look, though. It has one area where it looks like some furniture polish or Armor All or something might have been sprayed on it (see it by the F hole on the bass side). I did not scrub at this or use anything to try to get it off, but it would probably be easy to do so. What else? The painted on binding has some wear to the edges, but that is common. Take a look at the photos for the overall condition. They will say more than I ever could.

It has a birch body, which is common to this era. In fact, this was something most Chicago guitar companies (Regal, Harmony, and Kay) did since the 20's! So, it is pretty rock solid. It has that cool 60's Airline 'paddle' headstock I dig. I just sold a really cool 'green machine' Airline with this same cool boxy headstock. Very mod! The original bone nut is in good shape. The neck looks to be birch or maple. And it has the usual nitro paint job with the addition of the 'faux flame' and 'faux spruce' effects they did. But the woodiness of the birch really kicks up the sound a notch, making for a nice attack and percussive rhythm tone great for cutting through a mix. All of these cool features just adds so much to the sound!

That is good, because that is where this guitar truly shines. It has a tight and bright voice that cuts through on the top end of a chord when you strum it with a pick, and throaty, responsive tone for fingerstyle. I love the 'zzzzing' these birch archtops get. It is very loud and brash sounding when you want to really get some volume out of it. It is a great sound for such a budget friendly guitar. Its size of the body about that of a modern dreadnought guitar. I dig the way it delivers a lot of volume and can really jump out when you want it to. It would be great for doing an old school Americana sort of vibe, a retro Jazz or Gypsy Jazz thing, or some classic Blues, or Alt Country or Rockabilly stuff. Heck it would even be great for a modern acoustic instrumental thing! It adds a nice flavor in the studio that nothing (outside maybe a Godin archtop) will capture for you....Listen for yourself!

Well, here is a bit of audio of me playing it with a heavy tortoise shell pick from about 3 feet away in an open tuning (which it sounds great in!)...

Here are a ton more sound files to click on and hear streaming audio, it was fun recording these...

...a quick scale run...

...now some big juicy open chords...

...an old time Jazzy/Swing era solo that show how easy it plays..

...nice throaty fingerstyle then a heavy pick to show its range...

...nice bright chord tone when picked at the bridge...

...some different styles of playing and picking...

...now a few intimate fingerstyle chords...

...with a percussive bright attack...

...a bit more of a rockabilly vibe...

...some playing with a Bluesy feel...

...a bit of single note Americana style soloin'...

...some open tuning (gently played) fingerstyle...

This vintage Kay made archtop does not come with a case, but I can include one after the end of the auction for some additional money. I expect this guitar will make someone very happy. And I am starting it at only $.99 with no reserve!!

This guitar is not warrantied in any way due to its condition and age. Bidders be warned. Auction is as is, no returns whatsoever. UPS Ground or Expedited US Postal Service in the USA. I prefer a certified cashiers check from bidders in the US, but take I Paypal as well. Paypal only on international bidders, please email me for your shipping rates oustide the 48 contiental states. Payments must be made or confirmed within 48 hours (unless otherwise stated by me personally) or I move to the next bidder on the list. I hope this goes to a happy home! Please do not bid unless you have the money to buy it and plan on following through with your bid. Don't blame me if you grow warts on your face when you don't pay. Its the spirirts' will, not mine. I know this is not of the majority, so thanks for bearing with me. All sounds, songs, and images are copyrighted material, so pirate them at your own peril. Seriously, I have a team of trained rabid attack dogs that do nothing but cruise the internet looking for interlopers to feed upon. You probably aren't even reading this, but if you are...beware their wrath. Anyways...feel free to ask questions! I am going to be doing some remodeling this week in my home, so there may be a day or two in there that my internet connection is down, but never fear...I will answer your questions as fast as I can. Email me if you want to see any more pictures, I have tons of them that probably did not make it into the massive picture show below because I am nuts about this guitar! Thanks!

CLICK HERE TO ADD ME TO YOUR FAVORITE SELLERS!