Restoring Kay Master cutaway Ca 1956

pluckingalong · #1 08-21-2011, 01:56 PM

Hello to all, I am new to this forum and hoping someone may be able to help me find some items for a guitar I looking to restore. I have attached 2 pictures of what I am told is a Kay Master Cutaway CA 1956. This was my Dad's guitar he used for many years and I now have it after he passed. I wanted to verify that it is a Kay master Cutaway and if so I am looking for the missing items such as the pic guard. Can somone let me know if this is the correct Kay and if so where I might be able to find thte items to properly restore it? Any help is much appreciated.

M-ster · #2 08-21-2011, 02:12 PM

It would be interesting to see the photos, although I probably have no additional information to offer you.

barrymclark · #3 08-21-2011, 02:28 PM

Don't see any photos although I would love to.

What I have found with the Kays/Silvertones and so on is that you are pretty well out of luck with getting parts easy. You will either have to find a guitar with similar parts and switch them out, have them made, or just approximate the best you can with what you can find.

mr. beaumont · #4 08-21-2011, 02:30 PM

I have a master cutaway.

They actually don't start showing up in kay catalogs till 59 or 60, iirc. I'd like to see pics...I could hopefully steer you in the right direction.

You might want to join over at vintaxe.com for a month and peruse their catalogs...they have kay catalogs dating back to the early 50's.

Kay gets lumped in with the cheapo american guitars, but their higher quality guitars are pro quality, imho. Fix her up and you got a real player, i'd imagine.

spiral · #5 08-21-2011, 02:35 PM

If it is indeed at 1956 this may be of help:
http://polishbroadcast.com/kayCatalogs/1956catalog.pdf
Or, i have other catalogs uploaded if you just go to that directory.

You can get repro pickguards on ebay with or without the Kay "music stand" logo.

Please post your pictures so we can see them. You can either attach them through the board attachment feature (available on the "advanced" posting page) or copy the link to the photo at your hosting service.

pluckingalong · #6 08-21-2011, 02:59 PM

I guess the picture I have a too large of size to upload, they are 6kb and 13kb? I thought that size was very small?

pluckingalong · #7 08-21-2011, 03:12 PM

I give up, I cannot seem to get the pictures uploaded. Thanks for the input to my inquiry and I will follow the advice and hopefully find the missing parts.

spiral · #8 08-21-2011, 03:23 PM

pluckingalong · #9 08-21-2011, 03:28 PM

Thanks Spiral!

pluckingalong · #10 08-21-2011, 03:30 PM

From the pictures posted by spiral does this look to be a CA 1956 Master Cutaway as I thought or is it another model?

spiral · #11 08-21-2011, 03:32 PM

Pickguard for Kay K1 Archtop w/ Hot-Stamped logo - New | eBay

ps. yea the headstock and inlays look like a 1956 K1. As long as the neck doesn't need a reset, you should be good to go. If you have a luthier you trust, i would take it to him/her, pay your $70 for a setup / checkup and you will get 55 more years out of it.

Doctor Jeff · #12 08-21-2011, 03:34 PM

Nice guitar - I have the mahogany acoustic K37 mentioned in the above catalog, which I restored last year.

pluckingalong · #13 08-21-2011, 04:23 PM

Thanks for the link spiral, I will keep watch of this auction.

mr. beaumont · #14 08-21-2011, 05:44 PM

Block inlays say 50's to me.

You have a very nice instrument there that's well worth restoring. Look through the catalogs spiral mentioned...like others said, nobody's really making kay replacement parts, but there always seem to be things popping up on ebay.

Doctor Jeff · #15 08-21-2011, 06:22 PM

I have not had any luck finding identical parts except on EBay. However, I have updated my vintage guitars with Stew Mac Golden Age tuners, and they look great.

I have made my own pickguards using an old pickguard as a template.

In your case the tuners, bridge and tailpiece seem to be in good shape, so a pickguard from EBay and some new strings and your good to go (assuming the neck's not too bowed, a common problem with old Kays, Harmonys and the like).

mr. beaumont · #16 08-21-2011, 07:57 PM

Seems to me bowed necks are less of a problem than necks that need to be reset....a lot of these older achtops have some FAT old necks!

Retroman1969 · #17 08-21-2011, 08:13 PM

I have nothing constructive to add except to say that's a really cool old Kay and I'm glad you're taking it under your wing, so to speak.

hot ford coupe · #18 08-21-2011, 10:18 PM

That's the kind of guitar that you go ahead and restor. They're really the coolest.

pluckingalong · #19 08-25-2011, 06:06 PM

I have taken step one in the restoration process and have a pick guard with accessories on order!