1960s Truetone Swingmaster by Kay K673 Vintage Electric Guitar Barney Kessel

Up for sale, a 1960's Truetone Swingmaster model K673 in excellent, honestly played condition and in good working order. Produced by Kay in the USA for the Western Auto house brand "Truetone," this Swingmaster is identical to its Kay-branded brother with the exception of a six-on-a-side headstock shape and a couple other small cosmetic touches. This Kay model is easily one of the most eye-catching and cool instruments ever offered by the Chicago-based company, with a trio of P-35 "Kleenex Box" single coil pickups wound for Kay by Gibson, along with checkerboard binding and a four-way rotary pickup selector switch to engage any or all of the pickups. With its fully hollow maple body, this Kay weighs a mere 7lbs and the acoustic tone is quite cutting and clear. The Kleenex Box pickups have a rich sound with a bit of scooped midrange and sweet top end chime, for all intents and purposes a tonal middle ground between a P-90 and a Jazzmaster single coil. We've had this guitar professionally setup here at Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar and restrung with 10-46 strings.

The neck has a medium soft V shaped profile, and the neck has enough roundness to it that it feels more like a C, especially in the higher registers of the fretboard. The bound Brazilian rosewood fretboard features pearl dot inlays and original frets which have been recently leveled and show no discernible wear. The stock nut measures 1 5/8" in width, perfect for easy chording and accurate lead work. On the headstock, the original Truetone aluminum disc logo is present along with the original open back tuners, which still turn smoothly and hold pitch as they should.

All of the electronics work well, and the four-way rotary switch engages each pickup individually or all three single coils at once for a particularly meaty and full sound. Each pickup has dedicated Volume and Tone knobs, so you can dial in each pickup to taste for a particularly wide palette of sounds. Much of the original hardware is present including the factory silver painted selector switch knob, adjustable rosewood bridge and trapeze tailpiece. The "flag" pickguard is a direct replacement made from an original template and provided by Pickguardian, and the guard is affixed with its original bracket. The knobs are also unoriginal, but a decent match both cosmetically and functionally. The sunburst finish is 100% original with no touchups or overspray, and this finish is honestly worn, showing heavy finish checking. Still a vibrant finish that highlights the curly maple figuring on the body, this burst shows various scuffs, nicks, and assorted marks of light wear, although there are no repairs or structural issues of any kind!