Folks this is an exquisitely cool, early 1960's Kay N4 acoustic archtop guitar in what I am calling an ice tea burst flame finish.
We all know that Kay was the department store brand back in the day, and that since they mass produced a bunch of guitars they don't have the collectible value of many of their contemporaries. However, they did not make many of this particular model. I am sure this stood out amongst its mates as a higher end offering.
Just look at the finish, the flame, the super cool headstock adornments, the trapeze tailpiece. I just love this guitar. Also, unlike many Kay's of a similar age, this guitar is still perfectly playable, it does not/will not need a neck reset. My tech just set her up this week and she plays beautifully.
Listing is for the guitar only but please soak in the pics as they are all of the actual guitar you will happily unpack.
Aesthetically there are no real issues. I thought for a moment there was an issue with a small section of the binding but that was actually a different instrument. There is no issue with the binding here! The brown string you see in some of the photos was used as a strap and has been on the guitar for years so I kept it on but you can obviously remove.
The pickguard is signed by John Kay, Steppenwolf frontman. The collector who has owned this guitar for the past 15 years had, as the thing that set apart his collection, was that he would get the artists who owned the and played the pieces to sign them, usually at a performance that he attended. He saw some great shows as a consequence. In this situation though I have no additional paperwork provenance on the signature. Cool though that John Kay played a Kay guitar :).
This guitar is ready to be played, but is such a vintage looker too and would make a great mounted guitar in a mancave too.
As for me I've been lucky enough to carve out a living in the music products industry for my entire adult life and I had the privilege of owning Monster Music in Levittown for 14 years before selling the shop in 2019. Many of my former customers are still with me here online now as Brian's House of Music & Fun! Thanks for keeping the music alive!
