Kay Master Size Artist Kay 46 Kay 48 Archtop Guitar 1947-1951 Sunburst

Stunning Vintage Kay “Master Size Artist” 17" Acoustic Archtop Guitar, made in Chicago USA in the mid-late 40s or early 50s. This rare Kay features a 17" wide solid spruce top and was a very high end model with a nice light tobacco burst finish, solid maple sides and a flame maple back with thick multi-layered laminated bindings, beautiful bound tortoiseshell peghead overlay with Kay logo and musical note motif, original tortoiseshell pickguard, original Kluson Deluxe “Pat Applied”, shaft not thru Fender Broadcaster shell casing, single tuners with original ferrules, original bone nut and cool fancy pearl fretboard markers on bound Brazilian Rosewood fretboard with a large deep C neck profile. These tuner casings alone have value. Features a vintage correct Gibson J-45 correct cardboard Alligator case. A piece is missing from the side of the case at the lower bass bout, otherwise it is in good shape.  

This is a very high end Kay model, the inside of the back is flamed maple. The specs show this as having a laminated back. It is unusual to see flamed wood on the inside of laminated archtops, it is usually a lesser grade wood. It's got an 1-5/8" wide nut and a 25-3/4" scale. Please read entire add closely, lots of info here. The back has a few spots of wear visible in the pictures. The front has light nicks and dings, appropriate with it’s age, but not bad. The pickguard curves up at the end, but closer to the bridge, and not in the area where playing it sounds best .  There appears to be a very tight solid crack under the bridge, visible in the pic of the bridge.

The overbuilt neck is made of maple and very straight with a lot of girth that gets thicker as it goes up, with no truss rod.  Most of the wear on the guitar is on the sides of the neck, with some slight finish flaking near the headstock, but the guitar has no water damage.. The neck heel is pulling from the body, but it does not affect the playing, which is usually not the case. The 11th  & 14th  frets have been flattened & pulled, and need to be redone. The neck frets very well except at the 11th fret where it is dead on the A & D string. The 14th fret and the rest of the neck plays fine. Someone may have at one time reset the neck, but there is no visible work to the finish. String height at the 12th fret is 7/64’s at both the high and low E strings.  

This guitar appears to be all original.. The endpin is missing. This guitar is a real beauty and it plays easy. The tone is big, bright and loud with great projection. It has a snappy attack with great bass response and crisp, will be well packed for shipping.