Kay K150 Acoustic Electric Archtop - 1951 Blues Guitar - Thin Twin Pickup

    Kay K150 archtop with the original Jimmy Reed, or thin twin pickup. Solid spruce top - curly maple back and sides - rosewood fingerboard and bridge.

    Acoustically this guitar has a unique sound - rumbly bass - bright treble - quick attack and not very loud no matter how hard you push it. -- Elvin Bishop played one like this in the late 1970's and is pictured on a couple of his album covers.  

   The pickup works and I've de-oxited the original pots and installed a standard output jack and it sounds good - also a unique tone, but it's the acoustic tone that sets this guitar apart - best brought out by bronze strings - not electric.  The neck is pretty fat, even for a Kay - and the scale is longer than most guitars too - 26"

It is not as loud as most Kays from this period because of the pickup cutout - a distinctive sound that blends well with an older blues voice. -- Sleepy John Estes played one at the end of his career. 

    I've put on new Kluson tuners, same footprint and style as the originals, and a new Kluson tailpiece.  There is a screw in the neckjoint to help hold a neck reset in place, covered with a veneer cap and putty.  There is a good bit of capo rash on the back as this plays nice capo'd at the 5th fret, and everybody else thought so too. 

    Again - if you've been looking for a Kay archtop with that big punchy acoustic sound, this is not it - because of the cutout for the pickup.  This one has a softer, yet rumbly tone that is better suited for recording.

   I've posted several acoustic samples on SoundCloud under ClaytonAudio

soundcloud.com/claytonaudio/kay-k150-bonnie-port-moore

Ships in a padded gig bag

Length          -    41"

Lower Bout   -    15 1/2"

Upper Bout   -    11 3/8"

Depth           -     3 1/4"
Nut          -          1 11/16"

Scale        -        25 3/4"

Weight     -          5 lbs