Kingston Kawai SD-30 / S3T "Hound Dog Taylor" Guitar - Bare Wood - 1964

I am relisting for sale my Kawai Kingston SD-30 / S3T Style “Hound Dog Tailor” Guitar, made around 1964. It is in very good shape, the electrics are clean, neck straight, frets good and action low. Everything is original and the only thing missing is the Tremolo arm, which I believe would screw into the hole closest to the bridge.

Update: I had a few questions about the neck pocket. It is solid with no cracks, there is a bit of lacquer seaming on one corner. But the wood is intact and solid. New images added - I also added an image of the frets.

Scale is a short 23.75 inches but the neck is hefty, a C or D size so “chunky”. The short scale, substantial neck and small body (only 12 inches across at the lower bout) make this a pretty unique player. The guitar is about 38 inches in overall length. Later models, with the more “sculpted” headstock, were made with thinner necks so the guitar evolved a bit in the few years it was made.

The old tuners keep tune but are a bit stiff when turning, especially the G. I’ve tried a bit of lubricant in the past, it would probably help to clean them more thorough than I have. There are nicks and scruffs around some of the guitar, including at the top of the headstock. The transparent coating on the wood is extremely thick and durable, it looks like the original finish,

I replaced the original bridge, which had at least one loose string retainer, with a new Rickenbacker style bridge with hand rest, adjustable height, and it allows for intonation. The action is low, intonation is pretty good as is and the strings line up great with the neck.

I had a very similar guitar years ago branded as the Noble Thunderball, though it had four pickups and no tremolo tailpiece. These guitars are short in scale and relatively small in overall size. The overall length of the guitar is 38 inches.

The three switches are off/on for the pickups, on being when switched towards the bottom of the guitar. Original plastic knobs, the pots are smooth and crackle free.

The tremolo works great as a tailpiece - I have not tried to set up a tremolo arm so will leave that to you to do if you wish.

The bare wood body has a nice smooth finish.

I believe I used 46 - 10's on this guitar when I last changed them. They're ready for a change and I would lean towards a lighter gauge to go with the short scale - but will leave that one to you

No case but will wrap securely and ship quickly.

Let me know if you have any questions.

I often have some cool 60’s guitar for sale on my Reverb store so have a look and let me know if anything interests you.