Kay K-62 "Television" Model (1937-1939) Natural Carved Archtop

Now also for sale locally and on AGF.

This a very rare, Art Deco 1937-1939 Kay K-62 "Television" Hand-Carved Archtop Guitar in wonderful original condition with original alligator style archtop case in very good condition as well.

The body size is 17" at the lower bout, scale length of 25 3/4", nut width of 1 11/16", and body depth of 3 1/2". The original, crack-free finish is original blonde, with nitrocellulose type finish.

Materials are hand carved, bookmatched solid spruce top, bookmatched and arched figured maple back and sides, solid maple neck with walnut center stripes, and solid Brazilian fingerboard with intricate abalone and mother of pearl inlay. The bindings are faux tortoise body and fingerboard binding.

Original hardware includes unusual and adjustable mustache-style Brazilian bridge, translucent tortoise Lucite pickguard, and trapeze tailpiece. The original closed back tuners appear original, but have been updated with more modern machines. The original buttons will be included in the sale. 

History (for those who might be interested)

The year was 1938, and a television set was something most Americans had seen only in Popular Mechanics, or Tom Swift adventure books. Nonetheless, fully a year before the first US commercial TV broadcast beamed from the New York World's Fair, Kay Musical Instruments wasted no time in hooking their new top-of-the-line archtop to the new miracle picture box.

Kay was founded in Chicago in 1890, and by the late 30's had become perhaps the largest manufacturer of fretted instruments in the world. With a product line spanning a blizzard of different models, Kay went all-out on their new flagship professional grade guitar. Boasting a fully carved, quartersawn bookmatched solid spruce soundboard, this full depth 17" archtop was graced with exceptionally intense figured maple throughout. With big satiny rollers of tiger flame in the neck and sides, and a back of the most densely figured fiddleback maple imaginable, the instrument is simply breathtaking to behold. Like most makers, Kay reserved its most spectacular tonewood for its blonde guitars, and though a sunburst option (the K-60) was offered, the only examples of the Television model I have seen have been the blonde K-62, the very pinnacle of the Kay catalog.

A small masterpiece of Art Deco design, the Kay Television model is simply bursting with imaginative appointments. The pickguard is beveled of thick, translucent swirl Lucite, a Swing Era alternative to the traditional dark celluloid. The binding is tortoise as well, of an unusually subtle shade, and is applied throughout the instrument right down to the soundholes. The adjustable bridge is shaped of solid Brazilian rosewood, and is in the shape of a mustache, with one end turned up and the other turned down. And finally the fingerboard: fashioned from dozens of tiny slices of faux pearl and genuine abalone, the inlay pattern resembles nothing more than a gigantic broadcast antenna, an ingenious motif echoed in the Brazilian rosewood headplate as well.

This example has been maintained in fine shape, and is notably free of pick, buckle, thumb or fingerboard wear. This guitar has no cracks anywhere and only a small bump and a few scratches as noted. The ornate trapeze tailpiece appears original, according to a file photo. Action is smooth and low over a traditional prewar neck with a generous C profile. At just 4lb 14oz, the instrument is notably light in weight, and the voice is full and forward, with the parallel braced carved spruce soundboard producing robust power and projection.

Appearing in trade catalogs only in 1938 and '39, the spectacular Kay Televsion remains a vanishingly rare model, and we are aware of only a handful of surviving examples. An audacious triumph of Art Deco craftsmanship, the K-62 Television is an uncanny harbinger of the shape of things to come.

Setup: Virtually unplayed, this guitar needs for little. String action is set at 5/64" to 6/64" at the 12th fret, with moderate relief for acoustic playing with medium strings. The action may be lowered or raised to your requirements with the adjustable bridge.

Case: Deluxe black plush lined original hardshell allihator-style case.