1952 Kay ‘Rex’ K-125 Peanut Red Burst RARE

1952 Kay ‘Rex’ K-125 Peanut

Kay's first true solidbody spanish electric, the K-125 aptly named "Peanut" came along as a precursor to the now famous Stratotone. It features a small, slender body built with neck-through construction (essentially one big neck with body wings glued on), a single pickup, and wooden bridge with short trapeze tailpiece. With its longer scale design and fat neck, it has a big, full tone with an impressive amount of sustain and fundamental power.

This is a rare variant of the K-125 released under the Rex brand name, which Kay built for Gretsch to market and distribute. It appears to have sat for a very long time unplayed, but in a temperate environment that didn't lend itself to degradation. The neck remains quite straight with original frets that have hardly been played, and the always cool looking firestripe celluloid pickguard material is strongly supporting the electronics, albeit with some light to moderate material breakdown below the pickup and on a few small areas on the control plate.

The original single coil pickup - made famous in the K-161 model "Thin Twin" - absolutely sings in this guitar. It could be due to its slightly microphonic nature, but man does it put out some tone! It reminds us of a bit of a Jazzmaster or Strat pickup with a slightly leaner bass response and fat trebles. What a sound! And if you forget your cable at the gig, worry not! These K-125s left the factory with their instrument cables hardwired!

While these models excel as slide guitars, clean survivors like this lend themselves to being pretty good all-arounders, too. They won't play like a Suhr or Grosh, but that's not what they were intended for. At over 70 years of age, these Kays are just as inspiring today as they've ever been. Simple and a bit primitive, but incredibly cool with a sound all their own.

Paired with its original brown Geib chipboard case (fair - hinges are broken off but the shell and latches are solid).

Weight: 5lb 4oz

Pickup: 9.9k with original Mallory 1 Meg pots | Volume / Tone / Tone Switch

Hardware: Original Bridge, Tailpiece, and Kluson No Line tuners

Neck profile: Full C .97-1.2” w/ 12” radius

Scale Length: 25 7/8”