1930s Kay Kraft Nick Lucas style A Sunburst X-braced acoustic guitar

For sale is an original 1930s Kay Kraft Nick Lucas Style A. It is more or less a direct copy of a 1930s Gibson Nick Lucas including the extra deep body and X braced top. The style letter indicates the level of ornamentation and the back and sides wood (Style A is mahogany, B maple, C Rosewood). Judging by the closeness to a Nick Lucas and the general design I suspect this is a very early one and so probably dates from 1930-1932. It doesn't seem to have any work done on it and is entirely original including the bridge, tuners and bridge pins.

This is the second one I have owned, the other being a style C. I felt the sound of this was significantly better than the C which could be quite harsh sounding and this style A is much closer to my New Era Nick Lucas. The action is very high (7mm at the 12th) and it definitely needs a neck reset to be playable for anything but slide. The extra long scale (26") means that it suits down tuning very well and I have kept it in open C where it is just about playable in the first position. The width at the nut is 4.5cm (1 3/4") and the neck shape is very comfortable (somewhere between a low oval and a soft V - quite narrow front to back, not a baseball bat like many guitars from this era). It is a very loud guitar, particularly with fingerpicks or a plectrum, and very resonant; you can really feel the bass notes when you play. The sound is projective with good balance between the bass and treble.

It is generally in excellent condition - when I received it it had a riser nut on and I suspect it was probably played Hawaiian for most of it's life as there is basically no wear on the frets. There are some scuffs on the under side and a small amount of play wear on the top. There are two parallel lines on the top that appear to be in the finish only. There is no movement in either and photos I have taken of the underside of the top don't show any correspondence for the longer one. There is a mark that's about 3-4cm around the area of the centre seam one, but it is very slight (it disappears in most of the photos I tried to take of it), and it is above where the line is on the outside. The position means that it wouldn't need any intervention if it is a crack, however it appears to be a glue mark from when the top was joined. There is a small crack in the binding on the bottom edge which needs a drop of glue to stablise it.

Comes with a modern Guardian hardshell case which fits it very well. I would prefer collection but can post - please contact me and this can be arranged at cost.