Kay mandolin - value and more important sound

[HSI]

I am thinking about buying this instrument. I like the checkered binding - it matches my Kalamazoo guitar.

They want $200, which sounds reasonable and it looks to be in good shape. It is in another town so I haven't played it. I was hoping someone could tell me the general value of this mando and if it has reasonable volume. It looks to have a solid spruce top, can't tell if that is a solid maple back, but the neck has a bit of 'faux-ness' about it.

Any othe info would be appreciated.

[mandroid]

They did a painting technique to look as if figured .. back then
sold in price niche like Harmony , also rebranded and sold thru Sears 'Silvertone', and Wards 'Airline'.. Catalog.
I'd say Haggle a bit .. 200 is their first desire , counter offer 50 or so lower , arrive somewhere in the middle, .. it's a tradition.

get a return arrangement agreed to if it's in reality un playable without repairs..

[MikeEdgerton]

That was a few years before the Airline brand, the neck finish looks faux, the back doesn't. The tailpiece isn't original (I have no idea what it came off of, looks like a tenor guitar maybe). I'm sure it shipped with a Waverly Cloud tailpiece. If the neck joint is solid I'd pay 200.00 for that Kay (and that kay alone) and not blink an eye just for the cool factor, but be forewarned, I would almost guarantee the top and back and sides are laminated and don't expect any super sound out of it. If it happens to sound good think of it as a bonus.

[Verne Andru]

Hey Mike - As I understand it, on the guitar side Kay would make laminates for their off brands [Silvertone, et. al] but would make a solid wood version as a high-end Kay. Did they not follow this same approach with their mandolins?

[MikeEdgerton]

High end Kay may be an oxymoron. The nicest Kay I ever had in my hands (and cosmetically it was beautiful) was laminated. There was a time when they just went to laminated tops and backs and it was a selling point for them. I think you'd have to go way back to guarantee a solid top. More importantly, the necks on these are notorious for coming loose so if you've got one that's solid be thankful for it.

[Jim Garber]

From my 1950s catalog pages this looks top be a model K-70. I am not so sure that they didn't use solid woods on the higher-end mandolins as well. I see some lower end models described as "all-laminate" construction and the higher ones (including the K-70) as having "select spruce top" and "close-grained spruce top." I know that is not definitive, but I also have a great K22 guitar from around the same period that with its solid top gives my big old Gibson guitar a run for the money.

[barney 59]

Kay did make guitars with solid tops. I have a jumbo size Kay around here somewhere that is laminated maple back and sides and a solid spruce top. Over fat neck for my taste but otherwise it's a pretty decent guitar.

[Jim Garber]

Barney... it sounds very similar to mine, but mine is mahogany B&S. Same big neck tho.

[Paul Hostetter]

The rounded-over segmented f-hole would indicate a laminated top, but it's easy enough to look at the edges, if you know what you’re looking for.

The "figure" on the back of the neck is certainly screened on.

The tailpiece is either off an old Dobro mandolin, or it's a copy of one:

http://www.thinmanmusic.com/DobroMnd.jpg

Harmony made Silvertone for Sears. Kay made Airline for Ward's. They occasionally—but not often—sold instruments to each other which were then relabeled.

[Paul Hostetter]

PS: after more than 40 years, I am still waiting to see a Kay, actually made by Kay, that wasn't laminated. The couple of pressed-top Kays I have seen were actually made by Harmony. I've also never seen a Harmony or Kay that was actually carved; if they were solid, they were pressed.

The various budget line shops around Chicago, including Regal and even Gibson, would occasionally sell to one another to fill orders, and once in awhile would collaborate on orders for jobbers like Tonk, B&J, or CMI. Think about the National jumbo flattops that had a National neck on a Gibson body, for example:

http://www.lutherie.net/national.1155.2.jpg

Or the National Aragons, which had National cones in Kay jumbo ply archtop bodies:

http://www.acguitar.com/media_files/articles/197/23556/23556.jpg

[Verne Andru]

IIRC "Select Spruce Top" is a euphemism for laminate. At least these days.

[allenhopkins]

I have a National Havana guitar, big Kay body, National resonator. Mid to late '30's.

[i-vibe]

i have that same model KAY only mine's an ac/electric w a very cool lipstick tube style pickup and those cool old white knobs KAY used to use on some of their gtrs.

it's a pretty cool little player...someone had refretted it w nice low and fat frets. mine is laminate all the way.

as an acoustic, well w that thick laminate top....as you would expect ...not much volume. (further compounded my use of JM11's)

but the other side of the coin is that w that thick top it's pretty resistant to feeding back.

how's the p/u sound?

...well, let's just say no one is ever gonna mistake it for a nice mic'd up mando but it does have an appealing (to me) low tech kinda thing that does get compliments...i know it AIN'T my playing!

..and for it's worth...i got mine for $25!!!

[i-vibe]

and yes...that checkerboard binding IS the schnizzle!

[Verne Andru]

right on!

[DerTiefster]

And does our O.P. of this thread have any comments or updates to make on this fine day 1.5 yrs later? Did you buy it? Does it sound nice? Was the back truly quilted maple? I'm partly asking because I bought a somewhat older Kay a week or two ago and its back is quite pretty quilted maple. It's old enough that the sides and top seem to be solid material, possibly pre-WWII. Some of the Kay products are interesting visually.