Old guitar.. Kay or Kalamazoo or other K company??

[Ky Slim]

Just looking for info about this old guitar that my buddy has. It is definitely a cheap build but somebody played it a lot and it has lots of character.

The K on the head stock does not look like the Kay "K" that I have seen before - where the < crosses the stick of the K. I looked thru a bunch of old catalogs on kingofkays.com and it didn't really match up to anything.

There are no numbers inside or out that I could see.

Thanks for any help, info, links, jokes etc...

[OldGus]

...it looks like something else, and dirty. Is that a burl veneer for the top middle piece?

[Jimmie]

That's a typical Kay headstock from the late Thirties, 1938 or thereabouts.

[Jim Garber]

This looks like one of those wholesale guitars built by Regal and Harmony (and others) and sold by distributors to stores so they could put their own labels in them. I would think the K-decal may have been added by a store after they purchased it. I think the middle
"piece" on the top is just painted on.

[Ky Slim]

Thanks Jimmie.

Old Gus - It is painted to look like it has a 3 piece top with a curly maple-ish middle piece. The worn spot reveals that it is just a single piece.

[Jim Garber]

Jimmie is right. Here is another less worn logo.

[OldGus]

Thanks for clearing that up. I hadn't seen one with that label before...