I have to admit, I've always had a hankering for one of these. Just for the fun of it, any of you folks have any pix, info, models, etc. for these instruments?
I have to admit, I've always had a hankering for one of these. Just for the fun of it, any of you folks have any pix, info, models, etc. for these instruments?
Well I was going to suggest you look at ebay, but I found the listing for the one you have pictured so I guess you already have.
I also like the looks of these and have bid on a few during the last year or so, but I won't bid much and have yet to get one.
Bill Snyder
Google "Kay bass" and you'll find a Kay history site that's pretty thorough. While Kay had roots in a Chicago outfit that made interesting ware, most Kay/Airline instruments were laminated everything with basswood necks that pulled up, so they've never found much favor among musicians who cared about tone and playability. More a fashion statement than a musical instrument. The days when they were "pretty good for the money" have come and gone. What's currently "pretty good for the money" is considerably better. But these do have a bit of vintage mojo and if they're working, they're fun.
Check out Michael Wright's "Guitar Stories, Vol.2" for lots of Kay-mania.
When I was in Jethro's one and only weeklong workshop in Elkins, WV in the early 1980s, there was a participant who had a handmade mandolin I think with koa back and sides made in the Kaycraft shape. I never did see another of those around nor did I ever find who made it. I know that Rick Turner was also inspired by that body shape for his Model T.
Jim
Jim
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Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
They were, no doubt, the inspiration for Breedlove "K" models.
Guess it's pretty slim pickins out there. Tried all kinds of Googling, mostly to no avail. Do agree that they are not much sonically, but they do look like a fun instrument...would be insteresting to tweek one. Have to admit that it has crossed my mind once or twice (when I was feverish and delerious) to build one. Fun ones are the Old Kraftsman and Kay Kraft with the white plastic peghead overlay, and the Kay "Kelvinator" guitar P/H's are a hoot...just a BIT over the top though!
Hans and others:
I have a 1950s catalog that has some Kay pages and prob a few 1930s one that I have to check. If you like I can post a few later today.
Jim
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Jim, would love some pix of the '30's instruments!
Here follows a few I found. This one is from the Chicago Musical Instrument Co.
Jim
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Here is one page from the Czechoslovak Music Company in New York. This company BTW is still in business as Metropolitan Music in VT.
Jim
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Here is one listing for a KayKraft mandolin tho not labelled as such in the Progressive Musical Instrument Co in New York. I have to see if I have any 1930s KayKrafts or Kays with f-holes.
Jim
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Here is one that was on eBay a couple of years ago.
Jim
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
I had an f-holed one that was copied in icing sugar on my wedding cake
[QUOTE]
Here's one that was on eBay a couple of years ago.
Be still my beating hort! Jim you are truly a mando-historio-mondo. Thank you!
Here's a pix from some info pm'd to me...thanks MIke!
Hmmm... Hans... perhaps I could have right of first refusal on the first Brentrup-KayKraft... :-)Originally Posted by (Hans @ Nov. 26 2006, 14:34)
Jim
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Don't know if I'll ever give it a try, but if I do...bought the one on ebay for 68 bucks, so I've got the template. Just saw one on ebay signed by Monroe and Doug Dillard for 10K, but when I checked it again, it was pulled. Dang, I was going to jump on that one!
OK, anyone seen Kay Kraft mandolas and mando-cellos?!
I've seen a tenor guitar or two, but never a dola or mandocello.
I've also seen one of the Kay Kraft tenor guitars, and it was a very nice instrument: loud and with good tone. Easily able to hold down the mandola part on its own against a herd of mandolins in a largish ensemble setting. No idea whether this was one of the laminated ones Paul is talking about or an earlier (?) solid wood instrument.
Martin
I've got one of the Style C guitars in need of restoration, and our pal Lowell Levinger has a bunch of these in mandolin, tenor guitar, and guitar. I'd love to find a company that could reproduce the gold floral decals used on a lot of them. And yes, the KayKraft was the inspiration for my Model T electric.
Rick: I was wondering when you would come across this thread.
Jim
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
From Henry Kuhrmeyer's pioneering work with laminated instruments back in the 1920s through to the bitter end of the line in 1967, a period during which the name morphed from Stromberg-Voisinet, Kay-Kraft to Kay, the company history has been about laminated instruments. It lives on in the Engelhardt cellos and basses which are still made in the same molds Kay-Kraft and Kay used.
Joined f-holes indicate a pressed (not carved) top, if it's solid wood at all. They're a tipoff to a production technique that indicates the use of molds. Flattop guitars may have been solid, though often they weren't. I have never seen a Kay "archtop" instrument that wasn't mold laminated - and sounded like it - but I couldn't say I'd seen them all. I'd probably rather see that marvelous retro aesthetic redeployed in modern instruments of better quality.
Rick - I know people doing gold decals with a regular laser printer and a special cartridge for the gold ink.
Thanks for that explanation, Paul. The tenor I've seen was a flattop, so that may be the reason why it sounded rather good.
Martin
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