Kay Full Kelvinator Electric Archtop

A 1959 Electric Archtop with full Kelvinator headstock. A Very 1950's motiff with black headstock, a large K, raised gold dots and sealed in plexiglass.

The body is a single cut away and 1.5" deep. An old tobacco sunburst finish and gold tuners. The floating pickguard is gold metal flake.
The guitar came with Gibson gold speed knobs and one neck pickup.

I have no idea what model it is. I could not find it in any of the guitar books I've seen. The reference books included "50's Cool, A History of Kay Guitars" and "American Guitars by Mike Wheeler".

A rare find indeed.

When I rescued this guitar at a piano store, it had been slightly modified. The F-holes were filled with expanding yellow foam in an attempt to minimize feedback or make it a solid body or both. It was fortunate that the top didn't pop off. The trapeze tailpiece was missing and instead, a Gibson Les Paul solid bridge was screwed into the archtop. The soapbar p/u was replaced with a zebra PAF humbucker.

I can't complain, I myself messed up a Gibson Melody Maker when I was 16 trying to turn it into a sitar. We have all done it at one time...

It took me a week to remove all of the foam from the archtop cavity with a small wire hanger. I found an authentic trapeze tailpiece at an old guitar shop.

I left the PAF humbucker in place while I research what kind of soapbar pickup was there originally.

Overall, the sound is big and fat with that great Blues/Jazz tone we all seek. I can picture Duke Robillard playing this with sunglasses on at night.

I currently have it strung with flatwound strings.

All this guitar needed was TLC which I gave it.

This guitar and I both came out in 1959. I would trust it on any gig.

This Kay Archtop should work great for Rockabilly, Jazz or Blues at moderate volume.

It's not a Les Paul Custom.....

Is Kay still around...I don't think so.

I add this guitar to my modest collection.

1968 Telecaster
1996 Martin D16TR
1975 Ibanez Classical
1969 Ventura Dreadnought
1999 Jazz bass