Kay Hatchet

What a horrible guitar.. probably made in Taiwan/Korea
I doubt if Japanese would have let it out of the factory....



I bought it new for #35.00 in 1984..

Features "sawn in half body" (Travel Guitar) 2 "Di Marzio designed" Super Distortion Humbuckers 2 volume & 1 tone pot ,3 way "mini" selector switch and phase switch..

Neck through the body construction with 2 pieces glued either side

Wood looks like mahogany with a maple? "skunk" stripe running the full length including the headstock..

The guitar is fitted with a strat type hardtail gold bridge and is strung through the body.

Neck has brass nut 22 medium frets, fretboard is a fine grained dark wood (rosewood ?) and is nicely inlaid with brass position dots/markers..
Headstock is 3 a side and fitted with mini Grover copy tuners

Came with a padded bag and integral strap(no buttons)

sounds like what it is ... a small "plank" with 2 super distortion pups, though with phase switch produces an interesting "hollow tone"
As I didn't own a guitar amp for nearly 20 years I've played it through an OHM 125w SS bass head /full range cab with a little yamaha GSP 100 and on the bridge sounds like a buzzsaw, on the neck it sounds like buzzsaw off in the woods somewhere ... Due to the high action it was usually fitted with 10 or 11's for playing slide...subtle it's not....

I've recently fitted it with a set of 9's and had to tinker with it to get it to stay in tune
I'm currently running a copy of NI Ruitar rig, and played through a
Vox 30 2x12 cab emulation the guitar sounds nasty (as in horrible)(
The high action enables some really extreme bending (though fingers start to hurt after a while)
Not really my favorite sound but makes a change from my 70's strat


Due to the neck through construction, sustain is good for a guitar weighing in at a little over 4 lbs and is kind to my poor old back
(my '78 strat weighs nearly 9!

Action was and still is terrible ...
Low E buzzed at 1st fret no matter how I adjusted truss/bridge.
So I knocked the nut out with the intention of fitting a thin paper shim underneath and was surprised to find that someone at the factory had tried to rectify the problem with a cardboard shim
already...
I managed to stop the buzzing by applying a single drop of superglue
directly underneath the offending slot before sticking it back on

The guitar is now playable with a high (though playable) action


The guitar is also neck heavy to overcome this I fitted stap buttons and a thick strap and stuck 3/4 lb of lead wheel balencing weights onto the rear of the control (sorted)

Not much of a finish to speak of just a very thin coat of varnish to darken "mahogany"

I've owned this guitar for over 20 years and all that needs replacing is the mini 3 way toggle (flips back to centre)

The pots are crackle free , tuners as good as new but most of the "gold" plating has flaked off the bridge

I'm sure it would withstand live playing Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) used one for slide for a while along with several "virtuoso" African guitarists I saw during the 80's ...

I would'nt have a clue what guitar you could back it up with though If it broke down mid song I would be unable to resist the temptation to smash it to pieces...would get #35 for the bits on e-bay (nice tuners) LOL

N/A

Been playing 25 years I also own a '78 strat a 60's Hofner Colorama and an '82 Tokai precision bass
I'm sure the one I got was a "lemon" as the materials are higher in quality than a lot of newer guitars I've come across..
If it was stolen or lost I wouldn't miss it for long . Though after 20 years I may treat it to a goldtop sprayjob some "vintage" sounding pups and a shiny new bridge..

A local Guitar dealer advised that if it were mint it would now be worth #180 .definately one to try before you buy (though only if you play in a ZZ Top tribute band )