Product: Kay K161V
Price Paid: USD 788
Submitted
02/27/2009
at
09:19pm
by
syork56
Features
:
8
It's the Chinese-made 2008 "Jimmy Reed model" reissue from Kay, designed by California luthier Roger Fritz. Hollow body with substantial bracing that really increases the sustain and eliminates feedback. Pickups are a unique thin blade on the surface, with substantial windings below the top. Laminated maple top, transparent blonde poly finish, tiger stripe pickguard. No-name vintage style tuners, and a relatively hefty 26" scale neck. Came with a cool made-to-fit two-tone case. "Kelvinator" headstock insert, which was not used on the originals but on other Kay guitars of the 50's. Gets an 8 solely on coolness factor.
Sound
:
9
I play mostly late 50's rock n' roll and R&B in the 'backbeat' style with this guitar. I'm using it with a Vox ACC15 amp and a TC Electronic Nova system effect unit (mostly for reverb, delay, and boost). The tone of this guitar is unique. The pickups are low output, which means you're really working the amp. Even through the Vox you can get more than a hint of that Scotty Moore P90 tone. It's a relatively dark tone, which means the bridge pickup is very usable. I sometimes use both together, rarely the neck though it would work very well for some jazz and blues tones.
To my ears, there's nothing to dislike about the sound. There is the standard single coil noise, which is not excessive even considering I'm pushing the Vox hard.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
7
This guitar, amazingly, arrived perfectly set up as far as intonation, and as good as it could get for action. The action is a bit too high for me above the 12th fret, and the tune-o-matic style bridge is all the way down on the treble side. Frets were mostly perfect, well finished on the ends. There is a slightly high fret around 18 that I'll need to address eventually, but I don't get up there much anyway. The only other flaw was a loose G string tuner, but that one and all the tuners hold perfect tune even with some wicked bending going on. Cosmetically, the guitar looks perfect.
Reliability/Durability
:
No Opinion
Too early to tell, I've had it 3 months. I have gigged with it. The case looks like it's going to get beat up pretty fast, but I'm OK with that.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
N/A
Overall Rating
:
8
To be honest, I contemplated sending this back the first few days. I think my main problem was the low output. Once it seeped in that, hey, all you have to do is turn up the amp, and it sounds better that way I started to really come around with it. It plays like a dream with 11's and tuned down a half-step, which is what my band does. Over the last two months I've played this far more than my other guitars (Eastwood Tuxedo and Reverend Buckshot).
