Kay Strat Copy

Purchased new in 1980. A chunky '57 Strat copy, with 3 single coil pickups, 2 tone pots, 1 volume and a 3 way selector switch. It has an Ash body, Maple neck and fret board with 21 frets. There was a "Di-Marzio Powered" sticker attached to the scratch plate: apparently the beast was fitted with 3 Di-Marzio SDS-1 (Super Distortion Strat) pickups! The chrome plated hardware is generally poor quality although the unbranded tuners appear to have stood the test of time.

Distortion, distortion, distortion!!! Well, what do you expect from 3 SDS-1's, plugged into a vintage Selmer valve amp? Plenty of output, if perhaps a bit thin, harsh and not much sustain. Three SDS's is a bit of overkill and there is not much variety of sounds available. It would have been nice to have had at least one pickup that was a bit smoother or warmer.

This guitar was never set up prior to purchase, and would have better been described as a part finished self-build kit!
However, it is a fantastic looking guitar, with a darker, almost chestnut coloured natural grained ash body, and a light natural maple neck. Pickups and knobs are cream coloured to match the neck, on a white scratch plate. There are no manufacturer logos or serial numbers to be found. I still believe it to be a "Kay".
Intonation is unusually good for a cheap guitar, perhaps because of the zero fret, and will never suffer from nut problems.
Now for the not so good points:
1) The neck is made up of many strips of maple, rather than being one-piece. Joins show up nicely on the headstock, so I hope the glue is strong.
2) The width of the neck and bridge is narrower than standard to allow the strings to lie exactly over the Di-Marzio pole pieces, which are not as widely spaced as a standard Strat. This made upgrading the bridge alone quite difficult.
3) The original bridge trem unit was utter rubbish, made up from a piece of bent metal underneath, with really narrow crappy saddles. This made it impossible to restring the guitar without removing the back plate. Also the trem springs were stronger than the bridge, causing serious detuning if you used the whammy bar. This has since been replaced with a proper solid block version.
4) The poor action, because the guitar had never been set-up prior to sale, was easily sorted by altering neck to body angle, and adjusting the truss rod.

I must generally agree with Tungfliker in that, as new, it was a bit of a "half-assed knock off". However, all it took was a ??5 replacement bridge and a neck refit to make it much better. This was probably less cost than sending it back.

Gigged the guitar continuously for over 5 years, only ever got a little bit of fret wear.

Mail Order Catalogue would only offer refund, not the way to buy a guitar kit!

I have been playing guitar for over 40 years, and still have this one. Around 1980, I needed a Strat copy or similar low cost guitar to use on gigs that would be fully covered by a cheap Musicians Union instrument insurance. My big mistake was that I didn't have enough spare cash or time to go shopping properly, so ordered a Kay Strat Copy on tick, from a mail order catalogue. True to form, the ordered item was out of stock, they sent the nearest available! As you can see, the "K" probably stood for KIT. Perhaps I should have sent it back? However I persevered with it, finishing off the assembly and set-up myself. Overall it turned out to be a dependable workhorse.

My advice to others would be - DON'T BUY A NEW ONE!

i go my kay strat-u-like from a local guitar shop who had a strat hardtail version hidden in the dusty back bit amongst allsorts of other stuff. i went in to look at any strats but i fell in love with this after just a fwe pure, bluesy notes from it's beautifully set up neck.
the neck is fat, yet playable and means business, the body is a lovely matching blonde colour (like a really dark maple, not sure what wood it is), and it's made of 3 quite well matched pieces.
the fretboard appears to be maple, and the frets are well set silver, and are 22 in number.
the controls are usual early strat style, with 3 single coil pickups, 2 tone pots, 1 volume and a 3 way selector switch. the electronics are as far as i know original.

it's a down and out blues motor. it's got a nice glossy neck, fat yet low frets, and i usually bung it on the neck pick up and either put it on a clean channel (using either my marshall JCM900 or my dual super lead) or perhaps a slight growl behind it. it's a lovely piece of kit to play, and people always ask me what it is, and often whether i'd like to sell it. the only problem i've had is that it does create quite a lot of noise when it's not being played, and the connections in the jack output have gone gammy. not bad for an instrument that's over 30 years old though!
i've been told that the electronics are original, and if that's true then i'm very surprised. for a cheap guitar to sound this good is absolutely amazing!!!

the guitar had been professionally set up by a local luthier before i got my mitts on it, so it obviously plays like a dream. that may be part of the appeal, i don't know. the action is nice, not too low, but no strain to play for a few hours at a time! like i said, this is a hardtail, and the through body stringing gives quite a nice resonance, but the bridge itself and the saddles are a bit crappy. also, one of the tuners is sloppy in it's housing.

if a nuke went off, there would be cockroaches, keith richards, and my kay strat to survive. nuff said.

not applicable!!!

i bought this guitar when i was an out and out rhythm player, and for playing rhythm and the occsional lick, it was pretty unbeatable! i have a mate who's a big blues player and he loved it too, reckoning that with some fatter strings it would make a good stevie ray vaughan tone.
for what i paid for it (sixty quid, about 7 years ago) i can't knock it. yeah, it was a bargain, and because it only owes me such a small amount, i'll probably never get shut of it. it's not worth much more than a ton at best!
it still gets gigged occasionally by my blues mate, but now i've switched to bass (boo, hiss) i only pick it up a few times a month.
i used to have a les paul studio, which also gave a nice clean tone thanks to it's P90's but the kay will always have a special little place in my heart.
for the cost alone, i woud rate this guitar as the best value for money i've ever had, be it for bass or six string!

Solid grey, Heavy body, Glossy Nech (I love it) and the headstock is painted solid grey as well as the body. Its an old(er) guitar but the years have been good to it. Its got your usual one volume, two tones and the pickups are strat copys.

This guitar has the best jazz\blues sound Ive come across. It plays well and after hitting the pots and electronics with Windex (it does work) it
sounds clear as water.

The action is ok but that can always be easily fixed. other than that everything is perfect.

This guitar could survive a bomb. When my father bought it at a yard sale it was in rough condition. Everything was rusted and alot of the screws were just dust.

After we bought a few new peices (nut, bridge and one mini pot)it works fine.

none

I love this guitar. not only for it's sound and durability but for the story that goes behind it.

A year after we found it I brought it in to show my guitar teacher. He told me that the guitar was his when he was my age (16). He broke the nut and didnt fix it right so he gave it away. Years later it was in a yard sale where we bought it.

Year unknown, but likely 70's so built in an Asian country, some would say Korea.
More frets than I need. The neck is full length, Strat copy.
Solid, very solid mahogany ply body, this guitar weighs over 11 lbs.
Volume, 2 tones, 3-way switch (which is flaky, best left alone when playing in public). Pickups are weak, but have a nice aged yellow patina, so they look like vintage Fender.
The neck is blonde, one piece, not maple, slightly darker, grainier. Fret board is also this blonde wood. Neck is too fat for most people's pref, finish is much too glossy, thick gloss finish. Headstock is a too big copy of Fender head, butt.. with no writing on it, just the "Kay" logo on the white plastic cover of the truss rod adjust nut, which is at the head end. The bridge was a decent whammy bar type, which I have locked up by twisting some stiff wire through the springs so they can't stretch. The neck is rock-solid and the guitar stays in tune, period. Tuners are cheesy but have survived well. Tone is thin but the neck pickup serves me well.

Style is rock-a-willy white boy blues. This is my axe.
Home brew amps, using push-pull 6V6's in Garnet combo or single 6v6 in vintage Champ copy. Also Valco/Kay style 50C5 amp heavily modded with overdrive and reverb. It Sounds loud, but it ain't. Yeah, the guitar is noisy, but ain't we all? I've wired the middle pup out of phase and can blend it in with the other 2 with the middle tone control. Can get variety of tones, but you need to work at it.

No major flaws, and very strong, not like usual cheap guitars. They were putting an effort into this model. The action is a little high, but that helps build strong fingers for bending. Playing up past the 14th fret is not easy, and notes are going a bit sharp up there. Pickups are simple to adjust with a screwdriver.

This guitar will withstand a plane crash. However, it is too heavy to bring on a plane. I would not cry if someone stole a Fender guitar from me, butt.. where would I get another heavy gloss Kay strat? It stays home.

What's a warranty?

Playing since '65 or so. I play an Aria Pro II ZZ Deluxe with a hacked up body. That guitar has a much nicer neck and action, humbuckers, gold hardware. Also a Takamine acoustic. The Kay is unique. I wish the neck was less glossy and not so fat, butt.. the frets are like new and the action never changes. Tuning is done once a year, whether it needs it or not. I wish I had the matching Amp, with the Kay logo.

Half-assed Strat knock off, made in Korea, from what I can see. Mimics basic strat features.

Never plugged it in. However, I have played other Korean Strat copies of very similar manufacture, and they have a very thin, low output sound.

OK-the body was made out of POOR quality wood, that wouldn't even make decent match sticks. The pickups look like Strat pickups externally, but internally, are of very poor quality. The neck is also poorly finished, with soft fretwire, and no finish at all-just raw wood. Nut is so poorly fitted that it wobbles in the slot, amid splintered wood, and only the strings retain it.

This guitar is suitable only for smashing on stage. I do not own this one, but am repairing it for the owner. The body actually split right up the middle, when the owner changed strings and overtightened them.

This guitar is an incredible TURD! Do not buy this guitar. I don't even own one, but after doing repair work on it, I wanted to warn as many people as possible about this electric tent peg.

It was made in the U.S.A. It also has 22 frets. A solid top, it has 1 volume knob and 1 tone selector.2 pickups that I dont know what the name of them are. *disclaimer* HARD PLASTIC NECK!!!! Finisched in Satin Black. Telecaster Body Style.Non Locking Kay Tuners. I had to buy all other accesieries I had to buy.
It has a medium amount of fetaures. The neck counted down majorly on it.Over all I give it a 6.

I promise this guitar can suit any kind of music you want. I havent ried it on distortion But I use it w/ a Park 16 Amp. It's pretty noisy if you turn up the gain all the way up. Nice Rich sound, not much sustain. I like about 50 things about it. I dont dislike anything.

Pickups were adjusted great. No flaws.

I have used it for live performances. The hardware last a long time. I scrape the whole time i've had it. I definitely depend on this guitar. I can use it on a gig without bakup

no warranty, never needed to be repaired,