Kay Swingmaster Archtop

this guitar is a bit of a mystery; it's not listed in the kay book. if anyone has any information on this guitar please e-mail me.i was told ( by i think cesar diaz) that it was called a swingmaster. they made a similar, bolt on neck, thin body version of this instrument also. i believe it was made in either '55 or '56. full depth, set neck archtop. permanent, non-adjusting truss rod. came stock with 3 "toaster top" pickups,round 4-way selector switch on the upper bout, 3 volume and 3 tone controls. beautiful two tone honey 'burst, single ply binding. all maple plywood body, neck is poplar, i believe, woodden archtop bridge and trapeze tailpiece.single rounded cutaway, one f-hole on bass side, kay script logo, plain headstock painted dark reddish-brown (beautiful contrast with body).26-1/8" scale, huge neck. i paid $220 for this guitar in '88. t-tops are great low output pickups if you can find quiet ones. mine were'nt, unfortunately, and i tried everything to tame them, to no avail. i then decided to turn it into like a sears version of a gibson es-5. so, i installed 3 p-90's, rewired it to be 3 volume controls and a master tone where the selector used to be. i'll get nickleplated blanking plugs for the extra holes. gibson-style klusons were added, neck was re-fretted with dunlop 6105 and re-bound, and an archtop style tune-o-matic was added. now it's an incredibly easy guitar to play, the neck has'nt budged in 12 years. and the tone, well....

this guitar is simply unbelievable. i've played a lot of es5's and this is better than most, and simply blows away a re-issue, no comparison. i will replace the tone pot with a quality push pull tone pot to get that t-bone thing with the neck/bridge pu's when i want that tone. blues, swing,r&b, any kind of roots stuff. absolutely killer rockabilly guitar, and the best guitar for backing up harp players i've ever played or heard. '59 tweed deluxe, bf deluxe reverb, '66 super reverb, '63 reverb tank, effects in order mxr micro-amp,boss ad2 delay, vaughn mods ts9 when required, modded danelectro rocky road (see my postings on these two).

now it's superb, in every way

yes yes and yes

playing 30 years, 16 full-time. this guitar is now one of a kind. i'd like to find a back up. i don't take it on the road often; the usual problems of arch tops travelling, in planes, on hot or cold outdoor stages, etc. but it's with me on every local side gig i do. the tone never fails to blow people away. in addition to all the usual things this type of guitar does great, you can also turn it into the biggest sounding "strat" you've ever heard in your life (neck/middle,or middle/bridge pickups)if you want to. extremely versatile guitar that i could use on any gig,musically,with no reservations. the best investment i've ever made.