Kay Musical Instrument Company (often referred to simply as Kay) was an American

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...

manufacturer established in 1931 by namesake Henry "Kay" Kuhrmeyer and based in Chicago, Illinois. It was formed when Kuhrmeyer bought out his financial backers in the instrument manufacturer Stromberg-Voisinet. They produced guitars, mandolins, banjos, ukuleles and were known for their use of lamination in the construction of arched top instruments. The company operated independently until 1965 when they were purchased by the Seeburg Corporation, a jukebox manufacturer. In 1967, the company was sold to Valco citing decreasing profits due to imported Japanese instruments. In 1969, rights to name "Kay" was acquired by Weiss Musical Instruments (WMI) . The brand has been used by several manufacturers since then, mainly attached to Asian import guitars.The Story of Kay Guitars, Told in 10 Reverb Listings
by Frank Meyers, Jul 18, 2017 por Frank Meyers Kay offered their first

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

in 1936 — five years after the

Rickenbacker Rickenbacker International Corporation is a string instrument manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California. The company is credited as the first known maker of electric guitars – a steel guitar in 1932 – and today produces a range ...

'' Frying pan'', and the same year as the

Gibson ES-150 The Gibson Guitar Corporation's ES-150 guitar is generally recognized as the world's first commercially successful Spanish-style electric guitar. The ES stands for Electric Spanish, and Gibson designated it "150" because they priced it (in an in ...

. However, Kuhrmeyer with Stromberg-Voisinet had produced the "Stromberg Electro" even earlier, in 1928, making the short-lived model arguably the first commercial electric guitar.

Overview

Early history (1890–1931)

The Kay Musical Instrument Company grew from the Andrew Groehsl Company (or Groehsl Mandolin Company) in Chicago, established in 1890. In 1921, Groehsl's company was purchased by Henry "Kay" Kuhrmeyer, Frank Voisinet, and Charles Stromberg and renamed to Stromberg-Voisinet. In 1928, with the help of an investor, Kuhrmeyer bought out his partners, renamed the company, and started producing electric guitars and amplifiers. The new company, "Kay Musical Instruments" was formally established in 1931. As its predecessor had primarily commercialized its products under its own brand as well as a large number of other brands, Kay Musical Instruments would continue that practice.

Activity on Kuhrmeyer-era (1931–1955)

The company initially manufactured only traditional folk instruments such as

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

s, tenor guitars and

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

s, but eventually grew to make a wide variety of stringed instruments, including

violins The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

, cellos,

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

es and a variety of different types of

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

s, including electric, classical, lap steel and

semi-acoustic A semi-acoustic guitar, hollow-body electric, or thinline is a type of electric guitar that was first created in the 1930s. It has a sound box and at least one electric pickup. The semi-acoustic guitar is different to an acoustic-electric guita ...

models. In addition to manufacturing instruments for sale under its own brands (like Kay Kraft and Kamico), Kay was also a prolific manufacturer of guitars for retailers across the nation who would order instruments with custom branding to be resold as "house brand" instruments. Kay also made guitar amplifiers, beginning with designs carried over from the old Stromberg company. Kay eventually subcontracted its amplifier production to

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music industry rival Valco in the 1950s.

Electric-shift & Decline on Katz-era (1955–1968)

After the retirement of Kuhrmeyer in 1955, the company was taken over by Sidney M. Katz. The product line of Kay was shifted toward electric musical instruments on demands, and in 1964, the company moved to a new factory in

Elk Grove Village, Illinois Elk Grove Village is a village in Cook and DuPage counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 32,812. Located northwest of Chicago along the Golden Corridor, the Village of Elk Grove Village was incorporat ...

. In 1965 Katz sold Kay to Seeburg Corporation, and he became the head of Seeburg's musical instrument division. In 1967, Kay was resold and merged with Valco, but dissolved in 1968 due to financial problems.

Revive (1969–present)

The assets of Kay/Valco were auctioned off in 1969. The upright bass and cello lines were sold to Engelhardt-Link, a new company formed by a previous Valco member, which has continued production (see #Kay basses for details). The Kay name (and some of its trademarks, such as Knox were acquired by

Teisco Teisco was a Japanese musical instrument manufacturing company from 1948 until 1967, when the brand "Teisco" was acquired by Kawai (河合楽器製作所; Kawai Gakki Seisakusho). The company produced guitars as well as synthesizers, microphones ...

importer, Weiss Musical Instruments (WMI, by Sol Weindling and Barry Hornstein), who put the Kay name on the Teisco products beginning in 1973, and continued on through the 1970s. In 1980, A.R. Enterprises (Tony Blair) purchased the Kay trademark. In 2008–2009, The "Kay Guitar Company" of California reissued 12 models of vintage Kay guitars and basses manufactured by Fritz Brothers Guitars. As of 2013, production and sales of these guitars have continued.

Kay guitars

Kay is best known for their large production of student-grade, budget instruments but also built higher quality instruments that were used by professional artists of the time including a line of electric guitars endorsed by

Barney Kessel Barney Kessel (October 17, 1923 – May 6, 2004) was an American jazz guitarist born in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Known in particular for his knowledge of chords and inversions and chord-based melodies, he was a member of many prominent jazz groups a ...

. Kay sold guitars under their own name as well as a plethora of brand names such as '' Silvertone'' for Sears, ''Sherwood'' and ''

Airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

'' for

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later also a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The curren ...

, ''Old Kraftsman'' for

Spiegel Spiegel is German, Yiddish, and Dutch for "mirror". More specifically, it may refer to: Publications * '' Der Spiegel'', a weekly German magazine * Der Spiegel (online), the online sibling of ''Der Spiegel'' Political * Spiegel scandal, a 1962 ...

, ''Rex'' for Gretsch, ''Custom Kraft'' for St. Louis Music Supply Company, ''Truetone'' for

Western Auto Western Auto Supply Company—known more widely as Western Auto—was a specialty retail chain of stores that supplied automobile parts and accessories. It operated approximately 1200 stores across the United States. It was started in ...

, – "Truetone" was a registered trademark for musical instruments owned by

since 1964/1966 until 1989 (or since 1945/1947 until 1992 for radio receiver o
trademark 71485315
. 'Penncrest' for JC Penney, ''etc.'' The current line of Kay instruments sold by A.R. Enterprises include low-priced acoustic, electric and bass guitars, and moderately priced banjos, ukuleles, mandolins and resonators. All imported from China.

K-161 Thin Twin guitar and K-162 Electronic Bass

One of the best known Kay electric guitars during the 1950s was the K-161 "''Thin Twin''", most visibly used by blues artist Jimmy Reed. This instrument debuted in 1952, and featured a single cutaway body, a distinctive "fire stripe"

tortoiseshell Tortoiseshell or tortoise shell is a material produced from the shells of the larger species of tortoise and turtle, mainly the hawksbill sea turtle, which is a critically endangered species according to the IUCN Red List largely because of its ...

pickguard, and a pair of thin blade-style pickups. Also in 1952, Kay introduced the matching K-162 "''Electronic''" ''Bass'', which was the first commercially available thinline-

hollowbody A semi-acoustic guitar, hollow-body electric, or thinline is a type of electric guitar that was first created in the 1930s. It has a sound box and at least one electric pickup. The semi-acoustic guitar is different to an acoustic-electric guit ...

electric bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, and the second production electric

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

after the

Fender Precision Bass The Fender Precision Bass (often shortened to "P-Bass") is a model of electric bass guitar manufactured by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In its standard, post-1957 configuration, the Precision Bass is a solid body, four-stringed instrum ...

debuted in 1951. Due to the use of K-162 by a bassist of Howlin' Wolf, Andrew "Blueblood" McMahon, it is commonly known as the "Howlin Wolf" bass. These instruments are believed to be the first semi-hollow electrics (i.e., thinline-hollowbody electric with solid center-block), predating the Gibson ES-335 by six years. Their unique design featured a flat top with no f-holes, a free-floating arched back, and two braces running along the top. The result was a

instrument that was feedback-resistant while retaining natural acoustic resonances. In 1954, Kay added the K-160 bass to its catalog with

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

tuning, according to the catalog, "''tuned like the first four guitar strings but one octave lower.''" Structurally this bass was basically same as K-162 bass, except for the higher pitched tuning and the addition of a white pickguard. In the late 1950s, various guitars in the Kay line were assigned new model numbers; according to the 1959 catalog, the ''Thin Twin'' became K5910 and the ''Electronic Bass'' became K5965. Both instruments remained in Kay's catalog offerings with only minor cosmetic variations until 1966, when Kay revamped its entire guitar line to only feature budget instruments. Kay also manufactured versions of the ''Thin Twin'' guitar under the Silvertone ( Sears) and Old Kraftsman (

) brands.

Gold "K" Line

In 1957, president Sydney Katz introduced the Gold "K" line of

archtop An archtop guitar is a hollow electric or semi-acoustic guitar with a full body and a distinctive arched top, whose sound is particularly popular with jazz, blues, and rockabilly players. Typically, an archtop guitar has: * Six strings * An arc ...

and

solid body thumb , Sound sample of solid-body electric guitar. A solid-body musical instrument is a string instrument such as a guitar, bass or violin built without its normal sound box and relying on an electromagnetic pickup system to directly detect th ...

electric guitars to compete with major manufacturers like Fender,

Gibson Gibson may refer to: People * Gibson (surname) Businesses * Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment * Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based * Gi ...

, and Gretsch. The gold "K" Line featured the Jazz Special, Artist, Pro, Upbeat, Jazz II, and Jazz Special Bass. Gold "K" guitars used the same hardware as top manufacturers. However, there were truss rod and neck issues. Kay's "Thin Lite" truss rods introduced on mid-tier instruments in the 1960s often become dislodged and inoperable. They may be repaired by a

luthier A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers o ...

. Gold models had single coil pickups with clear silver plastic covers and phillips head bolt adjustable pole pieces. The Upbeat model came with an optional transparent black plastic cover. The Jazz Special Bass has a single blade pickup as used on the K-161 and K-162 (tilted slightly towards the neck at the treble side), as well as a distinctive, oversized headstock. Valued among collectors, the headstocks from 1957 to 1960 featured a reverse painted plastic overlay similar to the

Kelvinator Kelvinator was an American home appliance manufacturer and a line of domestic refrigerators that was the namesake of the company. Although as a company it is now defunct, the name still exists as a brand name owned by Electrolux AB. It takes its ...

logo. The guitars featured art deco patterns. It was difficult to get players to take Kay's high end entry seriously, and Kay discontinued the Gold line in 1962.

Kay basses

In 1937, Kay began to produce a 3/4 size

upright bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

, which is widely believed to be their ''Concert'' or ''C-1'' bass. Like their guitar manufacturing, the basses were hand crafted by skilled craftsmen using special ordered machinery. They even had a hot stamping machine that could emboss the trademark KAY cursive script. After the dissolve of Kay/Valco in 1968, the Engelhardt-Link Company bought the upright bass and

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

lines at the asset auction in 1969, and continue to produce the same instrument lines until today. Manufactured in

, Engelhardt basses and cellos are sturdy instruments, widely used by students and touring professionals. The ''ES9 Swingmaster'' bass (formerly the Kay ''S9 Swingmaster''), is highly thought-of by jazz, swing, and bluegrass musicians. In August of 2019 Upton Bass String Instrument Company purchased the bass and cello-making equipment, formerly owned by Kay, from Engelhardt-Link.

Notable players

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* Anne Erin Clark *

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Big Joe Williams Joseph Lee "Big Joe" Williams (October 16, 1903 – December 17, 1982) was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar. Performing over five decades, he recorded the s ...

Bill Black William Patton Black Jr. (September 17, 1926 – October 21, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader who is noted as one of the pioneers of rock and roll. He played in Elvis Presley's early trio. Black later formed Bill Black's Combo. Ear ...

* Bob Casale (

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) *

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* Brad Paisley *

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* Buddy Guy * Chet Atkins * Chuck Berry * Darryl Jones (

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) *

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* Elmore James *

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Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

* Gaby Moreno *

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* Howlin' Wolf * Jack White *

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Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence ...

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* Jimmy Reed *

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* Joan Jett *

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* Joe Walsh *

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* Keith Richards *

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* Mark Knopfler * Mike Rutherford *

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* Phil Alvin *

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* Robert DeLeo and

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* Roscoe Holcomb *

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* Sarah McLachlan *

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Bibliography

* *
"''Source: 1950s/1960s company history courtesy Jay Scott, 50's Cool: Kay Guitars, contemporary history courtesy Michael Wright, Vintage Guitar Magazine, individual model listings: Michael Wright, Guitar Stories, Volume Two.''"
See also
Kay (electric guitars)Kay Kraft (electric guitars)Kay Kraft (acoustic guitars)Mayflower (acoustic guitars)

Notes

References

;History * — compact timeline, based on the below. * — detailed history. * — history focused on the development of early electric guitars, based on the other references. * — another short history, which covers slightly different topics. ;Models * *

External links

Kay Vintage Reissue
a division of Kay Guitar Company

manufacturer of "Kay Vintage Reissue"
Kay Bass website
{{Authority control Guitar manufacturing companies of the United States Guitar amplifier manufacturers Manufacturing companies established in 1890 Companies disestablished in 1968 1890 establishments in Illinois 1968 disestablishments in Illinois Musical instrument manufacturing companies based in Chicago Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States Defunct manufacturing companies based in Illinois