1950's Carvin Branded Kay K-1 Archtop Electric Guitar

$1950.0 Buy It Now or Best Offer
free,30-Day Returns

Seller Store jankety
(1365) 100.0%,

Location: Lawrence, Kansas
Ships to: US,
Item: 387230879422

All returns accepted:ReturnsNotAccepted
K-1:K-1
Carvin:Carvin
Type:Electric Guitar

Rare 1950s Carvin-branded Kay Archtop Guitar, featuring two Carvin A-1 Pickups. In the 1950s, before Carvin's electric guitar production was in full swing, Carvin sold both Kay and Harmony guitars with their own pickups and electronics installed (They also added the Carvin logo on the headstock). These guitars were included in the Carvin catalogs alongside the amplifiers and steel guitars they were producing at the time. These Carvin-branded guitars seem to have been sold in limited numbers, as very few have surfaced since. This particular guitar boasts two rare A-1 pickups (as listed in the catalog at the time). Unlike the more common AP-6 pickup, the A-1 pickup features non-adjustable slug pole magnets, yielding a sound closer to the slug pole P-90s Gibson briefly used in the 1940s on its ES-125 guitars. As for the condition, the guitar appears to be mostly original, with the exception of a newer nut and changed tuner buttons. The binding is rather good shape across the entire guitar. There is a small area on the top where someone appears to have stuck a pick holder at one time and it has disturbed the finish some. The two small holes near the Carvin decal on the headstock were originally mounting holes for the Kay logo. The guitar appears to have undergone a neck reset at some point. The neck angle is good, consistent with other Kay guitars from that era that tend to be a bit shallow. The neck lacks a truss rod and boasts a substantial 1950s baseball bat profile, which is stable and exhibits slight relief. The frets are the original small factory Kay frets, displaying typical wear up to the first fret on the G, B, and E strings. The nut spacing is slightly narrow. The control layout comprises volume, tone, and a 3-way rotary switch. The neck pickup delivers a robust, bluesy sound that fills the room and makes the guitar sound like it's 10 feet wide. It's glorious! The bridge pickup has been professionally rewound and provides the throaty sound that is typical of catalog guitars of this era. Not overlly hot, but wonderfully twangy. The bridge pickup has been shimmed to move it closer to the strings. Similar to a dogear P-90 pickup, the A-1 pickup is not height adjustable and requires a spacer along the lines of what a dogear P90 in the bridge position of an archtop has. However, Carvin simply placed the pickup on the guitars top, so the solution is a small maple shim under the pickup. The action measures 6/64ths at the 12th fret on the low E and approximately 5/64ths on the high E. Right around where you want it. While it plays well for a Kay, it's not a Gibson L-5. There are ways to make these guitars play even better, but that often involves changing out original parts and I'll leave that to the next owner to think about since in it's current state it is close to all original. Weight is 4 pounds 15 ounces on my postal scale. The guitar comes with a non-original vintage chipboard case.

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