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1940s Kay Imperial

garywright

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 17, 2002
Messages
16,082
I recently inherited my late dads Kay ..he bought it used from a pawn shop in the late 40s..about 30 years ago I had the neck reset for him ..I just noticed that the bridge ( original ? ) has little contact on the treble side …would this be worth my time to radius the bridge bottom to have full contact with the top ? ..it does have a good 1/2” +/- contact and has good sustain..but to be honest I just don’t get on with f-hole archtops ..maybe I just haven’t played a superb one, but my preference has always been dreadnoughts or OOOs
 

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Hiwatts-n-Gibsons

Well-known member
Joined
May 10, 2024
Messages
854
I recently inherited my late dads Kay ..he bought it used from a pawn shop in the late 40s..about 30 years ago I had the neck reset for him ..I just noticed that the bridge ( original ? ) has little contact on the treble side …would this be worth my time to radius the bridge bottom to have full contact with the top ? ..it does have a good 1/2” +/- contact and has good sustain..but to be honest I just don’t get on with f-hole archtops ..maybe I just haven’t played a superb one, but my preference has always been dreadnoughts or OOOs
That's a sweet guitar. Personally whether they are your typical preference or not having a quality switch up that takes you out of your comfort zone is always a good thing. Add to that the sentimental value, and I think it's absolutely worth getting this one into tip top shape.
 

garywright

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 17, 2002
Messages
16,082
thanks, I’ll definitely be keeping it I’m just am not sure if I can tweak it more to my liking ..gonna try putting a set of heavy gauges on it and tune down a step, then capo when needed ..as to the floating bridge I’m not sure if a re-radius would be worth it ?...it would have better contact but some wood would have to be removed 🤔
 

garywright

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 17, 2002
Messages
16,082
I found a video of the exact same Kay Imperial that I now own ( rebranded ) ..would you consider this a good sounding f-hole archtop @ 49:40 ? ..if so, it’ll be a sentimental keeper but a closet resident as there’d be no point in trying to make it into something else sound wise that it isn’t ( if that makes sense ) ,,this guitar sounds very close to mine..and personally I don’t care for it
 
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charliechitlins

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 16, 2021
Messages
1,353
Another expensive Stew-Mac tool!
Gotta say, though...Dan does a great job making a tool for every fiddly job.
Anybody who says, "Just put a piece of sandpaper on the top and go at it," is very unlikely to have ever tried it.
Despite the fact that Dan is trying to sell you something, when he says that it was a "hit or miss" job, I believe it...even for him.
 
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