1960's Kay 32T Stratocaster Copy

[spacewhale]

I recently purchased a mid 1960's Kay 32T hardtail strat copy as a random impulse buy. It was only £65. I knew Kay guitars were budget instruments and usually poorly made - mine is no exception, but I think its a winner.

The neck is set so completely wrong its comic. While it's playable at the mo the neck is several degrees out (laterally) which means the bridge and pickguard are also angled slightly on the body. I'm starting a restoration to straighten everything and replace the duff parts (tuners and bridge). The finish is natural gloss and I think I'll keep it so, even though its tempting to respray it into a 60's colour.

Thing is this guitar sounds fantastic! I'd even go so far to say that it is more tonal than the '57RI CIJ Strat I recently sold for a new amp. It's quite heavy, not sure on the wood but possibly maple. The neck is fantastic. Waxed, smooth V-shape, possibly striped mahogany and the frets are fine - low and wide, possibly been filed down, but have life in them. It's almost like a single coil les paul, so fat and punchy. The magnets on the pups are pretty large.

I can't wait to rebuild this guitar and have myself a beefy vintage Strat for under £100. Anyone have any information on this model? Theres only 1 other review on the web I've found.

[zhivago]

I don't know anything about them, but it would be cool to see pics of the guitar now, and also the restoration process

[spacewhale]

Hi. Thx for responding. I have a couple of pics of the guitar as it is now. I'm planning on starting the work on it within the next week, once i've recieved a couple of new parts (most importantly the new bridge). I need some help on posting pictures though, didnt work well last time. Thx.

[zhivago]

sure thing....

the way to post pics is to first put them somewhere online....somewhere like Photobucket. The address for that is:

www.photobucket.com

once the pictures are online, you can copy the address of the image you want to post, and then paste it in your message.

the way to make it appear is to put the image address that you've copied between these: [img]http://INSERT%20NAME%20OF%20IMAGE[/img]

that should do it.

if you need any help, just ask and we'll try and figure it all out.

[mezcalhead]

There's a thread about it here.

[spacewhale]

Thanks guys. Will be starting work on it soon.

UPDATE: The new bridge will be here today or 2mo. Went for a fender style vintage one. Am considering upgrading the machine heads to vintage klusons. Also, the body will probably require refinishing, and at the moment the colour of choice is surf green (with matching headstock). This may change lol.

P

[zhivago]

cool...if you want to do the whole restoration steb-by-step thing, I'm gonna move this into the Resorations Section of the site.... 

[spacewhale]

Yeh sure, but I won't be posting anything for at least a week, once work is underway.

Thx

P