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1960s Kay Swingmaster K763 Vintage Hollowbody Guitar w/ Kleenex Box Pickups, Case

$1,549.99

+ shipping

Up for sale, a 1960s Kay Swingmaster K673 in excellent condition and in perfect working order, complete with a hardshell case. The Swingmaster features the same Gibson-made “Kleenex Box” P-35 pickups as the earlier Kay-made Barney Kessel models, and this particular guitar is devoid of any Kay branding, produced to be sold by one of the numerous other companies for which Kay made instruments on an OEM basis.

The body is crafted from curly maple, with a “Thin-lite” hard maple neck and bound Brazilian rosewood fretboard. This Swingmaster has a full, authoritative acoustic bark with crisp treble detail, and the Kleenex Box pickup is one of the cooler sounding "off the beaten path" 1960's single coil designs. Not unlike a P-90, the Kleenex Box P-35s have a distinctive dry, percussive cut and a more tailored midrange, offering a distinct sound in each pickup position, with dedicated Volume and Tone knobs for each single coil. The four-way rotary pickup selector knob can engage each pickup individually or combine all three single coils at once for a particularly meaty and full sound. This Swingmaster K673 has been professionally setup here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar with 11-49 strings, low action, and accurate intonation.

Neck Specs:

-Wood: Maple (“Thin-lite”)
-Shape: Baseball bat U, measuring .975” 1st fret, 1.020” 12th fret
-Fretboard: Brazilian rosewood, 12” radius, block inlay
-Frets: Slender, leveled and crowned, no wear
-Scale Length: 26”
-Nut: 1.650”, bone (replacement)
-Tuners: Grover Sta-Tite, open-gear, “butterbean” buttons (replacement)

Body Specs:

-Wood: Curly maple
-Pickups: P-35 “Kleenex Box” single coil x3
-Controls: Volume x3, Tone x3, Four-way rotary pickup selector
-Hardware: Brazilian rosewood bridge, trapeze tailpiece (chrome-plated, replacement)
-Plastics: DeArmond-made reflector knobs, plexi “flag” pickguard, rotary knob
-Marquetry: Checkerboard binding

The gloss Sunburst nitro lacquer finish highlights the extremely consistent and tight curly flame figuring, particularly dimensional on the back, with lacquer checking across the body. The body has some small finish chips, faint buckle wear central to the back, and a sliver of finish loss along the back binding edge in a few areas. The headstock face has a cigarette burn below the Low E tuner shaft, and the neck profile exhibits some pam wear and a few shallow marks buffed smooth through subsequent play.

A modern black tolex hardshell case is included.