Kay K-2B

[icastle]

[quote name='domjohnson' post='1289447' date='Jul 1 2011, 07:09 PM']The same model? Interesting (but not so cool lol)

The guy I bought it from said it was from the 60s, but this was a car boot dealer (as in, not just someone getting rid of stuff just to get rid of it, it was someone selling for profit) so I wouldn't trust what he said 100%.[/quote]

Yes, same model.
Working from memory, I think what you've actually got there is a K1-B though, the K2-B was an SG shape with two pickups.

[wez]

[quote name='Norris' post='1288952' date='Jul 1 2011, 01:10 PM']Ha! My very first bass was a Kay SG copy - VERY cheap & cheerful in transparent red plywood. I wonder whatever happened to it.[/quote]
Seems a lot of peeps started on kay, me too £14 from woolworths, shortscale sg copy. the neck bent so much i ripped the frets out and used it as a fretless before selling it for £10.

[domjohnson]

[quote name='icastle' post='1289479' date='Jul 1 2011, 07:54 PM']Yes, same model.
Working from memory, I think what you've actually got there is a K1-B though, the K2-B was an SG shape with two pickups.[/quote]

By the sounds of things, no-one actually knows what instrument model theirs is. I was sold this as a "Kay 4" (no such model exists), and a search for the K1-B throws up several different models - each entirely different.

[icastle]

[quote name='domjohnson' post='1289744' date='Jul 2 2011, 12:03 AM']By the sounds of things, no-one actually knows what instrument model theirs is. I was sold this as a "Kay 4" (no such model exists), and a search for the K1-B throws up several different models - each entirely different.[/quote]

I'm working from memories 30 years old.

Unfortunately, the UK importer for that time (British Music Strings IIRC) seems to have disappeared long before the internet started getting useful so finding definitive answers is a little tricky.

What I can say with certainty though, the Kay guitars from the 1960s were of a completely different class to the offerings in the 1980s.
The US Kay factory and assets had been sold off and the name was used on the cheapest of the cheap beginners ranges.

[wez]

Is it this?

[url="http://cgi.ebay.com/EARLY-TEISCO-K-2B-JAPAN-HARMONY-SLIVERTONE_W0QQitemZ140569256922QQcategoryZ118985QQvarZQQcmdZViewItem#vi-content"]http://cgi.ebay.com/EARLY-TEISCO-K-2B-JAPA...Item#vi-content[/url]

[domjohnson]

[quote name='icastle' post='1289760' date='Jul 2 2011, 12:30 AM']I'm working from memories 30 years old.

Unfortunately, the UK importer for that time (British Music Strings IIRC) seems to have disappeared long before the internet started getting useful so finding definitive answers is a little tricky.

What I can say with certainty though, the Kay guitars from the 1960s were of a completely different class to the offerings in the 1980s.
The US Kay factory and assets had been sold off and the name was used on the cheapest of the cheap beginners ranges.[/quote]

I wasn't saying you were wrong, at all - but a search for that model threw up many different results, so people must be getting the wrong model numbers...
[quote]Is it this?

[url="http://cgi.ebay.com/EARLY-TEISCO-K-2B-JAPA...Item#vi-content"]http://cgi.ebay.com/EARLY-TEISCO-K-2B-JAPA...Item#vi-content[/url][/quote]

Thats one posh Kay/Teisco! 2 pickups! Quite cool

Another funny thing - when I tell people that it was likely that Teisco made my bass, I have to say "Not Tesco, Teisco, T-E-I-S-C-O"

[OldG]

[quote name='wez' post='1289480' date='Jul 1 2011, 07:54 PM']Seems a lot of peeps started on kay, me too £14 from woolworths, shortscale sg copy. the neck bent so much i ripped the frets out and used it as a fretless before selling it for £10.[/quote]


Me too, My mate gave me his old Kay ( SG style) for my first bass. It was truly,truly bad.... upgraded to an Aria Cat and a cheap (at the time) old Sound City Bass 150 with an 18'' Fane loaded cab. The Sound City sits high on my list of things I should never have sold

[Annoying Twit]

Paul McCartney playing a Kay bass (I believe).

[domjohnson]

I've found something which may be useful.

Teisco was bought out by Kawai, who "discontinued the Teisco brand name for guitars in 1969 (1977 in Japan), but continued to use it for electronic keyboards until the 1980s" - [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teisco#Company_history"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teisco#Company_history[/url]


This would suggest that the Kay Teiscos are from 1969 or earlier, right? Whereas actual Teiscos, branded as such, may not necessarily be so, but are from 1977 or earlier?

Just a guess, and a wild one at that

[domjohnson]

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='1290107' date='Jul 2 2011, 02:10 PM']Paul McCartney playing a Kay bass (I believe).

[/quote]

He's playing a K5970, as seen in the [url="http://www.kayvintagereissue.com/pdf/1960catalog.pdf"]1960 catalogue[/url]. Produced, undoubtedly, before 1965 - they had a logo change then, and didn't use the K on the triangle on the headstock until the Kay Vintage Reissues came about, which was very recently (after that video was made, for sure).

[domjohnson]

Serious question - is bumping allowed on this forum?

[Dave Vader]

[quote name='wez' post='1289908' date='Jul 2 2011, 10:20 AM']Is it this?

[url="http://cgi.ebay.com/EARLY-TEISCO-K-2B-JAPAN-HARMONY-SLIVERTONE_W0QQitemZ140569256922QQcategoryZ118985QQvarZQQcmdZViewItem#vi-content"]http://cgi.ebay.com/EARLY-TEISCO-K-2B-JAPA...Item#vi-content[/url][/quote]

I've got one of them, I wanted the pickups for a scary weird tone from my fretless nightmare bass, it worked (though I may be sending them to Andy at Wizard for a rewind, and general sort out).

I am using what's left of it for a baritone, it will be very cool.