Kay Guitars, in the 50's and 60's, enjoyed a particularly high
level of visibility and a solid reputation among American and
many British guitarists. Many of those bands played Kay Guitars
at the beginning of their careers. Even a few Superstars, seized
the stage with vintage Kay instruments in-hand over the last
several decades.
Produced from late 1959 thru 1965, the Pro Series Thinline is a
hollowbody guitar with a vintage "Bluezy" sound that looks like a
slightly elongated Les Paul with a single pointed Florentine
cutaway. It has a laminated curly maple top and back that is hand
rubbed and polished to a natural blonde finish. The sides are
finished in black. The body is bound top and back with a striking black and
white inlay on the top surface. Three "high fidelity" pickups with ridged chrome
covers are mounted to the top of the guitar and selected with a
3-position, chicken-beak, rotary switch. Each pickup has separate
volume and tone knobs. The guitar has an ajustable bolt-on, steel
reinforced, maple neck. The
rosewood 24" Scale fretboard is fitted with pearlette block
position markers, 18 nickel silver frets and topped with a bone
nut. The headstock has the scripted Kay logo over a closed V
chevron and closed back tuners with plastic Gibson style knobs.
The adjustable rosewood bridge complements a beautiful chrome
trapeze style tailpiece.
Famous examples of a Kay Guitars meeting Legendary Musicians
are... Eric Clapton, who played both a Kay Jazz II and a
late-model 1950 Pro-Series Thinline model in "The Roosters"
(Clapton first band before joining the Legendary Yardbirds in
'63). Jimmy Page also collected different Kay and Silvertone
models, which he has used during different phases of his career
with the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin.