Talk:Kay Musical Instrument Company

Cheapos in the 70s?
My first electric guitar was a Kay. A cheesy Gibson SG copy with a thin (3/4") plywood body and very cheap hardware (e.g. open 3-in-a-strip tuning heads). With the ghastly tremelo removed and a decent bridge it was remarkably playable for such a cheap instrument. My friend had its 'stratocaster-shaped' twin with the same hardware (we both bought them from the same second hand shop and played them through bodged Dansette valve record players).

I see no mention of these guitars in the article.

I still have mine... The Yowser (talk) 13:01, 12 November 2012 (UTC)

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"first electric guitar"
Stromberg's Electro was not the first commercial electric guitar. The Electro line was certainly announced Oct. 20, 1928 in industry journal The Music Trades. Four instruments appear in a 1929 CMI catalogue under the heading STROMBERG ELECTRO INSTRUMENTS / Electrically Amplified Guitars, Tenor Guitars, / Banjos and Mandolins. This indicates that "Electro" refers to the pickup and its amplifier, and that an Electro is no more a model of guitar than is DeArmond's Rhythm Chief. The Electro device was a contact microphone rather than electromagnetically coupled to the strings: "The electro–magnetic pickup is built within the instrument and is attached to its sounding board" and "used a 'vibration-transfer rod' from the guitar's sounding board attached to magnets inside the guitar." Finally, it's doubtful the Electros were ever put into production; there's no evidence the line was mentioned after 1929. And though Kuhrmeyer controlled both companies, that does not at all establish that Kay "actually" built Stromberg's Electro. Weeb Dingle (talk) 18:53, 27 December 2017 (UTC)
 * https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/what_the_first_electric_guitar_in_history_looked_like-69141
 * http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/audio/a20997/who-invented-the-electric-guitar/
 * https://reverb.com/news/who-really-invented-the-electric-guitar
 * http://www.vintageguitar.com/3657/stromberg-electro/