Kay Archtop Guitar Serial Numbers
Kay Guitar Serial Number Lookup White Pages
Kay Guitars 1950s
Kay Guitar Serial Number Lookup Number
Kay Bass Serial Number Lookup
Kay Guitar Serial Number Lookup Yellow Pages

Before buying or selling a guitar, knowing it's value is important. Guitar values can range from practically nothing to an astronomical sum for the right guitar - and to an untrained eye, guitars at either end of the spectrum can look very similar. Once you have correctly identified your guitar, you can look up a suggested value in the books above. But even when you have a ballpark value, selling the instrument at that price is more than just a formality. Have a look at our guide on selling vintage guitars online for some ideas on getting the best price for your vintage guitar.

The Official Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide continues to be the industry-leading reference for values on vintage and collectible guitars, basses, lap steels, mandolins, ukuleles, banjos, amps, and effects. The 2017 edition spans 624 pages and includes detailed information aswell as current pricing (in $US) on more than 2000 brands and more than 1,300 photos, plus a detailed look at the hows and whys of the collectible instrument market. This guide is the only such work to cover all this in one very affordable volume!

Find the current Blue Book value and worth of your new and used guitars, both acoustic, electric and amplifier. The number one source of guitar and amplifier pricing and information so you can find the price and value of your used guitars and amplifier. Use this site for a pricing guide and source of information on all guitars. The Kay Guitar Company manufactured guitars from the late 1920s. The guitars were generally made for department store chains such as Sear's and J.C. Check to see if there is a number printed inside the guitar body. Welcome to the Reverb Price Guide, the ultimate resource for music gear pricing and information. These price ranges utilize a combination of expert research, external market data, and real-time Reverb transactions to estimate the current value of items in used but original condition.

2021The Official Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide 2021

2020The Official Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide 2020

Kay Archtop Guitar Serial Numbers

2019The Official Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide 2019

2018The Official Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide 2018

2017The Official Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide 2017

2016The Official Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide 2016

2015The Official Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide 2015

2014The Official Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide 2014

2013The Official Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide 2013

2012The Official Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide 2012

Kay Guitar Serial Number Lookup White Pages

2011The Official Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide 2011

2010The Official Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide 2010

2009The Official Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide 2009

2008The Official Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide 2008

How accurate are the guitar price guides?

The price guides above give a good ballpark figure for many models - however these are very much the authors opinion - and naturally their opinion is based on their locality and experience with the instrument in question. An unusual guitar in the US might be commonplace in Japan, or Europe. Likewise, collectors of certain guitars are not equally spread around the world. Such factors have to be considered. There are other places to get vintage guitar valuations, and some of these may be more relevant, especially if you don't live in a major US city. Any notional value will relate to the price a dealer can sell it for. Having said this, the Vintage Guitar magazine guide is internationally recognised, and although it is intended to report prices it does have a hand in setting them to.

Vintage guitar values can go down aswell as up

Vintage guitar collecting, like anything else is subject to fashion. If you already own an older edition of this book, you can not get a current price, simply by adjusting for inflation. Collectors who grew up in the 1950s often want different guitars to those that grew up in the 1980s. As demographics change, so do the guitars that people collect. Likewise the financial status of a country can massively impact values. Pre-2008 high end guitars truly had high end prices. If somebody paid $10000 for a vintage guitar in 2007, they may well struggle to get their money back today. True a 50s strat or Les Paul will always be valuable, but precisely how valuable will be subject to various factors. Vintage guitar values are NEVER absolute. Never.

Please note, This site gets a lot of valuation questions, and we will freely give our opinion if asked - however, we can only respond to requests made on the vintage guitar forum - please also post images of your instrument.

Guitars and Parts for Sale

Out Now

2021 Vintage Guitar price guide

Need the value of your guitar? The Official Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide 2021 is out now

Latest Forum Posts
create a new post

Can somebody tell me details about this Vox semi-hollow body guitar?
ddhan43

Vintage Guitars Info's
Other Vintage Guitar Makers:
Kay, D'Angelico, Stromberg, Hofner.

D'angelico, Stromberg, Kay, Hofner vintage guitars history and collecting.Private vintage guitar collector. Pictures, history for other makes of vintage guitars.

Kay Guitars 1950s

Contact the Vintage Guitar Info Guy.1958 Kay Barney Kessel Pro

Model Information for:

Picture Gallery, Other makers
There are lots of other cool makes of instruments out there. But theseare the 'big' ones that I have some information on. Note the Hofnersection has been greatly updated and moved to its own section, and removed from here.

Contact the vintage guitar info guy
Back to the Table of Contents Kay archtop guitar serial numbers

Kay.

Kay primarily manufactured 'department store' style, inexpensive guitars from the 1930's to the 1960's. But they also made some hi-end, qualityarchtop guitars. The most collectable Kays are any model with the 'Kelvinator'plastic headstock overlay with art deco patterns. Used from 1957 to 1960, this headstock was named after the brand of refrigerator that looked quite similar.This overlay was injection molded with clear acrylic plastic and thenback-painted either white or black, with gold highlights in the crestand gold dots outside of the crest. Starting in late 1960, Kay switched to a less expensive 'half' Kelvinator that used just the triangle Kay crest from the full Kelvinator, screwed to a simple black plastic headstockveneer. This 'half' Kelvinator dropped the black or white back-painted acyrlic 'lunchcountertop' surround with gold dots. This design only lasted till the end of 1961 when the Kelvinator headstock was completely dropped.

1957-1960 Kay full
'Kelvinator' Headstock

Kays are notorious for having bad neck sets and broken truss rod systems.Usually, this can be corrected by a good repair person for around$150 to $200.