Exceptionally clean early/mid-50s Kay all mahogany archtop (laminates). All original parts except for bridge base. Strong glossy finish throughout. Very small gap at heel (barely fits a business card), but joint is rock solid and angle is just fine. More like a little creep over the decades, or some difference in shrinkage and expansion between the different pieces of wood. Fretboard is almost 100% flat, with just a little but tolerable extra relief. Guitar probably spent some of its life over-tensioned, and there is no trussrod adjustment, so I have it set up with 10s for wounds and 11s for unwounds. My advice is to stay light like this, or you may start to get excess neck relief (stay away from the 13s!). The only cosmetic flaw is that something dark marred the finish under the bridge base. Looks like it came from the bridge itself (heat and humidity, something spilled??). It’s not from any glue-down job. Fortunately, the bridge base essentially covers this (hence my swapping in a slightly larger part), so this one flaw is totally minor. Nice player with good frets. Decent rootsy tone (these aren’t cannons…). Offered with an interesting but non-original stiff canvas case.
NOTE: USA regulations under the CITES convention (trade in endangered species) have finally been loosened to allow easy international shipping of vintage instruments, unless they contain BRAZILIAN r******d (Dahlbergia nigra). Unfortunately, the fretboard may ne Brazilian, so this guitar still cannot be shipped internationally without an expensive and time consuming permit process.
UPDATE: Ebay now demands that we sellers give THIRTY DAYS for returns. Any honest buyer will know within a few days whether there is any need for a return. I no longer take returns through Ebay, but I will never "stick" another musician with a guitar. Please contact me if there any problems, and we'll work it out.