1959- 61 Silvertone Archtop elec.Swingmaster Kay 6970 Current Price: $ 315.0Buy It Now: $ 575.0 (check latest price)  Shipping: Seller is located in Albany, CA, United States Seller will ship to Japan Shipping Cost: $ 60.0 (Flat) | |
| 1959-61 Kay K6970 Swing Master Silvertone 1425L This is the Silvertone branded version of the jumbo body Speed bump PU version of the Kay Swing Master. Not to be confused with the smaller body Kleenex Box PU Swing Masters which, I believe, came later. The Kay K6970 is identical to this guitar except that it only had dot markers. This guitar has the nice MOP inlays of the later Swing Masters. Here's an original ad for the K6970 .... the page is dedicated to the Thin Twin but the K6970 is in the same ad. http://www.geocities.com/stereoscoptic/kay/thintwinbig2.html This guitar appears in the 1959-1961 Sears catalogs as model 1425L. There is stamping inside the body, some that is no longer legible so I don't know the exact year on this one. The number I can read is L2901 8999. I'm not sure about the L. Aside from the missing pickguard and metal strap button at the tail in place of the original push pin this looks to be all original. The other strap button has moved from the back to the side bout. I've never removed the wiring because the pickups and electronics are all in working order, so I can't tell you if it's all original, but one of the caps is visible and it's an orange ceramic disk so I don't think that's original. The cupcake knobs are intact, the tuners are Kluxon Deluxe that function well and none of the shafts are bent. Ferrules are intact. There is minimal player wear, the frets show little wear. There are no finger divots into the fretboard. The MOP inlays are all healthy. The finish on the back of the neck is spotless. The sides are nearly spotless. Other than a well contained buckle rash spot the back is clean also. The worst scrapes and dings are on the top, and show in the pictures. Other than that the finish is not worn thin anywhere and has only the characteristic old finish checkering. The binding is solid everywhere. No splits or separation anywhere on the body. There are two small holes drilled behind the bridge where somebody anchored the bridge ...in the wrong place. Fortunately they are small and don't show. The neck has a slight relief, not enough to call it bowed. There is a non-adjustable steel rod in this neck. As pictured with the stock bridge at it's lowest the action is typical of an acoustic. I measure a maximum of 1/8 inch from top of fret to bottom of string around the 12th fret, where the height is greatest. What I did when I used it was to replace the bridge base with a thinner slab of wood, rather than alter the original bridge, and that allowed me to lower it down so it plays like an electric. Like I said the relief is minimal enough so that there was no grounding out on the high frets when doing that. The pickups will adjust accordingly so there's plenty of room to play with. You are getting the original bridge, including the original base. The one issue, or maybe non-issue other than the eyesore of it, is the screw in the neck joint. This was how I bought it. I can't tell if it was ever removed and reset or just had the screw installed. The seams look pretty clean and tight. There is some glue visible on the top side near the strap button and at the bottom around the cap. There's some chipping of finish but I know I ran my fingernails around it trying to figure it out and I'm probably not the only one so that could explain some of the chipping. You can get a fingernail in around the base of the joint but it is tight up the sides and across the top. All I can tell you is that it's solid and properly aligned. I've had it for two years and nothing has moved. Check out the pics. This is a very interesting piece made when guitar design was morphing from the traditional acoustic archtop into the electric types. Compared with modern types it's kind of in between the two. The body size is very Gretsch like and the neck shape and feel is more that of an electric but it's big enough to get by as an acoustic. In fact, I have bronze alloy acoustic strings on it now because I used it unplugged a lot. They did in fact issue this body type as an acoustic. Nice jazz or country box as the speed bumps are not high output and clean ... but not too clean being the vintage they are. Of course, if you're into a Hubert Sumlin sort of thing you can plug into an old Silvertone twin twelve and crank it up. That's pretty fun, too. Here's some specs: Body is 17 x 21 inches at the greatest width and length. Guitar is 42 inches long overall. The thickness is 2 3�4 inches at the bindings. Add another inch or so at the center as both the top and back are arched. Neck is 1 11/16 wide at the nut, 2 3/16 at the high end. String spacing at the nut is 1 3/8. Scale is 25 3�4.19 frets. Body has Spruce top with Maple back and sides. Rosewood fingerboard. I don't know what the neck is made from but the grain looks very mahogany. It's all one piece with two pieces added to the headstock where it's wider than the neck. There is no case but I will ship double boxed. Guitar is for sale locally so auction may be ended at any time before a buy it now or the reserve is met. Plays sweet with or without amp. Check my feedback, bid with confidence. Paypal ships to confirmed addresses only. USA shipping only unless you contact me first. | |
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