Kay k45 austin hatchet guitar

scala · Post by **scala** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 8:02 am

a guy i work with has just bought one of these. what a strange guitar. anyone know anything about them at all?

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/Redmusic/Kay%20Austin%20Hatchet/DSC03058.jpg

johnallg · Post by **johnallg** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 12:10 pm

Dunno, but I like the looks of it.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 12:56 pm

As a life raft paddle? Pizza fetcher?

fatcat · Post by **fatcat** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:00 pm

Crutch?

ozover50 · Post by **ozover50** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:07 pm

It's a "two thirds" guitar! Maybe the rest of the body is an optional extra.........

johnallg · Post by **johnallg** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:41 pm

As a lightweight, retro looking guitar, thank you. Why does everything have to look like a Rick or Fender?

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:44 pm

Because most other shapes are ugly?

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:56 pm

Good point...this is sort of the crate that the Steinberger came in...

John, "retro" as in, "before it became a guitar"?

johnallg · Post by **johnallg** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 2:19 pm

You guys are incorrigible!

Or myoptic.

Retro in a 50s spacey way.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 4:15 pm

My optic sez "Kraftwerk".

If they played guitars...mostly, they played with...

...nevermind.

bassassin · Post by **bassassin** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 4:12 am

You sure you want to know about these?

These were built by Cort, in Korea. probably early/mid 80s, when the Korean industry was starting to turn out some consistently good quality stuff.

You see quite a lot of Corts from this era that share the same construction & styling oddities as the travel guitar - the Matsumoku-style neck through (convinces a lot of people that they're Japanese), the brass hardware, and most tellingly, the triple brass dot inlays.

This range of guitars appeared branded as Kay, Cort, Targa, D'Agostino - or any other importer that wanted their name on the pointy end.

A lot of them float around on UK Ebay unbranded, and the rather upmarket-looking construction & components lead unscrupulous sellers to try & pass them off as luthier-built one-offs, rather than the budget Korean planks they really are!

Jon.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 4:22 am

Jon, you should write a book.

What distinguishes a Matsumoku-style neck?

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 4:26 am

Aha! Just answered my own question. Wikipedia has a pretty comprehensive page on Matsumoku, including an explanation of the neck construction.

Still, you should write a book and give us a history lesson!

scala · Post by **scala** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 4:45 am

thanks jon,,,,does it have any value at all?

wmthor · Post by **wmthor** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 6:58 am

This is a Hatchet Bass.