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Kay k45 austin hatchet guitar
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 8:02 am
by scala
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
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 12:10 pm
by johnallg
Dunno, but I like the looks of it.
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 12:56 pm
by jingle_jangle
As a life raft paddle? Pizza fetcher?
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:00 pm
by fatcat
Crutch?
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:07 pm
by ozover50
It's a "two thirds" guitar! Maybe the rest of the body is an optional extra.........
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:41 pm
by johnallg
As a lightweight, retro looking guitar, thank you. Why does everything have to look like a Rick or Fender?
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:44 pm
by charlyg
Because most other shapes are ugly?
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:56 pm
by jingle_jangle
Good point...this is sort of the crate that the Steinberger came in...
John, "retro" as in, "before it became a guitar"?
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 2:19 pm
by johnallg
You guys are incorrigible!
Or myoptic.
Retro in a 50s spacey way.
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 4:15 pm
by jingle_jangle
My optic sez "Kraftwerk".
If they played guitars...mostly, they played with...
...nevermind.
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 4:12 am
by bassassin
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.
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 4:22 am
by jingle_jangle
Jon, you should write a book.
What distinguishes a Matsumoku-style neck?
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 4:26 am
by jingle_jangle
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!
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 4:45 am
by scala
thanks jon,,,,does it have any value at all?
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 6:58 am
by wmthor
