The Stromberg-Voisinet Company was formed in late 1921 by , Charles G. Stromberg, and Frank C. Voisinet. Henry Kay Kuhrmeyer joined them in 1928 after purchasing the Andrew Groehsl Company, which was a firm that manufactured mandolins, violins, and other stringed musical instruments. Eventually this became the Kay Musical Instrument Company. However that name would not be used for another ten years. The three partners ventured to make a living in the musical instrument manufacturing business in an era where men could make a living as entrepreneurs.
The Stromberg Voisinet Company had been a musical instrument manufacturing concern since it's inception in 1921. The two original partners were already engaged in manufacturing mandolins, tenor guitars, tenor banjos and 6-string guitars under their own brand as well as a large number of other brands, as Stromberg-Voisinet was an OEM supplier to many other manufacturers in 1923 when Mr. Kuhrmeyer joined the company.
Kuhrmeyer had worked his way up the ranks of this very old musical instrument firm. Stromberg-Voisinet, should not to be confused with Stromberg Guitars of Massachusetts.
Apparently the reason that Mr. Stromberg, and Voisinet took on a new partner was the fact that Henry Kuhrmeyer had purchased the Andrew Groeschl company from it's founder, though Stromberg and Voisinet had a hand in funding the buy-out.
The Andrew Groeschl Company began in 1890 as a Chicago based small stringed instrument manufacturer with just four employees. Henry Kuhrmeyer secured the purchase of Groeschl in 1921.
The Great Depression of 1929 put all of America into financial turmoil. Perhaps the foresight of Stromberg and Voisinet was the reason the two men sold the business to their new partner in 1928. By 1931, after buying out his partners, Kuhrmeyer became president of this firm. Kay Musical Instruments would be incorporated two years later in 1933. The company took it's name from Henry Kuhrmeyer's middle name "Kay"; Henry Kay Kuhrmeyer. He had secured some funding capital from silent partners.
There is some argument as to who was the first manufacturer to introduce the electric guitar. Though everyone agrees that Electro/Rickenbacker was the first to come up with The Frying Pan, electric lap steel guitar in 1931.
Ironically it was in 1928 when Stromberg Voisinet offered their first electric guitar. The pickup was placed inside the instrument. This cannot be denied that the Stromberg Electro was considered a pioneer in the field of the electric guitar.
In fact Stromberg-Voisinet was a part of what became Stromberg-Electro producing the first commercial electric guitar, the Stromberg Electro back in 1928.
The electronics within the body of this guitar were nothing like the guitar electronics we know today. Their ideas were based on those found in phonographs of the day. But cost of the amplifier in 1929 was $165, and the instrument was $40. This was well out of the price range of the average person whose 1933 annual salary was merely around $700.
Stromberg Voisinet had also created a rather unique guitar in 1930; the Kay Kraft Style A. This guitar was created by luthier Giuseppe Zorzi, a Sicilian craftsman who was working for Stromberg Voisinet. The instrument's unique Venetian shape was inspired by European instruments.
Initially these guitars had a flat top, but models around WWI were built with an arched top which was created by using arched bracing.
For this guitar Zorzi came up with a unique bolt-neck design, with a threaded bolt sticking out from the neck heel into the body cavity, where it was secured with a wing nut. The heel was given a convex profile. Then, between the heel and the upper bout Zorzi inserted a piece of wood with a concave profile. Loosen the strings a bit, loosen the wing-nut, and slide the neck along the shim and the angle changes, helping adjust the action. This design was quite unique and ahead of it's time.
Kuhrmeyer, with the aide of investors, had secured and purchased the Stromberg-Voisinet company. This was around the same time the company became interested in electrifying the guitar.
Aside from experimenting with electric guitars, Kay manufactured stringed folk instruments such as guitars, violins, cellos, banjos and upright basses. These guitars offered ran the gamut of classical, lap steel guitars, acoustic guitars, semi-acoustic electric guitars and solid body electric guitars.
Kay produced many of its instruments for resell by retail stores and catalog companies to sell as house brands As an Original Equipment Manufacturer meant Kay instruments can be found under a variety of names.
Airline and Sherwood Deluxe were distributed by Montogery Wards. Barclay was produced for Unity Buying Services. Beltone was distributed by the Monroe Company or P&H. Custom Kraft was the brand name for St. Louis Music. Truetone was Western Auto's brandname, for guitars, and radios.
Holiday was the logo on Alden’s musical instruments. Old Kraftsmen was sold through the Spiegel catalog. Orpheum was distributed through the Montgomery Wards catalog. Penncrest was the brand sold by J.C. Penny. Silvertone and Supertone were brandnames for Sears musical instruments. Suprema was distributed in Canada by Eatons. From the 1930's to the 1950's Kay had a line of archtop acoustic and archtop acoustic electric guitars. Some were marketed under the Kamico logo. Some of Kay’s lower grade instruments were sold under the Knox and Kent brand names.
Although Sears owned the Harmony Musical Instrument Company, they did distribute some Kay instruments under their Silvertone brand name.
Many of the better Kay electric guitars were said to have a Kelvinator headstock and Kleenex box pickups. Although this is the Kay Barney Kessel Model, Mr. Kessel was not a fan and he never played the Kay models.
Though Kay may have initially made amplifiers early on, when the company was established it subcontracted its amplifier production to the Valco Company. The Kay model 503a, made by Valcom, had a 4 watt output.
During it's heyday, Kay Musical Instruments produced some very fine electric guitars. The Kay Thin Twin, model K-161, originated in 1952 and at the time sold for $125. It was a favorite of Blue legend Jimmy Reed. Two models were produced with differing colors.
Another first for Kay was it's electric bass guitar. This matched the shape of the Thin Twin, but with a single pickup. It was one of the first commercially available bass guitars and was offered in 1952. It had a two position tone switch with a capacitor that boosted the low end enabled the instrument to have a double bass sound. This guitar was made available a year after the Fender Precision bass and sold at a much cheaper retail price.
In 1962 Kay introduced a three pickup, thinline, hollow body electric guitar called the Speed Demon, model K-573. This guitar was sold under the Kay brand, and the Truetone brand. The raised section in the middle of the pickups was nicknamed "Speed Bumps".
The following year Kay offered The Red Devil Speed Demon. This electric guitar came with two single coil pickups, a Bigsby Vibrato, and double Florentine cutaways. The shape of this guitar puts me in mind of a Gibson Johnny A model guitar.
One of the most popular Kay electric guitars was their budget model; The Kay Vanguard featured single pickup model which sold for $59.95 with a chipboard case for $11.00. If your Daddy was rich he may spring for the two pickup model, which retailed at $85.00. Kay sold a lot of Vanguards.
Another popular Kay guitar was The Value Leader, due to it's price. This single cutaway guitar resembled a Les Paul, however it's body was hollow, and the top and backside were flat. An aluminum scratch plate had the control knobs with the wiring below. The one pickup model retailed at $69.95, the two pickup version was $95.00, while the three pickup model sold for $115.00. These guitars had a wooden bridge/saddle and a trapeze tailpiece.
Kay also offered a Value Leader Bass Guitar for $79.95.
The Kay Jazz II was an upscale instrument. The guitar's shape looked almost like a double cutaway Gretsch instrument. This guitar came with twin DeArmond P-35 single coil pickups aka Kleenex box pickups, due to their distinctive shape. The body and neck were made of Maple, the adjustable bridge was Rosewood, and a Bigsby Vibrato was standard. Kay produced their own brand, model K-3737, though the one pictured here was branded for the Spiegel Company as an Old Kraftsman guitar. Developed in 1959 this guitar retailed at $250.
Another fine Jazz style instrument was the Kay Swingmaster. This was a three pickup model with DeArmond single coil P-35 pickups. It was a semi-hollow guitar made of flamed Maple on the front, back, and sides. The 4-way control switch allowed each individual pickup or all three. The maple neck was topped with a "Kelvinator" headstock, The bound fretboard was made of Rosewood with block markers. The guitar also had only one F hole.
The K-300 was a solid body guitar with a Stratocaster-like shape. The body was made of Flamed Maple. The guitar's bound neck was topped with a Rosewood fretboard with pearloid markers. The twin pickup model had a wooden bridge with a metal cover. It retailed at $139.00. There was also a three pickup model that came with a Bigsby Vibrato.
One of the more unusual guitars Kay offered in 1960 was the Solo King, The upper part of the body was not carved, except for the upper cutaway.
The lower part had a carve to rest the instrument on the players leg and it had a cutaway. This instrument was available with one or two pickups. The headstock of this guitar is also slightly offset.
In 1959 Kay offered an unusual guitar they called The Sizzler. Perhaps this was due to the splatter paint job and the sharp-edged cutaway and angled shape of the pickguard. It was a unique guitar and in my opinion, ahead of it's time.
Kay was still producing acoustic instruments; guitars, mandolins, violins, and even double bass viols. But during the late 1950's through the 1960's the company concentrated it's resources on electric guitar and bass production.
Henry Kuhrmeyer officially retired in 1955 and the company was taken over by Sidney M. Katz. Katz was one of the original investors that helped to start Kay Musical Instruments during the 1931 takeover from Stromberg Voisinet. Mr. Katz saw the future and it was building and selling electric guitars. Ironically Sidney Katz had been long associated with rival Harmony guitars.
By 1964 the company moved from Chicago to new quarters in Elk Grove Illinois and continued the tradition of building and selling Kay guitars and other musical instrument as well as producing house-brand instruments, as the demand for electric guitars was very heavy at this time in history.
Just a year later, in the fall of1965. Katz sold Kay to the Jukebox manufacturer Seeburg Corporation with Katz becoming head of Seeburg's musical instrument division. Around that same time Seeburg acquired the Gulbransen Company that produced organs and keyboard musical instruments. In 1966, Seeburg purchased the H.M.White Company also known as King Musical Instruments. This company made trumpets, trombones, sousaphones, saxophones, and clarinets.
The result of this sale was the end of USA made Kay guitars. Now the guitars were made by Teisco and Kawai. The prices dropped during this period, as none of the instruments were domestically manufactured.
Most of the guitars offered bore 6-on-a-side headstocks with a Kay badge glued on them. The pickups changed on most of the models. They were still single coil pickups, but much different than the Rowe DeArmond model that adorned Kay guitars and basses in the USA years.
Two years later the Kay Division was again resold and merged with Valco. However by now the guitar boom was fizzling out. The company was dissolved by 1968 and the assets of both Kay and Valco were auctioned off in 1969.
At this same time in 1968 Seeburg was purchase by a company called Commonwealth United. Then in 1972 the company was sold to Seeburg International. By 1998 the company had become The Seeburg Satellite Broadcasting Company.
The upright bass, violin, and cello lines were sold to a company formed by a ranking Valco employee and was called.Engelhardt Musical Instruments. Engelhardt closed in 2019 and sold their assets to the Upton String Bass Company.
The Kay name (and some of its trademarks, such as Knox was acquired by Teisco importer, Weiss Musical Instruments aka W.M.I. which was owned by Sol Weindling and Barry Hornstein. These men put the Kay logo on imported Japanese guitars that were manufactured by Teisco and Kawai.
In 1980, A.R. Enterprises (Tony Blair) purchased the Kay trademark. As of this date, Blair is still listed as CEO of Kay Guitars and also of Kustom Musical Instruments which was formerly owned by Hanser Music.
A luthier from Gibson named Roger Fritz left the company and created his own guitars and basses under The Fritz Brother Guitar Company brand. He really liked the old Kay Bass guitars of the 1950's. He joined the new Kay Company in 2007 and helped them recreate newer versions of vintage Kay basses and guitars.
Most of the parts and molds were no longer available so everything had to be created from scratch. The pickguards, the knobs, the hand wound pickups, the tailpiece, and even the baseball bat style toggle switch cover all had to be manufactured using original parts as templates for the new reissued versions. Finding the parts was difficult and surprisingly expensive since they needed to search stores, eBay and contact collectors to find perfect originals to reproduce.
In 2019 Kay Vintage Reissue Guitars offered five vintage style guitars and two vintage style bass guitars for sale, introducing them at the NAMM Convention that year. These reproduction guitars were all made in China. I have a hard time finding any for sale.
The ones I have found are selling from $850 to $1150 USD on the used market. The website states they can be found on Amazon, but nothing is currently available.
In my opinion Kay was producing its best electric guitars in the 1950 through the early 1960's, During these years Kay produced some remarkable guitars, such as the Thin Twin (1954), the Speed Demon (1956), the Barney Kessel and Barney Kessel Pro and the Swing Master (1959). Their golden years for archtop guitars were in the 1940's through the 1950's.
By 1961 the Barney Kessel models were renamed The Gold K line, which included this top or the line Gold K Jazz Special. Kessel's name was replaced with the letter "K". By this time, Kessel had lent his name to the Gibson Guitar company.
During the best years for Kay, the company was overshadowed by other USA brands, such as Gibson, Fender, Guild, Gretsch and Martin, who were building superior products.
However some of the Kay models, both electric and the acoustic archtops were excellent guitars and are now commanding high prices in the vintage market. They were just under appreciated back in the day.
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