TYPE
Electric Solid Body Guitar
FEATURES
Masonite body, maple neck
Rosewood fretboard
One or two single-coil pickups
INFORMATION
The Kay Solo King is known as “The State of Ohio Guitar”. The shape of the body not only reflects the shape of the US state of Ohio, but the instrument is also made of masonite, pressed hardboard. This is a lightweight, inexpensive material that was also used for some early Danelectro guitars. The very thick neck has copper frets. The simple archtop-like bridge could be adjusted in height. The formica pickguard accommodates two knobs for volume and tone and one or two pancake single-coil pickups. The single-coil pickup-model cost $75, with two guitar pickups $95.
Kay kept the model in production for two years, but it was sometimes sold under the name Old Kraftsman.
The Solo King disappeared from the market in 1960. Only recently it has become more popular among collectors.
