Description
This is a Kay made Old Kraftsman K8990 “Upbeat” electric guitar in tobaccoburst with a hollow body, two pickups, and it was built in Chicago, IL circa 1957. The “Upbeat” models were offered between 1957 and 1961 in the Kay catalogs. The Old Kraftsman’s branded guitars were sold through the Spiegal catalog. It’s a player’s grade guitar. It works and sounds great but shows its nearly 70 years worth of wear with various nicks and dings. The serial number is L4291 8990.
GENERAL INFO/CONDITION:
The guitar is all original and in good condition. But it is missing the pickguard. It shows some wear, scratches, crazing, and dings from the last 70 years (or so) of use but overall it’s in nice playing shape. It has a beautiful, tobaccoburst finish on the front and sides. It has curly maple sides and spruce top back. The pickups give a great Country/Folk/Blues/Jazz range. The neck pickup is super strong and if turned up all the way quite thunderous and the bridge pickup is gritty and more twangy. It includes gig bag.Description from VintageSilvertones.com
TUNERS/HEADSTOCK:
The six individual Kluson Deluxe tuners have metal knobs. The headstock is black with an Old Kraftsman logo. It shows plenty of playing wear. These Klusons tuned up very nicely.Description from VintageSilvertones.com
NECK:
Glued-on, fully bound, rosewood fretboard, 19 frets. It has mother of pearl block inlays for fret markers. The action is medium-fast. The string height at the 12th fret is 0.08 inches. The neck is straight but does have an extremely slight divot between the 13th & 14th frets and a tiny bit of fret buzz there on only the A and D strings. The tobaccoburst, back of the neck has very minor playing wear and a few small nicks. The frets are in good shape with lots of life left. It may have had a neck reset at some point.
PICKUPS:
Two “K” pickup units (as they are referred to in the catalog) which are single coil pickups that are super strong. There’s a 3 position toggle switch for neck, bridge or both pickups. It has individual tone and volume controls for each pickup. The tone difference between the neck and bridge pickup is pretty significant. The bridge has a nice twangy, raw tone with a hint of tremolo. And the neck pickup is very full and thunderous sounding.Description from VintageSilvertones.com
The Dimensions are:
Overall length: 43″Description from VintageSilvertones.com
Body width: 17″
Body thickness: 2.7″ (w/neck 3.2″)Description from VintageSilvertones.com
Scale: 25.75″Description from VintageSilvertones.com
Width of the nut: 1.71″
String height at 12th fret: 0.08″Description from VintageSilvertones.com
Weight: 6 poundsDescription from VintageSilvertones.com
