Double Bass Kay Old Kraftsman ?

[Kurt Dahle]

Can anyone identify this old church bass?
I know that Kay made Old Kraftsman for Spiegel catalogue, mostly electric electric guitars and electric basses.
I can’t find another instrument like this online, who made it , and when ?

 

[bassfran]

Welcome to Talkbass!

I'm no expert but I can tell you that it's a dead-ringer for my '41 K. Meyer Orcho-100.

Paging Steven Ayres

 

[GretschWretch]

Welcome to Talkbass!

I'm no expert but I can tell you that it's a dead-ringer for my '41 K. Meyer Orcho-100.

Paging Steven Ayres

Interesting. Except for this post and one other from you dating back nearly seven years, I can find no evidence that the K. Meyer Orcho-100 or even Meyer string instruments ever existed. I am not doubting you; I am frustrated and disappointed at the seeming total lack of documentation. I mean NOTHING!!???

 

[Kurt Dahle]

Interesting. Except for this post and one other from you dating back nearly seven years, I can find no evidence that the K. Meyer Orcho-100 or even Meyer string instruments ever existed. I am not doubting you; I am frustrated and disappointed at the seeming total lack of documentation. I mean NOTHING!!???

Gretsch wretch,
I tried looking up Old Kraftsman upright basses, there are hundreds of electric guitars, but not one double bass with that name that I could find.

 

[bassfran]

Interesting. Except for this post and one other from you dating back nearly seven years, I can find no evidence that the K. Meyer Orcho-100 or even Meyer string instruments ever existed. I am not doubting you; I am frustrated and disappointed at the seeming total lack of documentation. I mean NOTHING!!???

Well, from what (little, frankly) I know about the history of the factory here Kay slapped a number of different labels on instruments for different retailers such as Silvertone for Sears Roebuck, Old Kraftsman for Spiegel Catalog, etc..
FWIW, I also have an Old Kraftsman electric guitar that's essentially a Kay 161 Thin Twin, a.k.a. The Jimmy Reed model, but for the name on the headstock.

 

[Kurt Dahle]

I love those old thin twin guitars.
Hey, here’s some more pics for anyone interested.

 

[GretschWretch]

I love those old thin twin guitars.
Hey, here’s some more pics for anyone interested.

Okay; the tuners are the first thing that really says "Kay" to me. I looked at the first pics and thought "The shoulders do not look like Kay, the neck heel does not look like Kay, the tailpiece does not look like Kay," but the Kluson tuners are almost synonymous with Kay. So now, as far as I am concerned it is a Kay.

 

[GretschWretch]

Well, from what (little, frankly) I know about the history of the factory here Kay slapped a number of different labels on instruments for different retailers such as Silvertone for Sears Roebuck, Old Kraftsman for Spiegel Catalog, etc..
FWIW, I also have an Old Kraftsman electric guitar that's essentially a Kay 161 Thin Twin, a.k.a. The Jimmy Reed model, but for the name on the headstock.

I agree with you; when I was a kid we got the Sears and Spiegel catalogs, although Montgomery Ward also was in on this game. Sears rebadged Harmonies and Danelectros as Silvertone, while as best as I can recall Spiegel kept their Kays as Kay. In addition to the Kay and Old Kraftsman badges, Kay also marketed Truetone as an uber-budget line. The "Kraftsman" name survived up until 1969 with the Custom Kraft Bone Buzzer Bass, which was a Kay/National/Valco hybrid.

If one closely examines enough Kay and Harmony product it becomes pretty clear there was a lot of cross-pollination going on. Regal, another Chicago brand, also shows some evidence of this.

There were an astounding number of stringed instrument manufacturers in Chicago. I addition to the three already discussed there were Lyon and Healy, who go back into the nineteenth century; and the Larson brothers, who made under both their own badge as well as jobbed for other badges. And Regal. And even Gretsch for awhile too, apparently. In fact I would not be surprised if there are more total stringed instrument manufacturers from Chicago than Boston, New York, and Philadelphia combined.