This equation changes on a daily basis, and so no answer can be given to these questions other than saying check these links regularly, and watch how prices are evolving. How many people are shopping for one + how many are up for sale = how much they are worth. Value is set by two factors: demand and supply.

Of course, that only dates the manufacturing of the pickups themselves, which may have been in stock for some time before they actually went into an instrument, so strictly speaking that stamp only establishes an easliest possible date for the instrument as a whole.Īs for the vexed issue of monetary value, most posts naively assume that there is an absolute answer to this question, but of course, there is not. More specific dating is possible with electric models by checking the stamp on the back of the pickups, in the format 'mmddyyyy' e.g. By going through the catalogues, most guitars can be pinned down to within a couple of years. Identification is complicated by the fact that Kay re-assigned these numbers around 1960, so many models have two different model numbers, one which was used in the '50 and another in the '60s, despite being the same guitar.īut it's not hard to go through the catalogues, and to date most guitars by noticing slight changes in the models over the years - such as pick-guard shape, tail-piece type (open or closed end), etc. Kay model numbers begin with the letter K in the format 'K- xxxxx'. The numbers stamped inside hollow-body arch-tops beginning with the letter L in the format 'L-xxxx-xxx' are not the model numbers, but factory-specific batch and serial numbers, and do not identify the year or model.

Most of the questions in this thread could be answered by studying the Kay catalogues available for free download here:

Airline guitar serial number lookup