1950s Sherwood K51

A thrift store keeper.

This guitar was made by Kay for Montgomery Wards sometime in the late 40s or early 50s. It needed a fair amount of work. It was missing its bridge and pickguard. Its solid spruce top(!) and flamed maple back and sides(!!) were covered in peeling brown paint. The top had several cracks which needed gluing, the tuners were shot, the fret board needed planing where it the neck joined the body, and the tailpiece needed to be replaced—the original one caused the top to crack where it pressed on the wood. I installed the ebony pick guard and a TOM bridge. It weighs less than 4 pounds.

It has the stamp 8340-K51 inside.

UPDATE: I installed a GFS thin pickup and a volume pot (with vintage knob from the National Bolero), it was a tight fit fit, but it worked.

Here's a YouTube Video of the deluxe version of this guitar: