At Honeybee, our collection is focused on the best Golden Age department store guitars we can find. We specialize in rare vintage gems, namely the catalog guitars of the 1950's and 1960's. The Honeybee vintage collection includes unique ukuleles, mandolins, and guitars dating from the late 1800's up to the 1970's. We see these instruments as Players, and most of the items in our inventory have been professionally maintained and/or restored to a better playable condition than when they were new. All restoration and repairs are done in-house at our brick-and-mortar shop.
Most guitar players, collectors and aficionados agree that the the first Golden Age of American guitars was in the period beginning in the early to mid 1930’s and that it lasted until the mid 1960's. Everyone knows the big brand names like Gibson, Martin, and then later Fender. Others are familiar with Epiphone, Rickenbacker and Guild. Today, guitars made by these companies are universally valued for their impeccable craftsmanship, high quality, tone woods that are no longer available, and that intangible tangible that some call “old wood”—the rich, burnished sound of electric and acoustic guitars that have been aged in the hands of their owners, not in a factory.
Ironically enough, those guitars were never very available to most players. Professional grade Les Pauls, Stratocasters, Telecasters and Dreadnought guitars have always been expensive. As a result, millions of players only dreamt if guitars with names like Thin Twin, Swingmaster, Espanada and Rocket, and the headstocks proudly carried names like Kay, Harmony, Silvertone, Regal, Oahu and Old Kraftsman. These are the guitars of our dreams, and they make up the bulk of our vintage collection at Honeybee Guitars.
These legendary guitars helped shape the sound of a generation in the hands of players like Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Reed (Reed’s guitar tone is the most famous example of the unique, thick & biting “Kay sound”), Big Joe Williams, Barney Kessel, Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney, all of whom played Kay guitars back in the day. Players like Jack White, Robert DeLeo, Bob Dylan, Sarah McLachlan, Phil Alvin, Diablo Dimes, and Sheryl Crow have all rocked vintage Kay guitars in the recent past. Mega producer T-Bone Burnett plays a vintage Thin Twin, known as the Jimmy Reed model.
We are available by appointment at our San Francisco brick-and-mortar, and most of our items can also be purchased from our online store. Give us a call or email us today and let us know what you’re looking for, and have a look at our collection below.
