The 618 had
some close kin in the Silvertone family; its older brother the 613, and its
younger sibling the 620. They shared a similar shape, and were made
by our friends at Kay. Let's not forget the kooky cousin, the similarly-shaped
Kay-built 4-string tenor guitar, the
661, available at the height of the folk craze in the
early 60s.
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The 618 was a Kay-made masterpiece, and one of my
fave acoustics in the Silvertone line. The prettiest
acoustic flattop Kay ever made, with a distinctive 'pinched' waist and big round
lower bout.
Kay made several 'J-200' knockoffs; the K-22, 23, 24 26 and 27; and
the Silvertone-branded 618 was slightly less fancy than those Kay-branded guitars,
with its simple dot neck markers;
a feature that would be upgraded to block markers with the coming of the 620
in 1958.
Introduced: Fall/Winter 1951
as the 57D0618 at $43.90
Retired:
Fall/Winter 1957
as the 57D0618 at $34.95
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