The 1458 from Kay,
was based on the 'Value Leader' series, and only offered in the 1960 and 1961
Sears Wish Book. There is also an as yet unidentified model in the photo gallery derived
from the same series that was likely a 'store only' guitar.
Click for catalog listings
The Kay-built 1458 guitar enjoys similar looks to the
Harmony-made 1423 'Jupiter' (which it is
sometimes mistaken for), but as a 'Wish Book'-only guitar, it sold far fewer
and is much rarer. Like its catalogmate, the 1304,
it was paired with an amp for an 'all in one' approach to a guitar & amp setup; Sears was still
searching for the magic bullet that they concocted with Danelectro in 1962 to
produce the famous 1448 ampincase setup.
I'm just happy to have found the Wish Book ads so I could finally pull this
guitar from my 'mystery' folder!
Introduced: Wish Book 1960
Retired : Wish Book 1961
