Kay
KeyKord

This is one of those Ukuleles that I never really thought I would be able to get but really liked the idea of owning as it holds such a special place in Ukulele history. It first came out at the beginning of the 1930's in the Venetian body shape as kind of an alternative to Regal's Octophone. Kay's idea was, rather than a different instrument, still a different looking instrument but more a different way of playing it; the KeyKord autoplayer. The autoplayer is a much more complicated and larger, with more chord options, than the later Ukulele offerings and unlike the later ones it doesn't come off, (kind of a disappointment this, as to be honest, even though it is fretless I would still prefer to play it the old fashioned way, making chord shapes with my left hand). It's place in Ukulele history come in the fact, particularly with the figure 8 model, it is exactly the size and scale length of a Baritone and though it was never call this it was the first instrument of this size to be tuned and played as a Ukulele so making it the forerunner to the Baritone.