• May 26, 1894 - Henry "Kay" Kuhrmeyer was born in St. Paul, Minnesota . He attended high school in St. Paul and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Business. Henry served his country during the first World War as a commissioned officer, finally attaining the rank of Lt. Commander while in the Naval Reserve.
  • 1920's - Henry and his father, Charles invest in Stromberg-Voisinet (formerly Groehsl Instrument Company), a Chicago based company which made mandolins, banjos and guitars.
  • 1923 - The Chicago City Directory lists Henry as Secretary of Stromberg-Voisinet.
  • 1928 - The Chicago City Directory lists Charles as Vice-President of Stromberg-Voisinet. At this time Charles was still a businessman in St. Paul.
  • 1929-1930 - The company produced an archtop guitar with the help of three talented luthiers (Joseph Zorzi, Philip Gabriel, adn John Abbot). Kuhrmeyer served as President of the Chicago Zone of the Association of Musical Merchandise Manufacturers. Kuhrmeyer negotiated a 40-hour work week with employees, a first in the music industry.
  • 1935 - The recently created Kay Musical Instrument Company constructed a new building to house their Chicago operation at 1640 W. Walnut St.
  • 1937 - Kuhrmeyer made the decision to produce cellos and basses in the Chicago factory, and started advertising them in the 1938 catalog.
  • 1955 - Kuhrmeyer retired, turning the company over to Sidney M. Katz, who had a firm knowledge of the musical instrument industry from working for Harmony Instruments.
  • March 18, 1956 - Kuhrmeyer died, leaving his wife Rosamond.
  • 1964 - Kay Musical Instruments moved to a new factory in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, attracting a buyer.
  • 1965 - Katz sold the company to Seeburg, a company famous for their juke boxes. Katz became the head of the musical instrument division, and longtime Kay employee, Bob Keyworth headed up the Kay instrument division
  • 1967 - Valco Company bought Kay from Seeburg. With Robert Engelhardt as president and Al Link as vice-president of Valco, Kay products were unchanged. Because of Japanese competition, debt accumulation and inventory excess, the decision was made to dissolve Kay/Valco.
  • 1969 - Kay/Valco's assets were auctioned off to Weiss Musical Instruments. However, and new company called Engelhardt-Link bought the cello and bass portion of Kay/Valco, including all the necessary equipment to keep producing the instruments.

The first Englehardt bass was shipped on February 18, 1970. Englehardt-Link continues to produce cellos and basses "The Kay Way" from Elk Grove Village, Ilinois. Engelhardt manufactures the same models of basses as Kay did: Concert (EC-1), Maestro (EM-1), Maestro 1/4 (EM-3), Supreme (ES-1), and Swingmaster (ES-9).

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