1960s Kay Vanguard: A New Distraction

I've got some last details to do for the vinyl order (identify where I want the visual gaps, send the files, check over the artwork one last time, etc.). Today's distraction, however, is this cheap-ass 1960s Kay Vanguard guitar that one of my friends gifted me today. It only has 19 frets and weighs almost nothing.

I learned a little about the history of things and it's kind of badass. These guitars were mass-produced in the USA in the 1960s to compete with the torrent of Japanese-made solid body electrics that was overwhelming the market. More expensive American-made instruments were out of reach of a lot of working class Americans, who were also hesitant to buy products made in Japan (World War II was only two decades in the past). So Kay, Harmony, and other US companies designed these inexpensive guitars and sold them through major retailers like Sears. These instruments were the starter guitars for many of the great rock musicians of the 1970s. The sound of these things arguably had a pretty large impact on the sound of 1960s and 1970s guitar rock. 

This one is missing a nut, has a damaged bridge, has one damaged tuner, and has a neck shimmed with cardboard. I was told the electronics work but I won't really know how it sounds until I fix the bridge and the nut and put strings on. I think there will be a serial number and/or date under the pickguard, which is how you access all the electronics. I have some ideas for refinishing it but no real plan yet.