Kent was a New York brand, not a factory. Buegeleisen & Jacobson on Union Square put the name on Japanese-built guitars through the 1960s, and from 1967 to 1969 the hollowbodies in the line came from Kawai, which had just bought Teisco and had the deepest hollowbody experience in Japan at the time. This is one of those Kawai-built Kents: a symmetrical double-cut thinline in the ES style, sunburst, with the same bound, inlaid scroll headstock that sits on every late-60s Kent.

It is not the asymmetrical 820 that most people picture when they hear "Kent hollowbody." This is the dressier ES-style body that Kent never gave a catalog number, with two chrome-covered humbucker-size pickups, a bound black pickguard, bound f-holes, a tune-o-matic bridge, a Bigsby-style vibrato and the gold reflector knobs. Kent collectors list it as an untracked model, so we are calling it what it is rather than guessing a number.

The sound is warmer and fuller than the gold-foil Kents: the covered pickups push a little harder, the body is thin enough to control feedback but hollow enough to breathe, and the vibrato does a slow, wide wobble. Clean from a one-owner collection: unfaded burst, no cracks, binding tight, all hardware original, vibrato arm present.

Specs

• Kent (Buegeleisen & Jacobson, New York) double-cut semi-hollow, built by Kawai, Japan, late 1960s; no factory model number
• Laminated maple thinline body, symmetrical double cutaway, sunburst, bound top and back, bound f-holes
• Set neck, bound rosewood fingerboard, pearloid block markers
• Bound headstock with inlaid script Kent and scroll (700/800 series pattern)
• Two chrome-covered humbucker-size pickups, 3-way selector, two volume and two tone with gold reflector knobs
• Tune-o-matic style bridge, Bigsby-style vibrato tailpiece, chrome hardware

Condition: Excellent for its age. All original, no cracks or repairs, light checking at most, frets with plenty of life. Set up in our shop.

Includes: gig bag

Where it came from: one-owner collection, bought whole by Brothers Guitar Shop in November 2026. The previous owner kept his guitars clean, had them set up and stored them properly, and it shows. Every piece goes across our bench for a check and setup before it goes on the wall at 316 E 84th St, NYC.