La Baye 2X4 Six Model Solid Body Electric Guitar (1967), made in Neodesha, Kansas, natural finish, mahogany body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, black gig bag case.

This famously eccentric solidbody is one of the legendary oddball creations of the 1960s, the La Baye 2X4 "Six". A quick flash in the pan in 1967, La Baye guitars were the brainchild of one Dan Helland, a guitar teacher in Green Bay, Wisconsin. To Helland the body of an electric guitar was unimportant, no more than a block of wood with a neck. The (perhaps slightly tongue-in-cheek) concept of the La Bay 2X4 came to Helland around 1965 when he was working at a local music store chain. Looking for someone to put his ideas into production, Helland connected with the Holman-Woodell factory in Neodesha, Kansas although the La Baye name was a local Wisconsin reference, referring to "the bay" the local name for the shallow body of water at the top of Lake Michigan.

The Holman-Woodell factory had been established especially to make guitars under contract for Wurlitzer, who were looking to get into the booming teen market. Those products of the neophyte factory experienced finishing issues causing a large number of returns with finishes virtually flaking off. This led to Wurlitzer cancelling the contract so Holman-Woodell launched the Holman brand while looking for other contract work. Holman-Woodell were probably thrilled to pick up the order for a run of La Baye guitars and basses in early 1967.

The 2X4 design was pretty much a no-brainer: La Bayes are practically identical to Holman brand guitars except for the slab-o-wood body. The somewhat Fender-like neck, "Sensi-Tone" single coil pickups and vaguely Bigsby-esque vibrato are made from what Holman-Woodell already had in stock. The metal-covered pickups are screwed directly to the body, stacked on thin plastic shims to set the height although the poles are adjustable. Twin tone and volume controls are mounted laterally on the top if the body while the 3-way pickup selector switch is in a questionable spot on the bottom, right where it will get hit by the player's knee if seated. The output jack is on the underside as well.

The La Bayes are decently well made guitars, if not top tier professional quality by 1960s standards. The Holman neck is maple topped by a bound rosewood fingerboard with pearl dot inlay, with a truss rod adjusted at the body end. The minimalist 3X3 headstock has individual Kluson Deluxe tuners and a string tension bar on the face. The solid block body is made up of two slabs of light mahogany (it almost looks like koa!) laminated together top-to-bottom, with a vague sliced-off cutaway by the neck. The pots are dated to the 47th week of 1966 confirming the 1967 production date.

Although somewhat infamous, La Bays are actually quite rare. Most accounts agree Helland only ordered 45 instruments total, primarily this "Six" model but a few sample "Twelve" (12-string) and "Four"(bass) models. He did a big display at the 1967 summer NAMM show in Chicago, getting some good press for the distinctively entertaining design but little in the way of retail orders. Tommy James and The Shondells briefly posed with them, and the main endorsers were Milwaukee-area "Mercury Recording Artists" The Robbs who appeared in La Baye print ads.

That one run was basically it for La Baye. Holman-Woodell didn't last much longer, soon selling out to two partners who renamed it Alray (for Al and Ray). By November of 1967 the business failed and the doors closed forever on guitar building in Neodesha. The La Baye would have slid into oddball history if not for a long association with Ohio surrealists Devo, who saw in the 2X4 a guitar already "devolved" to fit their aesthetic without use of a saw! Devo's Bob Mothersbaugh has employed several original La Bayes since the late '70s, even resulting recently in an Asian-made re-issue. This, however is the real thing, a fully playable survivor of what was either a great minimalist idea or a joke that went too far.
 
Overall length is 44 1/2 in. (113 cm.), 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm.) across at the widest point, and 2 in. (5.1 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).

This is a played-in but decently clean guitar overall, with a couple of hardware changes but no really heavy wear. The finish is original with some dings and chips to the body and finish rubbed away along the sides if the neck, which has some dings and dents as well. There is an area planed away at the factory on the treble side of the heel to fit the body cavity. There are small scuffs and dings to the headstock, the fingerboard binding has a few small cracks but is not peeling or crumbling.

The bridge has been changed to a Tune-O-Matic, not unusual on these as the original plastic-saddle roller bridge was not particularly good sounding or functional. The pickups, wiring and vibrato unit are original, the Kluson deluxe tuners appear original but there are extra small screw holes on the back of the headstock suggesting something else was once mounted. There was once a stamped metal cover over the center of the knobs atop the body that has gone missing. The serial numbers were located on a small foil sticker affixed by the neck heel; this one has gone missing.

This is a decent playing and sounding guitar, quite giggable within its built-in limits. Frankly none of the products of this Kansas operation ever set the world on fire but this is the most notorious of the lot due to its amusing notoriously eccentric design. With a boost from the Devo connection La Bayes have been considered highly collectible for some time, and this is a solid example the will get the Booji Boy spirit flowing! Generally Very Good + Condition.