kay musical instrument company was a musical instrument manufacturer of the united states , in operation since the 1930s until the 1960s .

it was established in 1931 at chicago , illinois by henry kay kuhrmeyer , from the assets of the former stromberg-voisinet , which was founded as groeschel mandolin company in 1890 .

kay offered their first electric guitar in 1936 — five years after the rickenbacker frying pan , and the same year as the gibson es-150 .

nonetheless , kay is considered an electric guitar pioneer because kuhrmeyer bought their past company , stromberg-voisinet , and produced the first commercial electric guitar , the stromberg electro , in 1928 .

kay musical instrument company

the kay musical instrument company was an american musical instrument manufacturer that was formally established in 1931 .
the kay musical instrument company was one of many early musical instrument manufacturers in the united states . the kay company was officially established in 1931 at chicago , illinois by henry kay kuhrmeyer .
american archtop guitar , kay musical instrument company , chicago , c . 1950 , model n2
kay guitar company produced guitars and other musical instruments from the 1930s to the 1960s .
earliest tag says simply ( kay musical instrument co . chicago , u . s . a ) .
sg galan is the original brand of japan ' s shimokura musical instrument store .
chubby jackson , a jazz bassist , endorsed the kay bass for kay musical instrument company from about 1946 until 1969 . the s - 51 model kay was advertised as the
chubby jackson models .
the kay musical instrument company emerged in the 1930’s in chicago , when kay founder henry kay “hank” kuhrmeyer and an invester acquired the groehsl instrument company , which was founded in 1890 . kuhrmeyer was interested in producing electric guitars and amplifiers when he took over the company , and they did just that in 1936 with the release of the company’s first electric guitar .
in 1923 , henry kay kuhrmeyer joined the company . he later became president . in 1928 , with help of an investor , bought the company . the new company , “kay musical instruments” was formally established in 1931 from the assets of stromberg - voisinet . henry kuhrmeyer , with no musical background , but was financially successful in the musical instrument business .
throughout most of the 1900s , the kay musical instrument company was a true behemoth of the american guitar market . based in chicago , the company’s output was impressive , surpassed only by the harmony company ( also based in chicago ) .
kay musical instrument company output was very impressive , surpassed only by the harmony company ( also based in chicago ) . the kay company had a significant impact in the history of guitar making in the usa , and the company always had a plethora of guitars in just about every price range and style .
then , in 1928 , new owner henry kay kuhrmeyer changed the name to the kay musical instrument company and began to focus on all types of stringed instruments , like basses and violas and guitars .
the kay guitar company was a division of the kay musical instrument company formerly known as stromberg - voisinet which manufactured professional and student instruments since the 1890s . this company was no relation to elmer stromberg and son , the boston luthiers that built high quality , collectible archtop guitars .
during the early 50s barney kessel played on the gibson es - 350 , later on in the late 50s he endorsed 3 guitars from a company called kay musical instrument co .
in 1964 , kay musical instruments moved to a new factory in elk grove village , illinois . the move to the new building attracted a buyer , and in 1965 katz sold the company to seeburg , a company already famous for their juke boxes . katz became the head of seeburg’s musical instrument division . bob keyworth , a long time kay employee , headed up the kay instrument division .
in 1964 , kay musical instruments moved to a new factory in elk grove village , illinois . the move to the new building attracted a buyer , and in 1965 katz sold the company to seeburg , a company already famous for their juke boxes . katz became the head of seeburg ' s musical instrument division . bob keyworth , a long time kay employee , headed up the kay instrument division .
kay musical instrument company was a prolific american manufacturer of musical instruments that operated from the 1930s through the 1960s . although kay ' s first electric guitar was offered in 1936 ( the same year as gibson es - 150 , five years after the frying pan ) , kay is known as an electric guitar pi . . .
founded in 1890 , the company originally operated as the groeschel company and manufactured mandolins . in 1918 the company name was changed to the stromberg–voisinet company and added guitars and banjos to the lineup .
henry kuhrmeyer , with no musical background , was financially successful in the musical instrument business and was able to start planning his retirement in 1953 . sidney m . katz , who had excellent financial backing from family members including albert pick , of picks hotels , was interested in purchasing the company . after having worked for harmony instruments , katz knew the musical instrument business , but came to work in the accounting department of kay musical instruments for some time before taking over full and complete leadership .
the kay guitar company ' s origins date back to the 1890 ' s , starting with the groeschel mandolin company of chicago , illinois .
direct digital download of a high quality scan of the 1946 kay upright 5 string bass print ad shown . scanned directly from original print ad from a 1946 magazine that measured approximately 6
x 9
. a cool early ad for kay musical instrument company featuring endorsers
kay musical instrument company primarily manufactured inexpensive guitars from the 1930s to the 1960s . however , they also made a few top quality arch top guitars . the most collectable kay guitars are any model with the “kelvinator” plastic headstock overlay that is stylized with art - deco decorations .
kay model k5915 . i’m unsure of the year , as there is no serial number found on the instrument .
kay also produced a line of archtop acoustic guitars under the brand name kamico . the company outsourced its amplifiers to a rival company called valco .
kay was indeed one of the earliest american manufacturers of electric guitars . things progressed , and by 1934 , the company was officially known as the
kay musical instrument company
. the company became larger and more successful over the years , leading to the addition of a new factory in elk grove village , illinois in 1964 . but somehow by 1965 , the company had hit rough times and was bought by seeburg , a jukebox manufacturer that sold kay to valco in 1967 .
the linings of an instrument were glued to the rib sections , providing a surface area for gluing the top and back of the instrument to the ribs . kay always installed both inner and
with the stromberg - voisinet company now recognized as a leader in their field , business expanded quickly , and by 1934 kuhrmeyer repaid the debts he owed . the kay musical instrument company moved to a new building , in 1935 , at 1640 w . walnut st . in chicago , il .
kamico was a part of the kay - kraft musical instrument company ( which is where the name was derived from ) that operated from 1931 to 1968 . kamico brand appeared on lap - steels , amps , mandolin guitars , archtops…from 1947 to ?
direct digital download of a high quality scan of the 1946 kay upright 5 string bass print ad shown . scanned directly from original print ad from a 1946 magazine that measured approximately 8 1 / 2
x 11
. this is a cool early ad for kay musical instrument company featuring endorsers
in 1931 kay was formally established in 1931 when the assets of the former stromberg - voisinet company were acquired by businessman henry
kay
kuhrmeyer .
but this same company offers kay vintage reissue guitars . these instruments are made in the far east , but are well made replicas of the famous kay thin twin guitar and what is called the kay jazz guitar , which is a semi - hollow body double cutaway instrument .
by 1964 the company moved from chicago to new quarters in elk grove illinois and continued the tradition of selling kay guitars and musical instrument as well as house - brand instruments , but the demand for electric guitars was very heavy at this time in history .
by 1928 , kuhrmeyer had bought the company and that same year the company started producing electric guitars and amps .
direct digital download of a high quality scan of the 1946 kay bass guitar print ad shown . scanned directly from original print ad from a 1946 magazine that measured approximately 6 1 / 2
x 10
. this is a cool early ad for kay musical instrument company featuring endorser norman bates playing the 5 - string kay upright bass . . . .
with the stromberg - voisinet company now recognized as a leader in their field , business expanded quickly , and by 1934 kuhrmeyer repaid the debt he owed einsele . the kay musical instrument company already formed , presented itself with a new building , in 1935 , at 1640 w . walnut st . in chicago , il .
kay ' s roots go back to 1890 to the groehsl company , a manufacturer of musical instruments when it was sold to stromberg - voisinet in 1929 with mr . groehsl remaining and henry k kuhrmeyer as treasurer and later president of the company .
kay guitars ( of chicago illinois ) were first built in 1890 under the company name groehsl which by 1921 had changed to stromberg - voisinet . the driving force at that company was henry kay kuhrmeyer , the treasurer . he established the company as one of the main jobbers of the 1920 ' s supplying guitars to montgomery wards and regal stores . in early 1931 a higher end line of guitars was created called
kay kraft
and by the end of the year the company was renamed kay musical instruments .
the dickerson musical instrument manufacturing company was founded in 1935 , and by the end of the decade it was supplying lap steels and amps to oahu , bronson and many other brands . it also sold instruments under its own
hall was the exclusive veneer provider to the kay musical instrument company from sometime in the 1940 ' s until the end of kay ' s production in 1969 . the spruce came from birdseye veneer in escanaba , mi . which provided the finest material available in the united states , very similar to the spruce from bavaria .
just a year later , in 1965 . katz sold kay to the jukebox manufacturer seeburg corporation with katz becoming head of seeburg ' s musical instrument division . two years later kay was resold and merged with valco . however by now the guitar boom was fizzling out . the company was dissolved by 1968 and the assets of both kay and valco were auctioned off in 1969 .
direct digital download of a high quality scan of the 1947 kay 5 string bass & artist guitar print ad shown . scanned directly from original print ad from a 1947 magazine that measured approximately 4
x 7
. a cool early ad for kay musical instrument company featuring showing the
top team
of the 5 - string kay upright bass and the artist guitar . . . .
former employees of the kay musical instrument company believe the ( c - 1 ) bass to be the most common . they thought kay made about twice as many ( c - 1 ) basses as they did ( m - 1 ) . probably 10 - 15 % of the basses produced were either ( s ) or ( m - 3 ) models .
the kay company had a significant impact in the history of guitar making in the usa , and the company always had a plethora of guitars in just about every price range and style .
the earliest instrument in the database is a cello ser # 2 . the earliest basses may also have been named kay , kay kraft , old kraftsman , kraftsmen , kustomkraft , custom kraft , k - kraft , kay - meyer , or k - meyer .
kay was founded in 1931 by henry “kay” kuhrmeyer . they supplied guitars to montgomery wards and others . during the 1950s their electric guitars were competitors for the silvertone and danelectro guitars . the company dissolved in 1968 . kay guitars are not currently in production . however , kay also produced cellos and basses . engelhardt - link purchased the acoustic line of instruments from kay . these are still being produced in elk grove village , il . the company lineage started with the groeshel mandolin company .
this company , which may have been a distributor as opposed to a manufacturer , was a member of the matsumoto musical instrument association . they have been credited with camel and fresher badged guitars , although freshers were also made by chushin in the late 1970s .
henry kay kuhrmeher joined the company in 1923 and bought it outright in 1928 . the kay musical instrument company flourished during the 1930s and 1960s and became one of the leading manufacturers of acoustic and electric guitars in the united states and opened a new factory in elk grove , illinois . their guitars and bass guitars were and still are played by a number of famous musicians , such as eric clapton , bob dylan , howlin’ wolf , ry cooder and jack white .
little - known manufacturer from osaka , japan , this company is responsible for the oddly named john bennet badge . nakai has been mentioned as a possible matusmoto musical instruments association member in the past . the company still exists and is producing musical instruments , quite a feat in light of so many manufacturers who faded after the golden electric guitar age .
the company ' s name was changed to
stromberg - voisinet
in 1921 , and shortlyafterwards , in 1923 , henry kay
hank
kuhrmeyer ( the origin of the name
kay
) joined the company and quickly worked his way up to the top .
to vary height of strings above fingerboard , loosen strings and wing nut inside of body . push heel of neck backward or forward to desired string height . retighten wing nut . never loosen wood screw in neck . patent applied for kay musical instrument co . chicago , ill
the kay musical instrument company was leading their field in lamination . from the beginning , the kay bass ( 1937 ) had a laminated top and back formed on presses in the factory . presses were made of a material that looked like plaster and wood and finally steel . hide glue was probably the glue used to laminate the plys . upon taking a 1949 bass apart , hide glue between the plys was apparent .
in 1980 , a . r . enterprises ( tony blair ) purchased the kay trademark . as of this date , blair is still listed as ceo of kay guitars and also of kustom musical instruments which was formerly owned by hanser music .
with the help of an investor , kuhrmeyer secured and purchased the stromberg - voisinet company in 1928 the same year the company became interested in electrifying the guitar .
it ' s made by the fujigen , maya and matsomoku company ' s .
kay did build a line of amps carried over from the old stromberg company that were also sold through catalogs like spiegel and others . kay eventually subcontracted its amplifier production to chicago music industry rival valco in the 1950s .
it says ( genuine kay bass viol _ _ _ _ model ser no . _ _ _ _ _ ) . the word kay is in script , there is no loop on the kay , and all letters of the word kay use the same font and are bold .
however , by the sixties the company began to lose momentum and was bought by seeburg , a jukebox manufacturer , in 1965 . kay was sold again in 1967 to valco but the company dissolved only a year later due to financial problems
henry kuhrmeyer started planning his retirement in 1953 . sidney m . katz , who had excellent financial backing from family members including albert pick , of picks hotels , was interested in purchasing the company . after having worked for harmony instruments , katz knew the musical instrument business , but came to work in the accounting department of kay musical instruments for some time before taking over full and complete leadership . in 1955 , kuhrmeyer retired allowing katz full ownership and responsibility . kuhrmeyer died march 18 , 1956 .
the assets of kay / valco were auctioned off in october of 1969 . w . m . i . , weiss musical instruments , founded by jack westheimer , operated by sil weindling and barry hornstein , bought the kay name . tony blair , who had been working for w . m . i since 1973 bought the kay name in 1980 after he heard fred gretsch , jr . was interested in a brand name . by 1982 blair began using the kay name on instruments and in 1984 the kay guitar company began manufacturing and importing instruments for beginners .
the first bass with the engelhardt name left the factory on february 18 , 1970 with a serial number of 260 . why this number was chosen , no one remembers . serial numbers for the engelhardt basses are well organized and assigned to the instrument just before the instrument leaves the factory . excellent records are kept and in short periods of time company personnel can tell a caller the year in which an instrument was made .
the kay kraft kay kraft guitar was manufactured from 1929 until 1937 . the kay kraft jumbo was made in the 1930s had a pressed ( rather than carved ) arched spruce top and laminated mahogany back and sides . kay pioneered the use of laminated woods in high - volume guitar production .
truetone trademark of western auto supply company . serial number : 72207542 : : trademarkia trademarks
urltoken is a division of legalforce , inc . , a delaware software automation company .
not to be confused with stromberg guitars . kuhrmeyer eventually became president of this firm . the company had its roots as the groeschel mandolin company which was founded in 1890 .
i ordered from stewart macdonald company urltoken the following items . ( 1 . )
the assets of kay / valco were auctioned off in october of 1969 . w . m . i . , weiss musical instruments , founded by jack westheimer , operated by sil weindling and barry hornstein , bought the kay name . by the early ‘70s , kay only existed as a brandname attached to japanese import guitars . tony blair , who had been working for w . m . i since 1973 bought the kay name in 1980 after he heard fred gretsch , jr . was interested in a brand name . by 1982 blair began using the kay name on instruments and in 1984 the kay guitar company began manufacturing and importing instruments for beginners again .
kay guitars manufactured the kessel archtop electric model named after him . kay merged with valco in 1967 and it ' s name was dissolved in 1968 .
the horseshoes were manufactured by kay . kay employees started with 1 / 4
piece of ebony and used a forstner bit for the inside diameter .
founded by a father and son , ryohei tahara and the unknown tahara . i do not know which was the father and which was the son . the company existed until the late 1979 when it was bought up by saga musical instruments . in all , the company existed less than a decade as tahara . both the maya and el maya badges are attributed to tahara . saga musical instruments exists to this day .
in 1969 , the company’s assets were auctioned off and the kay name , and some of its trademarks , were acquired by weiss musical instruments . the company has changed hands a number of times in the last three decades and currently offers low priced acoustic , electric and bass guitars and also sell resonators , mandolins , harmonicas , ukuleles and banjos that are manufactured in asia .
in 1961 kay offered the twin pickup kay jazz guitar that featured and arched top , double cutaways , two kay single coil pickups and a bigsby tailpiece . the thin line electrics were modified and included the single pickup galaxie model .
the kay krafts venetian style body resembled a mandolin . for those of you acquainted with some plucked / strummed string instrument history you will know that mandolins were very much in vogue during this era .
kay is known as an electric guitar pioneer because their past company stromberg - voisinet produced the first commercial electric guitar , the stromberg electro , in 1928 .
in 1967 , valco company who had been responsible for the national and supro brands , descendants of the dopyera brothers and dobro , bought kay from seeburg . with robert engelhardt as president and al link as vice - president of valco , kay products were unchanged . during valco’s ownership , kay’s catalog was simply reprinted with valco’s name at the head . japanese competition , debt accumulation and inventory excesses were difficult for kay / valco to handle and a decision was made to dissolve the company .
kluson manufacturing company of chicago agreed to do the metal work for tuners and side plates .
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a vintage kay k162 electric bass guitar was sold on urltoken for $ 750 .
kay produced a model c - 4 bass which was a blonde concert model .
shield tag says ( genuine kay bass viol maestro model _ _ _ ) .
during the production of the kay bass every effort was made to produce instruments to exacting tolerances set forth by menc , the musical educators national conference . menc , a non - profit organization was formed in 1907 , with the intent of helping every american student obtain a musical education by encouraging schools , communities and educators to offer music programs .
american archtop guitar , kay musical instrument company , chicago , c . 1950 , model n2 , serial number l 1442 , the headstock with metal kay logo , width of lower bout 15 5 / 8 in . , no case . estimate $ 300 - 350 note : start the video at 5 minutes in to hear a similar kay . this archtop has the classic tone you would expect . this one is maple fingerboard , sides and back and a ply - construction top ( in pictures look at f - hole closeup ) . works well with the lace pickup i have for sale separately .
in 1967 , valco company who had been responsible for the national and supro brands , descendants of the dopyera brothers and dobro , bought kay from seeburg . with robert engelhardt as president and al link as vice - president of valco , kay products were unchanged . during valco ' s ownership , kay ' s catalog was simply reprinted with valco ' s name at the head . japanese competition , debt accumulation and inventory excesses were difficult for kay / valco to handle and a decision was made to dissolve the company .
- offering a download containing high quality scans ( 300 dpi ) of the rare complete original 9
x 12
four - page brochure from my personal archive . this digital brochure shows and describes the line of student basses and cellos produced by the kay musical instrument company in chicago , illinois at this time . also included some pages from a grossman counter catalog showing the very cool kay maestro m - 1b , swingmaster s - 9 and chubby jackson model s - 51 basses and kay accessories . download includes pdf continuous document allowing you to see or print the entire catalog clearly . great reference material .
engelhardt manufactures the same line of upright instruments as produced by the kay musical instrument company . basses are advertised as concert ( ec - 1 ) , maestro ( em - 1 ) , maestro 1 / 4 ( em - 3 ) , supreme ( es - 1 ) , and swingmaster ( es - 9 ) models , with the
e
simply representing the engelhardt name . cellos represent a larger part of the business than basses .
one of the more unusual guitars kay offered in 1960 was the solo king , the upper part of the body was not carved , except for the upper cutaway . the lower part had a carve to rest the instrument on the players leg and a cutaway . it was available with one or two pickups . eastwood guitars briefly revived this instrument .
the origins of the company can be traced as far back as the 1890s with the groeschel mandolin company of chicago , illinois . in 1921 , the company changed its name to stromberg - voisinet and in 1928 produced the stromberg electro , which is widely acknowledged as the first commercial electric guitar .
kay produced many of its instruments for resell by retail stores and catalog companies to sell as house brands this means kay instruments can be found under a variety of names .
this same year kay introduced their thin line electric models which became a staple with student guitarists , as did the kay pro which had more of a les paul vibe .
like a guitar , but sounds like a big upright double bass
. the kay
some of the nickeled kay script metal insignias have “japan” stamped on the back side .
groehsl instrument company , who had been in business in chicago since 1890 , changed its name to stromberg - voisinet . they were expanding their product line from bowl - backed mandolins , to include banjo ' s and guitars which would position them to become one of the lead instrument producers in the city of chicago . kuhrmeyer wished to be a part of their growth .
the company made electric bass guitars as well , and in this edition of old school , bassist frank novko shares his late 50’s / early 60’s kay model k5915 electric bass with us .
vintage kay electric guitars are regularly sold on ebay . in january 2012 alone , several kay electric guitars were sold between $ 200 and $ 800 . a vintage 1950’s kay “sizzler” black silvertone electric guitar , in good condition , sold for $ 1 , 400 .
- offering a download containing high quality scans ( 300 dpi ) of the rare complete original 9
x 12
four - page brochure from my personal archive . this digital brochure shows and describes the line of student basses and cellos produced by the kay musical instrument company in chicago , illinois at this time . also included some pages from a grossman counter catalog showing the very cool kay maestro m - 1b , swingmaster s - 9 and chubby jackson model s - 51 basses and kay accessories . see photos for complete contents . . download includes pdf continuous document allowing you to see or print the entire catalog clearly . great reference material .
there is also another s - 10 which was manufactured for the selmer instrument co . the basses were manufactured in 1937 . the ¾ sized
there are a plethora of vintage guitar dealers and internet sites that sell kay musical instruments , such as vintageguitarpro . com , urltoken and soundpure . com . however , if possible , it is widely recommended to buy a vintage guitar “in - person” , as although the instrument may look good on the online photograph , there could still be numerous problems with its internal mechanics .
the upright bass and cello lines were sold to a company formed by a ranking valco employee and was called . engelhardt - link . the kay name ( and some of its trademarks , such as knox were acquired by teisco importer , weiss musical instruments aka w . m . i . which was owned by sol weindling and barry hornstein . these men put the kay logo on imported japanese guitars that were manufactured by teisco .
this little - known company is responsible for the st . george badge . this particular badge was made from 1963 - 1967 . it also produced the rare shiro guitar . it is possible that the company may also be responsible for the pleasant guitar badge after 1966 . this company may have been a small offshoot of aria guitar company , founded by shiro arai , but that has not been verified as of today .
yasuma still exists as a company today , making high quality acoustic guitars . located in nagoya , japan , the company may have been a source for yamaha in the 1970s . manufactured house brand yasuma guitars .
mid - ’30s stromberg / kay del oro , with “resonator” containing the stromberg electro unit .
two new kay models were available in 1962 . one was the kay double cutaway solid guitar , k300 . it featured two pickups on a curly maple body and what kay called its thin lite neck . the kay double cutaway model k592 was perhaps the precursor to gibson ' s johnny a model . this excellent guitar featured twin florentine cutaways and a bigsby vibrato .
the k162 kay electronic bass guitar .
it ' s held like a guitar , played
a year later , kay began producing their well - known upright – a 3 / 4 size bass hand - built using special machinery and featuring the embossed trademark kay cursive script .
this is a very rare k - 48 manufactured by the kay musical instrument company . limited numbers were produced from 1947 through 1951 . the k - 48 was kay ' s answer to the gibson l - 5 and epiphone deluxe . the guitar featured a solid handcarved spruce top , highly flamed maple back and sides as well as an ebony fretboard and bridge . the body was bound both front and back with 5 ply cream / black binding . the ebony and pearl headstock sported top of the line kluson sealfast tuners . it was available in either blonde or sunburst finish .
in the late ‘60s , guitar sales were waning , and kay was soon bought out by the valco company ( also located in chicago ) . valco marched on for a few more years , but by the early ‘70s , kay only existed as a brandname attached to japanese import guitars .
though kay may have initially made amplifiers early on , when the company was established it subcontracted its amplifier production to valco . this is interesting because valco / national was their rival in the 1950’s .
according to one of the employees who has worked for kay , kay tried producing some plastic or fiberglass model basses . the one bass found like this had a standard maple neck , rosewood fingerboard , and kay inscribed on the back of the peghead and a rosewood tailpiece with the nickel finish kay metal logo attached . we have still not determined the exact model designation .
kay / valco went out of business soon afterwards , and in 1969 its assets were auctioned off . syl weindling and barry hornstein of w . m . i . ( the main importer of teisco del rey products ) purchased the kay brand name during this time . as a result of this , the names
teisco
and
kay
were used on teisco del rey guitars for a while in the early 70 ' s . in 1980 the kay guitar company was purchased by tony blair and is currently active selling kay brand and santa rosa brand guitars , chicago blues harmonicas and accessories and of course the kay vintage reissue line of professional guitars and basses .
true oddities of the 1959 kay catalog were the sizzler guitars that came in one and two pickup versions . the pickguard and headstock designs were a departure from the more traditional kay guitars .
another kay custom kraft ' sizzler ' sold in april , 2013 on urltoken for $ 1600 .
wtb kay barney kessel jazz special , blond single pu . please contact me : dlnolet @ urltoken
even paul mccarney played a double cutaway kay jazz bass model with wings during their 1970s tour .
company was founded in 1948 and made high quality acoustics . maker of house brand c . f . mountain .
like a tuning fork , the split may double the vibrations to the solid portion of the post and transfer more vibrations to the back of the instrument .
the groeshel mandolin company was established in chicago in 1890 . in 1921 , the company was renamed to stromberg - voisinet . stromberg - voisinet was the chicago company that became kay around 1931 . stromberg - voisinet was one of numerous companies that built musical instruments in chicago in the early part of the 20th century . like regal , harmony and most of their other competitors , stromberg - voisinet made relatively inexpensive instruments that were designed to be sold through catalogs . the 1920s stromberg - voisinet instruments were very well made , given their inexpensive prices , and they generally had a unique designs to attract buyers .
the musical instrument producer recognized henry ' s talents and offered him an opportunity to invest in the company , which he did with the help of his father , charles . by 1923 , henry kuhrmeyer was listed in the chicago city directory as secretary for stromberg - voisinet . charles , while a businessman in st . paul , minnesota , was listed as the vice - president of stromberg - voisinet in the 1928 chicago city directory .
some of kay ' s lower - grade instruments were marketed under the knox and kent brand names .
possibly the kay was embossed on every peghead and then through the sanding and finishing process became invisible .
kay went away from the hand written number beginning with serial number 10 , 000 ( approx ) .
shield tag says ( genuine kay bass viol orchestra model no . _ _ _ _ _ ) .
although kay had been producing this model in the late ‘50s , by 1962 the company had dubbed this thinline the “speed demon . ” these are auditorium–sized guitars ( 40–¼” x 15” ) but were only 1 ¾” thick .
kay offered their first electric guitar in 1936—five years after the rickenbacker frying pan , and the same year as the gibson es - 150 . nonetheless , kay is considered an electric guitar pioneer because kuhrmeyer bought their past company , stromberg - voisinet , and produced the first commercial electric guitar , the stromberg electro , in 1928 .
holiday was the logo on alden’s musical instruments . old kraftsmen was sold through the spiegel catalog . orpheum was distributed through the wards catalog . penncrest was the brand sold by j . c . penny . silvertone and supertone were brandnames for sears musical instruments . suprema was distributed in canada by eatons and truetone was sold through western auto stores .
introduced in the 1952 kay catalog , the new k–161 was featured as the newest development in electric guitars .
it seems like barney’s endorsement ended by 1960 , and these upscale kay jazz boxes ceased production soon after .
so , if you have a number written on the inside back on a suspected kay bass over 3100 on a concert shape , or over 5000 on a maestro shape , then the bass is probably a kay .
- offering a download containing high quality scans ( 300 dpi ) of the rare original 9
x 12
four - page brochure from my personal archive . this digital brochure of one piece of paper folded to produce 4 pages shows and describes the
instruments by kay standards by kessel
kay kessel guitars produced by the kay musical instrument company in chicago , illinois at this time . black and white illustrations and descriptions of some cool stuff included : kessel jazz special , kessel artist guitar , kessel
pro
guitar and the western rhythm guitar ( flattop ) . also includes a full page showing and describing the silva banjos by kay . silva model , silva
pro
model and silva artist . all instruments include retail prices too ! download includes pdf continuous document allowing you to see or print the entire catalog clearly . kelvinators ! ! . . . . . great reference material .
i ' m unsure if this company existed or not , but since many major electronics manufacturers jumped into the electric guitar market in the 1970s , it seems reasonable that hitachi could have ventured briefly into guitar production . a seller of the badged guitar
splender
claims it was made by this company . yet another seller claims the badge slendon was made by this company .
the inner linings , only visible by close inspection of the instrument ' s interior , appeared where the top and back join the ribs . the outer linings were clearly visible showing thin 1 / 2
strips of wood glued to the ribs and running the entire distance around the exterior of the instrument body . the top and back of the instrument extended over the ribs a short distance and the outer linings were installed to provide an additional gluing surface . the inner lining appears to be always kerfed or slotted .
body size , string length , distance from the nut to the top of the base , and depths of the base were dimensions monitored continuously to ensure standards were met . since the target market for kay basses was the beginning student musician , it was important each instrument noted the same .
oahu was not a manufacturing company but a music publishing house . they introduced their own line of musical instruments in the 1920s , sourced primarily from kay / stromberg - voisinet and regal . when electric instruments became popular in the mid 1930s , oahu sourced their electrics from kay and dickerson ( which would be come magnatone ) . a few amps were made by national - dobro . after world war ii , most oahu electrics and amps were built by valco , though some 1940s - 1950s lap steels were built by kay . there is sometimes confusion because a few lap steel models – such as the famous tonemaster – were built by kay and later valco with little cosmetic differences . the valco - built versions can be identified by their string - through pickups .
in the early 1930s when the depression was well underway and many instrument makers were struggling to survive kay contracted stromberg - voisinet a violin maker to build a deluxe arch top acoustic instrument with an adjustable neck other innovative design features . sorry folks but bob taylor guitars didn ' t invent the bolt on neck . this kay bolt on neck system is simple , effective and works ! in fact this kay system works so well you don ' t even need a service technician to perform a neck reset . you can do it in about 3 minutes . just loosen the strings , reach inside and loosen the giant wing nut , adjust the neck how you want it and retighten , done !
collectors generally rate kay slightly above harmony guitars , but both are below gibson in terms of collectability and quality . kay made some fine instruments from stand up basses , cellos to some nice acoustic and electric guitars and basses .
in recent years the brand kay has emerged and is being applied to some student grade instruments made in the far east and pacific rim countries . in checking linkedin , tony blair is still the man in charge of kay .
roger fritz was hired by tony blair in 2010 to develop the vintage reissue line of kay guitars and bass .
1950 ' s - 60 ' s kay guitars 6 string parlor guitar , with case . nice , # l7230
mark heller says
vintage kay bass . . . . . . . . - rat strat guitars | facebook
direct digital download of a high quality scan of the 1945 kay upright bass print ad shown . scanned directly from original print ad that measured approximately 8 1 / 4
x 11
. a cool early ad for kay that shows slam stewart ( then of the benny goodman orchestra ) playing his kay five string upright bass . .
playing the 5 - string kay upright basses . . . . byline is
kay 5 string bass artists place first and second in polls !
. . minor crease evident from fold in source trade paper . . .
four questions are included to properly register your kay bass . after answering the questions , send the info , and i will be able to add your kay bass to the database . hopefully with enough input we can learn about kay bass serial numbers and model types . after registration i will provide a date of manufacture for your bass .
shield tag says ( genuine kay bass viol _ _ _ _ model ser no . _ _ _ ) .
just search [ kay archtop walk around ] . head has one of the best kay tin emblems ever made . guitar sounds and looks great ! if you push in on the crack it has
no give
it feels solid .
playing the 5 - string kay upright bass . . . minor crease evident from fold in source trade paper . .
there is an empty space a little larger than a quarter and frequently the word kay is embossed into the wood .
stromberg - voisinet had primarily manufactured mandolins , tenor guitars , tenor banjos and 6 - string guitars under its own brand as well as a large number of other brands , as stromberg - voisinet was an oem supplier to many other manufacturers . kay musical instruments continued this practice ; however , kay did sell many instruments under its own brand , “kaykraft . ” kay also made guitars under a few different brand names , such as silvertone , truetone , airline , and old kraftsman , among others sold through catalogs which was the practice in this era .
- this rare complete original 1930 ' s - 40s carl fischer musical instruments catalog shows and describes the complete line of musical instruments and accessories offered at this time . everything musical from bagpipes to horns , banjos , guitars , violins , fifes , flutes , flageolets , french horns and more . includes 88 pages with a neat color illustration section in the middle . also includes 2 - page order form . please see photos for contents . . . it ' s a dazzling array of fine ( now valuable vintage ) instruments . . . ( see photos for more about contents )
during the best years for kay , the company was overshadowed by other usa brands , such as gibson , fender , guild , gretsch and martin , who were building superior products . however some of the kay models , both electric and the acoustic archtops were excellent guitars and are now commanding high prices in the vintage market . they were just under appreciated back in the day .
during the same time gibson convinced barney kessel that they would match the deal he had with this company and build him a better guitar .
i also have hohner hg 9 - 12 arbor series 12 string and found some info on it but not what japanese company made it .
kay also built one of the earliest electric bass guitars using the similar “thin” single coil pickups called the pro bass . commonly referred to as the “howlin’ wolf bass” as it was used by andrew “blueblood” mcmahon in the wolf band . the kay pro bass was the second electric bass on the market , built by kay in response to fender’s electric precision bass . unlike the precision bass that has a solid body , the kay pro bass is a hollow body and has a different sound . these original basses are sought after and still used today in some studios . these basses have also been reissued by kay .
also because of customer demand the flat was removed from the fingerboard , giving the fingerboard a rounded appearance . this change helps the student musician
bow
his instrument with less arm movement .
irish musical instrument lessons : 6 : 30 p . m . to 7 : 30 p . m . wednesday evenings for ages 5 - 18 . braintree community arts center , 1969 washington st . , braintree . wednesday evenings group class teaching of the fiddle , flute , accordion and tin - whistle . the type of music taught will be traditional irish music . ages 5 - 18 . materials required : take an instrument . rentals available ; contact in advance to arrange . cost : $ 25 per class . for information : 781 - 348 - 9241 , braintreecommunityartcenter . com .
carl and august larson were swedish immigrants who settled in chicago , hotbed of american instrument manufacturing . they started building instruments for the maurer instrument company , which the brothers purchased for themselves in 1901 . the two brothers – alone , without any other workers in their factory – built thousands of guitars for the maurer , dyer , stahl and bruno brands . ( aside from maurer , these brands also sourced instruments from other manufacturers ) . they also built under their own euphonon and prairie state names . however , not one of their
a vintage kay kraft “sizzler” electric guitar , made in 1961 , was sold on ebay in january 2012 for $ 1500 .
kay produced a 1 / 4 bass , ( m - 3 ) , along with at least three different sized cellos .
tag no 5 shield tag says ( genuine kay bass viol concert model no . _ _ _ _ _ _ ) .
most common tag introduced in 1938 and used until 1969 . tag says ( genuine kay bass viol _ _ _ _ model
the s models sported the inlaid purfling on the front , back and around the f - holes .
f
holes would be bound . ( s models ) . a very early s model manufactured for the selmer musical instrument co . had the f - holes purfled , however the purfling was at the very edge of the hole , not set back from the edge of the hole .
in 1954 the company offered its first bass guitar called the model k - 162 electronic bass . this remained in the catalog for many years .
the matsumoto musical instrument manufacturers association was the organization responsible for fresher guitars . little is known about this association , other than it did not have larger guitar manufacturers matsumoku or fujigen gakki as members . nakai gakki was a possible member of the association . fresher guitars began production in 1973 by the kyowa shokai company , an association member , which was also responsible for the camel badge . it ' s interesting to note that fresher guitars were eventually being produced by chushin , which leads me to believe that they may have been an association member along with kyowa . the beginning production year was considered a low quality benchmark for the company . the fresher brand continuously improved in quality until 1980 .
stromberg - voisinet is particulary well - known among serious students of stringed instrument design for its unique “venetian” body shape , which was used for its mandolins , tenor guitars and 6 - string guitars .
1960s kay 6109 western dreadnought , freshly set up . kay made this model in the 40s , 50s and 60s , labeling them either as “western” or “western rhythm . ” . the pointy pickguard probably makes this a 60s example ( i think ) .
kay k - 161 thin twin electric guitars made from 1952 to 1959 . this one looks like early 1950s ( but hard to tell exact date ) . commonly referred to as the “jimmy reed” guitar because he was pictured on an album cover with one . the kay musical instrument company mass produced instruments in the usa and the k - 161 thin twin was introduced not long after gibson’s les paul . the thin twin is a semi - hollow body guitar and is not a thin - line . it is larger than its name “thin” implies as it is really a reference to the unique appearance of the dual pickups , having a very slim “blade” profile . the guitar’s body was 2 3⁄4 inches ( 70 mm ) deep . underneath the pickguard these thin blade pickups are actually large single coil pickups .
i have my father ' s mandolin which he told me he bought when he was around 16 or 17 years old . so i am guessing that he bought it somewhere between 1943 - 1945 . it is made by kay musical instrument company and has their full name in the logo . it is also stamped k63 inside . i am wondering if anyone can tell me anything about its worth , if my guess on the age is correct or any other information that i might find useful or interesting . i am wondering if it is worth fixing it up ( my 15 year old son has fallen in love with it ) or if this is going to create further problems with the instrument or whether i would be better off looking for a newer mandolin . it is missing the e strings and is missing a screw that holds the pick - guard in place , otherwise to my untrained eye it looks to be in fairly decent condition . the strings still remaining however are all original to the instrument ( my dad said his fingers were too thick for him to play so he quit ) and i was told that sometimes when you change out the original strings on an old instrument that things start to fall apart . any information or advice would be very much appreciated . thanks


india 's supercomputer program was started in late 1980s because cray supercomputers were denied for import due to an arms embargo imposed on india , as it was a dual use technology and could be used for developing nuclear weapons .

supercomputer param 8000 ( made by c-dac ) was launched on july 01 , 1991 is considered india 's first supercomputer .

it was indigenously built in 1991 by centre for development of advanced computing and was replicated and installed at icad moscow in 1991 under russian collaboration .

supercomputing in india

top supercomputers - india can help the indian installation sites to compare their supercomputing capabilities with their counterparts in india . the project is meant to create and promote healthy competition among the supercomputing initiatives in india and can substantially lead to significant supercomputing advancement in the nation .
the move places india in a leading position in the field of supercomputing , normally led by the us and japan .
professor n balakrishnan of the indian institute of science said the param padma had put india into a leading position in supercomputing in the world .
we are proud being the part of this project . government of india has taken a good step in
make in india
. this will enhance our supercomputing power as well as we could increase our literacy in high performance computing all over india .
hp occupies top spot in overall pc market in india with 28 . 9 % share in q1 2018
the mission supports the government ' s vision of ' digital india ' and ' make in india ' initiatives .
2 . supercomputing in india •india ' s supercomputer program was started in late 1980s •because cray supercomputers were denied for import due to an arms embargo imposed on india , •as it was a dual use technology and could be used for developing nuclear weapons .
we are proud being the part of this project . government of india has taken a good step in
make in india
. this will enhance our supercomputing power as well as we could increase our literacy in high performance computing .
power drive : india is working to enter the big league of supercomputing . the picture shows china’s fastest supercomputer , ‘tianhe . ’
after china emerged a global leader in supercomputing in 2010 , sources said the pioneer of cdac supercomputers , dr vijay bhatkar , had shared a blueprint on ' building exascale supercomputing capability ' with government agencies .
india ' s national supercomputing mission is in its advanced stages of approval . the government has drawn a blueprint for developing about 70 next generation of supercomputers .
. . . as far as supercomputing is concern india is ranked at number 74 and china is number 1 . we have got 500 supercomputers in world and india has only 9 ,
he said .
if you rank india’s fastest super computer with top ranked tianhe - 2 , it really shows the how far behind india is in supercomputing . tianhe - 2 clocks 33862 . 7 teraflops power as compared to indian
here is the story of how india’s first - ever indigenous supercomputer was made , a major milestone in modern india’s technological odyssey .
in an interaction with business line , hazra throws more light on how india could play a pivotal role in the supercomputing space by leveraging its expertise and talent pool . edited excerpts :
as fas as supercomputing is concerned , india is ranked at no . 74 , ravi shankar prasad said during a union cabinet meeting wednesday .
india had begun its foray in supercomputing nearly 25 years ago after the u . s . denied it a supercomputer meant for weather research . when the first indian supercomputer , param , was launched in 1991 , india was only the third country in the world to possess supercomputing power after the u . s . and japan . china joined the race 10 years later than india but surpassed it soon .
in 2015 , bhatkar was honoured with padma bhushan for his immense contribution in the field of science and technology in india .
param yuva ii ranked 172 in top 500 supercomputing list june 2015 and ranked 88th in the green 500 supercomputers list of june 2015 .
india is getting ready to field the country’s most powerful supercomputer to date . according to a report in the hindu , the 10 - petaflop system will be installed this june , returning india to the upper echelons of supercomputing .
the world ' s top500 supercomputers list is out and much to our dismay and surprise india is losing its place as a supercomputing power . in the latest ' top500 ' list of the top 500 supercomputers in the world , india has just nine supercomputers .
india began developing supercomputers in the late 1980s after being refused one by the us .
even though we pride ourselves to be an it / software hub , it is really sad to see that india lags so behind in supercomputing . infact , over the years other countries have progressively gone ahead of us . imagine this , in 2007 india had fourth fastest supercomputer in the world !
we are in conversations with multiple parts of the government . again , our role is to provide data when asked and provide a perspective . we would love to continue that and build in india for india , what would be a wonderful and economically - viable supercomputing strategy .
july 21 , 2017 : the eighteenth top supercomputers - india list is released . the combined supercomputing power of the nation is now 5 . 63 peta flops .
december 31 , 2016 : the seventeenth top supercomputers - india list is released . the combined supercomputing power of the nation is now 5 . 42 peta flops .
june 19 , 2016 : the sixteenth top supercomputers - india list is released . the combined supercomputing power of the nation is now 5 . 39 peta flops .
december 6 , 2015 : the fifteenth top supercomputers - india list is released . the combined supercomputing power of the nation is now 5 . 25 peta flops .
the thrust of india ' s supercomputing work , however , will be in areas such as bio - technology , nanotechnology , weather forecasting , climate modelling , seismic data processing and structural mechanics .
while india has performed much better compared to november 2012 list when india had only 1 supercomputer ranked at 86th , still at a global level india is far behind as far as super computing goes .
the list of top 500 supercomputers in the world was announced on tuesday during the launch of the opening session of the international supercomputing conference in leipzig , germany .
they are probably a part of the same supercomputing mission to have 70 new supercomputers in the country by 2022 to enable high - level research in different fields .
going by the numbers in 2007 and 2014 , there seems to be a reversal in the trend between india and china .
the minister also said india has only nine supercomputers on the top500 list ranking in the world .
india began developing a supercomputer after being denied a cray supercomputer by the united states in 1987 .
here though , is a list of the five most powerful computing systems currently used in india .
first look : volvo xc40 launched in india for an introductory price of rs 39 . 9 lacs
these supercomputers will also be networked on the national supercomputing grid over the national knowledge network ( nkn ) .
addressing the media , prof rajat moona , director general , c - dac expressed his happiness and “pride to be able to deliver india’s first 500 tf supercomputer through c - dac . way back in 1991 , c - dac had successfully designed , developed and launched the first ever supercomputer in india . over the subsequent years , c - dac has consolidated its capabilities in the supercomputing arena to be able to proliferate its key benefits to the scientific community in the form of national supercomputing facilities . c - dac has also set the precedent by developing the first gigascale and first terascale system in the country . c - dac is committed to grow supercomputing technologies and applications further in collaboration with various agencies in india and abroad . ”
in order to remain in the race , india would first need to develop a petaflop machine and then aim for exascale . when contacted , dr t . ramasami , secretary , department of science and technology , confirmed the development , revealing that the programme had been conceived with a view ' to position india strongly in supercomputing ' and would be implemented in mission mode .
in november 2013 , india had 12 supercomputers on the list , which is published twice a year .
december 12 , 2013 : the eleventh top supercomputers - india list is released ! the combined supercomputing power of the nation is now 3 peta flops . bangalore and hp lead the list .
as one of the premier r & d institutions in india , c - dac has always been known for building supercomputers . way back in 1991 , c - dac successfully designed , developed and launched the first ever supercomputer in india . over the subsequent years , c - dac has consolidated its capabilities in the supercomputing arena and has consistently set benchmarks by developing the first gigascale and first terascale system in the country .
june 15 , 2015 : the fourteenth top supercomputers - india list is released . for the first time , india has a peta - scale system !
the explosively growing food delivery business in india is going upmarket , getting specialised and dishing out . . .
16 . december 12 , 2013 : the eleventh top supercomputers - india list is released ! the combined supercomputing power of the nation is now 3 peta flops . bangalore and hp lead the list .
vijay bhatkar’s and c - dac’s efforts in this strategically and economically important area have thus put india on the supercomputing map of the world along with select developed nations of the world . as of 2016 , many param systems have been deployed in the country and abroad . today , india is designing petascale supercomputers , next only to usa and japan . the crowning glory of india’s advanced computing and it capability , once achieved this computer will be a symbol of india’s undeniable position as an it superpower .
teamlease services , a recruitment and consultancy concern , has been an observer - participant in india’s labour . . .
the supercomputing facility named as satish dhawan supercomputing facility , named so to honor the second chairman of isro who directed the indian space program through a period of extraordinary growth and spectacular achievement is located at vikram sarabhai space centre ( vssc ) , thiruvananthapuram .
december 5 , 2014 : the thirteenth top supercomputers - india list is released .
june 5 , 2014 : the twelth top supercomputers - india list is released .
i see india is an attempt to bring forth the better , innovative , happy and artistic india . if you have anything similar to share with the world , send it to admin @ urltoken let us together change the perception of india !
almost two and a half decades after entering the supercomputing race but losing ground thereafter , india is now rebooting with a vengeance . the government has discreetly embarked upon a billiondollar initiative to create next - generation supercomputers .
moona said that india has taken a major step in the latest rankings and has more potential to move up as there is a huge demand for supercomputing in the country . he said that the union government is also looking at making an investment of rs 5 , 000 crore in this area over the next five years .
in my view , the right question for india to ask is what will we do that will be unique with the world’s fastest supercomputer . a great deal of planning needs to happen for ensuring the presence of scalable applications ( development focused ) that will justify the huge investments in supercomputing .
today , he is the vice - president in the intel architecture group and serves as a general manager for the technical computing segment in the datacenter and connected systems group at intel corporation . before assuming his current position , hazra was the director of supercomputing architecture , where he was responsible for research and engaging with intel ' s supercomputing customers .
4 . india unleashes 4th fastest super computer india has now official broke into top ten super computers in the world . for the first time ever , india placed a system in the top 10 . the computational research laboratories , a wholly owned subsidiary of tata sons ltd . in pune , india , installed a hewlett - packard cluster platform 3000 bl460c system . they integrated this system with their own innovative routing technology and achieved 117 . 9 tflop / s performance .
top500 , the global authority tracking the fastest 500 computers , said in its latest report that china and the u . s . were “pacing each other for supercomputing supremacy . ”
december 27 , 2012 : the ninth top supercomputers - india list is released ! the combined supercomputing power of the nation has crossed 1 peta flops for the first time ! ! the list has new cities . 4 new entries .
india ' s supercomputer param yuva ii , developed by the centre for development of advanced computing ( c - dac ) , has bagged 44th rank among the world ' s most power efficient computer systems , according to a green500 list announced at the supercomputing conference ( sc 2013 ) in denver , us . the param yuva ii supercomputer has been ranked no . 1 in india and no . 9 in the the asia pacific region .
however , while showing great promise in the field of supercomputing , it’s obvious that india needs to do better and it will . the government of india is working towards this and has initiated the rs . 4 , 500 - crore national supercomputing mission . under the mission , the government of india empowers an ambitious target of installing more than 70 high - performance computing facilities in the country . these computers will be connected by the national knowledge network . the first of these high - computing machines is being built by the centre for development of advanced computing ( c - dac ) and is expected to be ready by august 2017 .
the first of the 70 supercomputers to be built in india to aid research will be ready by august 2017 . photo : istockphoto
i think india has a great role to play in hpc given the sheer talent that it can offer in software , operating systems and even hardware architecture . india can use hpc to improve its industrial base , whether it is small and medium businesses or large corporate . india is well positioned not just as a consumer but also as a participant in building that capability for the future .
24 . . december 24 , 2009 : the third top supercomputers - india list is released ! june 12 , 2009 : the second top supercomputers - india list is released ! .
two of the four supercomputers in the country that feature in the top 100 in the list of 500 fastest supercomputers in the world , are from pune .
param yuva ii is a high performance computing ( hpc ) cluster that is latest and fastest in the prestigious param series of supercomputers built in india . the first sub - cluster of param yuva ii with a peak computing power of 529 . 4 tera flops ( tfs ) was ranked 69th in the top500 list released in june ' 2013 at the international supercomputing conference held at leipzig , germany .
while india ' s homegrown supercomputing industry hasn ' t dominated the field the way the u . s . , china , japan , and europe have , it has certainly kept india in the running even without the technology transfers it sometimes desired . if adopted , the plan could set a course for india to climb further up the top500 rankings if not all the way to the top ( its competition won ' t stop working between now and 2017 , after all ) . and if anyone has the chops to plow ahead in this field with or without help from abroad , it ' s india .
india will get an indigenously - - built supercomputer next year as part of the government ' s rs 4 , 500 - crore programme aimed at taking india into an elite league of nations who have made advancements in the field .
18 . . december 27 , 2012 : the ninth top supercomputers - india list is released ! the combined supercomputing power of the nation has crossed 1 peta flops for the first time ! ! the list has new cities . 4 new entries .
top supercomputers - india is an effort to list the most powerful supercomputers in india . it is supported by supercomputer education and research centre , indian institute of science , bangalore . this effort is complementary to the top500 project that lists the top 500 supercomputers in the world .
c - dac ' s param yuva ii , is the ninth most power efficient computer in the asia pacific , and number 1 in india . globally , it ranks 44th .
in december last year , the finance ministry panel authorized the national supercomputing mission , which is being jointly managed by the department of science and technology and the department of electronics and information technology .
based on the param series of supercomputers , bhatkar has also built the national param supercomputing facility ( npsf ) . this has been now made available as a grid computing facility through garuda grid on the national knowledge network ( nkn ) , providing nationwide access to high performance computing ( hpc ) infrastructure . he also initiated moves to have supercomputing in indian languages and succeeded in doing so .
jumping to the exaflop scale in just five years would truly be a leap forward for india . it ' s current highest - ranking machine on the global top500 is in the 58th position , but when it comes to computing india has historically proven scrappy and ready to innovate on its own . the center for development of advanced computing ( c - dac ) , the agency behind the proposal , was established in the late 1980s after it was stonewalled by the west in its attempt to purchase advanced supercomputing systems .
but india’s achievement pales when compared to the top country in terms of overall systems , the us , which has 233 on the list .
interestingly popular open source platform linux has dominated the supercomputing space . the top500 ranking found that linux was the fastest of the operating systems , reported zdnet .
rajat moona , director general , c - dac said ,
this is a major step for the country ( for two of its supercomputers ) to figure in the top 100 fastest supercomputers in the world . over the years , india was losing its position in the supercomputer area in the world . in 2008 , india had 10 machines in the top 500 , but after that there was a bit of a downfall . in contrast , in 2004 , china was nowhere on the scene but in the latest list , its supercomputer has taken the top ranking .
moona said ,
there is a so much of high - end work being done in the area of weather forecasting , fluid dynamics , air borne bodies , ship movement , disaster management , design of earthquake prone structures that need massive supercomputing infrastructure . as a result of this need , the supercomputing infrastructure is also improving and has led to an improvement in world rankings for the country .
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what were some of the challenges experienced in building the supercomputer ? does india have adequate skills to build a supercomputer ? indian engineers are at the forefront of building supercomputing and parallel processing applications . we believe that there is a great business opportunity for indian organizations especially in the development of hpc applications , hpc services outsourcing , hpc manpower training etc .
the center for development of advanced computing ( c - dac ) achieved a significant milestone with param yuva ii being ranked 1st in india , 9th in the asia pacific region and 44th in the world among the most power efficient computer systems with performance of 1 , 760 . 20 mega flops ( mfs ) per watt as per the green500 list released in november ' 2013 at the supercomputing conference held at denver , colorado , usa .
june 30 , 2013 : the tenth top supercomputers - india list is released ! the combined supercomputing power of the nation has increased by 1 . 5 peta flops since the last list ! ! the list has 11 new entries , new cities , new processor architectures .
the system achieved a sustained performance of 360 . 8 teraflop / s on the community standard linpack benchmark . in comparison to november 2012 list of world’s top 500 supercomputers , param yuva – ii would have stood in 62nd position in the world and at number one position in the country . in terms of power efficiency , it is better than most supercomputing systems and would have achieved a 33rd position in the november 2012 list of top green 500 supercomputers in the world .
it envisages empowering academic and r & d ; institutions spread over the country by installing a vast supercomputing grid comprising of more than 70 high - performance computing facilities .
the list would be updated soon by the end of this month - india had 9 supercomputers in the november 2014 list which is bound to increase .
uk has 30 systems , france 27 systems , germany 23 systems , and japan 30 systems . with nine supercomputers in the list india ranks 7th along with canada in terms of global system share .
december 10 , 2011 : the seventh top supercomputers - india list is released ! the combined supercomputer performance of india has touched 400 tflops for the first time . pune and hp lead the number of systems in the list . 6 new entries and new areas .
the mission has been conceptualised and evolved keeping in view the ever increasing computing demand of the scientific and academic community in the country , international technology trends and roadmaps , strategic importance and emergence of supercomputing as a benchmark for scientific and technological advancements , it said .
next in india is the ibm dataplex dx360m4 at the indian institute of tropical meteorology , pune , ranked no 260 with 719 . 2 t / flops .
17 . . june 30 , 2013 : the tenth top supercomputers - india list is released ! the combined supercomputing power of the nation has increased by 1 . 5 peta flops since the last list ! ! the list has 11 new entries , new cities , new processor architectures .
one of the fastest supercomputers in india named after eminent scientist dr vikram sarabhai was inaugurated friday at the physical research laboratory ( prl ) , an organisation that was founded by him at ahmedabad in 1947 .
digit caters to the largest community of tech buyers , users and enthusiasts in india . the all new urltoken continues the legacy of urltoken as one of the largest portals in india committed to technology users and buyers . digit is also one of the most trusted names when it comes to technology reviews and buying advice and is home to the digit test lab , india ' s most proficient center for testing and reviewing technology products .
in 2014 , even though the united states has slipped in numbers , the country still tops the chart by having 233 systems in the top500 list - - down from 265 on the november 2013 list . while china is one asian country which has taken the supercomputing race seriously , as their number of supercomputers in the top500 list jumped from 63 to 76 systems .
param 8000 , which was indigenously built in 1990 by centre for development of advanced computing , is considered india ' s first supercomputer . it was replicated and installed at icad moscow in 1991 under russian collaboration .
3 . •param 8000 is considered india ' s first supercomputer . •it was indigenously built in 1990 by centre for development of advanced computing •and was replicated and installed at icad moscow in 1991 under russian collaboration .
india ' s government - backed computing agency has submitted a plan to the government there that calls for a massive investment in next - generation supercomputing power . the proposal , which calls for an investment of more than $ 870 million over five years , claims that it can rocket india to the very peak of the top500 list , the twice - a - year tallying of the fastest computing platforms in the world . in fact , the proposal says that these exaflop - range machines will be a full 61 times faster than the fastest existing machine .
19 . . december 10 , 2011 : the seventh top supercomputers - india list is released ! the combined supercomputer performance of india has touched 400 tflops for the first time . pune and hp lead the number of systems in the list . 6 new entries and new areas .
centre for development of advanced computing the national param supercomputing facility ( npsf ) pune university campus , ganeshkhind pune - 411007 phone no . : + 91 - 20 - 25704183 email : npsfhelp [ at ] cdac [ dot ] in
dilip angom , who led the team in building this supercomputer at prl said , “christened as vikram - 100 , this supercomputer is the 13th fastest supercomputer in india and is more powerful than 200 desktop computers . ”
a number of news outlets in india are reporting the government is close to deploying six new supercomputers , two of which will deliver a peak performance of two petaflops .
mr shourie added :
the development of param padma would address india ' s security concerns enhancing the security preparedness .
14 . •in terms of performance , it has an expand ( rmax ) of 91 . 126 tf and expand ( mflop / watt ) . •as of 2012 , virgo is at 224’th position in the world ( top500 ) , 5’th ranked energy efficent machine in the world and 1st ranked energy efficient machine in india
can you describe the expectations from c - dac for building the supercomputer ? c - dac has been at the forefront of applying hpc and other supercomputing technologies for quite some time now .
supercomputer list . this is a huge improvement over our previous fastest supercomputer in india also at serc the 22 . 94 teraflops rpeak ( theoretical maximum ) ibm bluegene / l . the current fastest supercomputer in the world churns out about 33 petaflops ( in china ) .
dilip angom , who led the team in building this supercomputer at prl said ,
christened as vikram - 100 , this supercomputer is the 13th fastest supercomputer in india and is more powerful than 200 desktop computers .
one of the principle goals of the three - phase project is to develop a domestic capacity to design and manufacture supercomputers – part of the country’s “made in india” initiative . in the first phase , three of the supercomputers will be imported , while the remaining three will be based on imported parts , but assembled in the country . in the project’s second phase , compute nodes , switches and other network componentry will be designed and manufactured domestically . in the final phase of the project , “almost the entire system” will be built in india .
india has made a minor improvement from nine supercomputers in the list released last year to 11 in the list released on monday . the two new supercomputers include the one at the supercomputer education and research centre at the indian institute of science in bengaluru and the one at the national centre for medium range forecast in noida .
dec . 18 , 2008 : the first ever list of top supercomputers - india is released on in the plenary industrial panel session of the international conference on high performance computing ( hipc ) , 2008 , held in bangalore .
in india , we are deeply invested in creating inexpensive learning tools , developing indigenous applications and training people on hpc . we want to see india’s tremendous workforce accelerate the use of digital technology through the use of modelling and simulation techniques . we have partnerships with multiple educational institutions to develop turnkey appliances that can be used by small and medium businesses .
the fastest indian supercomputer remains the cray xc40 system at the supercomputing education and research centre ( serc ) of the indian institute of science bangalore . its speed of 901 . 5 teraflops gives it a rank of 165 in the june 2017 top500 .
though a mere co - incidence , but the name saga looks quite justifying when it is the name of india’s fastest supercomputer . isro created history on 2 nd may 2011 by building india’s fastest supercomputer in terms of theoretical peak performance of 220 teraflops ( 220 trillion floating point operations per second ) .
today , there are 11 supercomputers from india in the top 500 , which is much better than what it used to be . still , there is a long way to go…
the system achieved a sustained performance of 360 . 8 teraflop / s on community standard linpack benchmark . in comparison to november 2012 list of world’s top 500 supercomputers , param yuva – ii would have stood at 62nd position in the world and at number 1 position in the country . in terms of power efficiency , it is better than most supercomputing systems and would have achieved 33rd position in the november 2012 list of top green 500 supercomputers of the world .
next year as part of the government ' s rs 4 , 500 - crore programme aimed at taking india into an elite league of nations who have made advancements in the field .
bengaluru : india ' s most - powerful supercomputer is now housed in the city ' s indian institute of science , strengthening the country ' s position in the global high - power computing race that is currently led by china .
but unlike the ` 1 , 750 ( $ 35 ) tablet pc , which is unfolding under the glare of high - voltage publicity , the supercomputing programme is shrouded in secrecy . so much so , the plan details have not yet been shared with scientists who have developed such mega machines in the past .
the indian institute of technology , kharagpur , is the first institution to receive a supercomputer under the national supercomputing mission . the supercomputer is a petascale system , and will be used for research in bio molecular simulations , drug design and bio - informatics , climate change and digital earth , geo - scientific exploration , infrastructure design and sustainable cities . the national supercomputing mission has received approval for installing eighty supercomputers across the country in the next seven years . some of them will be imported , some will be indigenously made .
25 . . dec . 18 , 2008 : the first ever list of top supercomputers - india is released on in the plenary industrial panel session of the international conference on high performance computing ( hipc ) , 2008 , held in bangalore .
the upcoming 10 - petaflop system promises to propel the nation back into the elite ranks of supercomputing stardom , something it has not enjoyed for a decade . the last time india had a top 10 system on the top500 list was 2007 , when eka , an hpc cluster from hewlett packard ( now hpe ) captured the number 4 spot .
in sheer numbers united states is far ahead with nearly half of all the supercomputers in top 100 developed in their country . japan has 10 while uk has 8 .
july 1 , 2012 : the eighth top supercomputers - india list is released ! the list has a new no . 1 system , and gpu systems for the first time . the combined supercomputer performance of india is 965 tflops . pune and hp continue to lead the number of systems in the list . 8 new entries .
balloons are released from the facility in two seasons of the year , with balloons collecting a wide variety of data according to the mission . the data is stored and processed on a data center in the hyderabad facility , and the cray xc30 has been installed for this data center . the supercomputer is the third most powerful supercomputer in india , and ranks at one hundred and forty fifth worldwide . at the time of installation , the cray xc30 at tifr was the second most powerful supercomputer in india , and one hundred and thirteenth in the world .
the param yuva - ii is the fastest supercomputer built indigenous in india , with a peak computing power of 520 . 4 tera flops . the supercomputer was specifically designed for the benefit of the high performance computing ( hpc ) community in india . housed in the c - dac premises on the pune university campus , the supercomputer is a general purpose research platform for accelerating the solving of scientific problems , and providing an opportunity for scientific breakthroughs .
india ' s fastest supercomputer ' sahasrat ' launched at iisc - first pflop / s hpc system ( 1 . 46 pflop / s )
20 . . july 1 , 2012 : the eighth top supercomputers - india list is released ! the list has a new no . 1 system , and gpu systems for the first time . the combined supercomputer performance of india is 965 tflops . pune and hp continue to lead the number of systems in the list . 8 new entries
the government today approved launch of national supercomputing mission to connect national academic and r & d ; institutions with a grid of over 70 high - performance computing facilities at an estimated cost of rs 4 , 500 crore .
of the 500 fastest supercomputers , the highest numbers are in the us and china , each having 171 such systems . germany , japan and france each have 20 or more such systems . india is ranked 9th with five of its supercomputers listed in top500 .
though india has built or hosted supercomputers since the 1990s , it held a ‘top 10’ spot only once , in 2007 , thanks to the eka built by the computational research laboratories , which is part of the tata group . this position was lost , though several ultra - fast machines exist in indian academic institutions : they feature in the 100s or 200s in global rankings .
informationweek’s srikanth rp spoke to sandeep lodha , vp , sales & marketing , netweb technologies , whose firm was instrumental in working closely with the c - dac team and delivering the param yuva ii . netweb technologies provides custom configured solutions for hpc ( supercomputing ) environments and related applications .
supercomputer consists of thousands of integrated computers in a single room . they can solve complex problems in astrophysics , climate modeling , etc . its power is measured by how many floating point operations or ‘flops’ it can complete per second a teraflop is one trillion floating point operations per second . this measure describes multiplications that can be performed per second param padma , built by cdac in 2002 , reached the peak of 1 teraflop performance . eka , developed by the crl , achieved 117 . 9 teraflop in 2007 a petaflop is the next level of computing , which indicates a processing speed of one thousand trillion flop . japan’s k computer achieves 10 petaflops the current summit of supercomputing is achieving the exascale or capacity of an exaflop - one quintillion flops . the u . s . , japan and china are working on exascale machines in 2007 , india & china had nine supercomps in the top 500 list . in 2011 , india had only two while china’s shot up to 74 in the list
pleased , the prime minister gave the go - ahead for the project . based in pune , c - dac summoned scientists from all over the country to work on one of india’s greatest technology projects .
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we are in a field where you can be the 50th fastest supercomputer in the world today , but you will be soon retired , as you are making way for the second or third fastest . that is how quickly technology becomes obsolete in this space . india’s best days in high performance computing ( hpc ) are around the corner , given the tremendous industrial base the country has .
27 . •the indian government has proposed to commit 2 . 5 billion usd to supercomputing research during the 12th five - year plan period ( 2012 - 2017 ) . •the project will be handled by indian institute of science ( iisc ) , bangalore . additionally , it was later revealed than india plans to develop a supercomputer with processing power in the exaflop range . •it will be developed by c - dac within the subsequent 5 years of approval .
supercomputing holds an ability to perform tasks equivalent to thousands of scientists in just a few seconds and is able to give a certain direction to the performance tasks equivalent to thousands of scientists in just a few seconds and are able to give a certain direction to the research in these ﬁelds . supercomputers are broadly defined as the quick computing systems which can be used in various scientific applications across different industries . these computers have very high speed and they can process loads of data within microseconds .
28 . •additionally , it was later revealed that india plans to develop a supercomputer with processing power in the exaflop range . • it will be developed by c - dac within the subsequent 5 years of approval .
the sunway taihulight , a system developed by china’s national research center of parallel computer engineering & technology ( nrcpc ) and installed at the national supercomputing center in wuxi , maintains its top position in the june 2017 top500 ranking . with a performance of 93 petaflops ( 93014 teraflops ) , taihulight is far and away the most powerful number - cruncher on the planet .
india has now official broke into top ten super computers in the world . for the first time ever , india placed a system in the top 10 . the computational research laboratories , a wholly owned subsidiary of tata sons ltd . in pune , india , installed a hewlett - packard cluster platform 3000 bl460c system . they integrated this system with their own innovative routing technology and achieved 117 . 9 tflop / s performance . the twice - yearly top500 list of the world ' s fastest supercomputers , already a closely watched event in the world of high performance computing , is expected to become an even hotter topic of discussion as the latest list shows five new entrants in the top 10 , which includes sites in the united states , germany , india and sweden . fastest computers 1 . usa - bluegene / l - eserver blue gene solution 2 . germany - jugene - blue gene / p solution 3 . usa - sgi altix ice 8200 , xeon quad core 3 . 0 ghz 4 . india - cluster platform 3000 bl460c , xeon 53xx 3ghz , infiniband 5 . sweden - cluster platform 3000 bl460c , xeon 53xx 2 . 66ghz , infiniband
scci would focus on all forms of super computing - utility computing , grid computing , parallel computing ( simd and mimd ) , cloud computing , big data - by advancing and bringing the benefits of supercomputing within the reach of all users .
new delhi : the first of the 70 supercomputers to be built in india to aid research will be ready by august 2017 , a government official said . the government is also finalising the sites to house these supercomputers .
at the indian institute of tropical meteorology , pune , which was india ' s fastest supercomputer ranked 71 globally by top500 , an agency that ranks supercomputers .
5 . the twice - yearly top500 list of the world ' s fastest supercomputers , already a closely watched event in the world of high performance computing , is expected to become an even hotter topic of discussion as the latest list shows five new entrants in the top 10 , which includes sites in the united states , germany , india and sweden .
the supercomputer effort in india began in the late 1980s , when the us stopped the export of a cray supercomputer because of continuing technology embargoes . during the 80s , usa and some other european countries had developed super computers , which were critical for developing satellites and nuclear weapons . these countries refused to transfer the knowledge of creating super computers to india , fearing the developing nation might use it to design missiles and warplanes rather than forecast the weather .
the only indigenous super computer in india—the param yuva ii at the centre for development of advanced computing ( cdac ) pune , assembled by netweb technologies - - is out of the world ' s top500 ranking of fastest computers .
two new supercomputers commissioned within two weeks - this comes in line with the goi ' s plan to have 70 supercomputers in the country by 2022 to enable high - level research in different fields .
coming back to india’s success , yeah i am really happy , and i think our country should deploy it ( at least one ) to the defence sector… .
we are about leadership – the 9 . 9 kind ! building a leading media company out of india . and , grooming new leaders for this promising industry .
' the iisc has its own strengths , but somehow it doesn ' t spring to mind as the first choice for the nodal agency , ' anand parthasarathy , formerly a scientist in the supercomputing team of the defence research and development organisation ( drdo ) , felt . he is currently the editor of indiatechonline . com .
as part of the initiative to push india ' s plans to be a world - class computing power , telecom and it minister ravi shankar prasad said wednesday that the government will install 73 supercomputers in different parts of the country .
' we lost ground to late entrants such as china only because of inadequate investment and a fragmented approach to supercomputing . and when the government is ready to invest , it has decided to make a non - player the captain of the game , ' a leading scientist , who has been involved in developing supercomputers , said .
the param yuva - ii is the most energy efficient supercomputer in india , although not the most powerful . it provides more computation power per unit of electricity consumed , and is more conservative on power usage than even the more powerful imported supercomputers in india . a number of scientific packages have been deployed on the supercomputer . researchers have studied material science , quantum chemistry , molecular modeling , climate modeling , computational fluid dynamics and electronics on the param yuva - ii .
june 22 , 2011 : the sixth top supercomputers - india list is released ! the combined supercomputer performance of the list and hence the country is now about 318 tflops . bangalore and ibm lead the number of systems in the list .
the mission looks at installing a supercomputing grid of more than 70 high - performance computing facilities . these supercomputers will also be networked over the national knowledge network , a government program which connects academic institutions and r & d labs over a high - speed network .
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india is planning to build the world ' s fastest supercomputer , an exascale machine that is expected to cost rs 4 , 700 crore over the course of five years .
new delhi : as part of the initiative to push india ' s plans to be a world - class computing power , telecom and it minister ravi shankar prasad said wednesday that the government will install 73 supercomputers in different parts of the country .
13 . virgo indian institute of technology , madras has a 91 . 1 teraflop / s machine called virgo . it is ranked as 364 in the top 500 november - 2012 list . it has 292 computer nodes , 2 master nodes , 4 storage nodes and has total computing power 97 tflops . according to linpack performance , virgo is the fastest cluster in an academic institution in india .
despite living in the us for 25 years , rajeeb hazra has fond memories of the time he spent in mumbai and kolkata . hazra’s tryst with the us began when he decided to pursue a doctorate in computer science .
the new number three supercomputer is the upgraded piz daint , a cray xc50 system installed at the swiss national supercomputing centre ( cscs ) . the upgrade was accomplished with additional nvidia tesla p100 gpus which makes it the fastest graphical processor - powered computer at 19 . 6 petaflops .
21 . . june 22 , 2011 : the sixth top supercomputers - india list is released ! the combined supercomputer performance of the list and hence the country is now about 318 tflops . bangalore and ibm lead the number of systems in the list .
the sahasrat at the indian institute of science is the most powerful supercomputer in india , with a peak capacity of 1244 . 2 tera flops . the supercomputer is the serc - cray xc40 , which is the next generation of supercomputer than the one used by the balloon facility of tata institute of fundamental research in hyderabad . the sahasrat is housed in bengaluru and has two petabytes of on board memory .
on the other hand , china had just 10 supercomputers in the november 2007 list and just one , ranked 59 , in the top 100 list .
eleven indian machines are in the list of the world’s 500 most powerful supercomputers as of november 2015 . the first supercomputer is under development at centre for development of advanced computing ( c - dac ) , which was responsible for developing india’s first supercomputer ‘param’ .
india plans to market the param padma internationally and officials predict that the domestic market for supercomputers will triple from $ 0 . 5 billion to $ 1 . 6 billion by 2006 .
there are however some clear caveats that come with the machine . as we procured this machine from cray systems ( usa ) and haven ' t manufactured this machine indigenously the us is obviously afraid of such large computational power falling into our hands and being used for wrong purposes ( for defense and space research etc . ) and hence by contract this machine will be strictly off limits for all non academic users . yeah it ' s a bummer but i hope we quietly learn on our part from this system and take it in our stride . maybe one day we can build an indigenous supercomputer to rub it in their face . there is already a national supercomputing mission setup by cdac in india that will invest
new delhi : eleven indian machines have found a place in the latest list of the world’s 500 most powerful supercomputers , including two in the top 100 .
arun shourie , the information technology minister , said the development of the param padma at the centre for development of advanced computing ( c - dac ) showed india ' s technological capabilities .
india can use high - performance computing to improve its industrial base , whether it is small and medium businesses or large corporate . - rajeeb hazra , vice - president , intel architecture group
surprisingly , not a single indian system has found a spot in the top 50 . india ' s supercomputer , idataplex dx360m4 , secured the 52nd position . it was developed by ibm and is located at indian institute of tropical meteorology ( iit m ) , pune .
installed at iit guwahati , param ishan can be used in the application areas like computational chemistry , computational fluid dynamics , computational electromagnetic , civil engineering structures , nano - block self assemble , climate modeling and seismic data processing . param kanchenjunga , stationed at nit sikkim’s supercomputing centre , is expected to be used for engineering research conducted by the faculty and students at the institute as well as researchers across the state . interestingly , param in sanskrit means ‘supreme’ !
faced with a technology - denial regime that denied its scientific community access to supercomputers , india set up centre for development of advanced computing ( c - dac ) in march 1988 with the clear mandate to develop an indigenous supercomputer to meet high - speed computational needs in solving scientific and other developmental problems where fast number crunching is a major component .
india is planning to build the world ' s fastest supercomputer , thirty times more powerful than the sunway taihulight in china , which is currently the most powerful supercomputer in the world . the project is expected to cost rs 4 , 700 crore over the course of the next five years . the resulting machine would be the first indigenously built exascale supercomputer .