1935-ish Gibson/Kalamazoo archtop

[Marty Grass]

This belongs to Rhoadsscholar. I believe it's a KG-2 model, which is a very light ~15" guitar built in the Gibson factory pre-WWII. It has a V neck. The action is decent and it's loud.

There was a hole in the side that Pete Moreno just repaired. He did a great job. He also put some lacquer on some of the worn areas. His mission was to just repair the hole, not restore the finish.

I'm surprised how well it's tonally balanced.

Pete told me about the Kalamazoo models. They were built by the same guys who made the more expensive Gibsons with the same quality and materials.

Here are a bunch of pics.

[Marty Grass]

[Marty Grass]

Here's the area that was repaired. The hole was about the size of a nickel.

[TOMMO]

"Poorboy twangs the rhythm out on his Kalamazoo" Willie And The Poor Boys - CCR

"What in the hell is a kalamazoo?" - took me a couple of decades to find out at last....LOL!

Nice guitar, btw!

[Max405]

MG,
Cool guitar. The v neck sounds interesting. I don’t think I have ever held one.
Does the shape of the neck feel like it gets in the way when you play it?
Wow, 1935. And the guitar is in great shape.
Thanks for putting up the pictures..
Joe D

[skykomishone]

It's nice to see these old girls getting some love that they deserve. Rhoadsscholar deserves a big shout out for giving it! Very cool!

[Fred Archtop]

Congrats MG. I love these prewar archtops. You did right to her with the restauration.

Cheers.

[Marty Grass]

This is conjecture, but the V neck was necessary because there's no truss rod. Here's more on the invention of the truss rod:

http://danlovesguitars.com/2011/04/the-adjustable-truss-rod/

One the one hand (literally in this case) it doesn't seem that awkward to play. The neck is not massive. The depth is 1.06" at the first fret and 1.14" at the eighth. The V shape allows enough room to wrap the thumb around it. Playing with the thumb in the middle of the neck might be a small stretch.

On the other hand (proverbially), the truss rod and the use of laminated hard woods provides stability with a much thinner neck, which some prefer.

If this guitar was all there was to play in the world, I doubt anyone would switch to the flute.

MG,
Cool guitar. The v neck sounds interesting. I don’t think I have ever held one.
Does the shape of the neck feel like it gets in the way when you play it?
Wow, 1935. And the guitar is in great shape.
Thanks for putting up the pictures..
Joe D

[TOMMO]

I do have a couple of guitars with a V-shape neck and I find them all comfortable for the left hand to play....

[Max405]

Haha.. yeah especially one made out of human skin..

Thanks for posting this.
Joe D

This is conjecture, but the V neck was necessary because there's no truss rod. Here's more on the invention of the truss rod:

http://danlovesguitars.com/2011/04/the-adjustable-truss-rod/

One the one hand (literally in this case) it doesn't seem that awkward to play. The neck is not massive. The depth is 1.06" at the first fret and 1.14" at the eighth. The V shape allows enough room to wrap the thumb around it. Playing with the thumb in the middle of the neck might be a small stretch.

On the other hand (proverbially), the truss rod and the use of laminated hard woods provides stability with a much thinner neck, which some prefer.

If this guitar was all there was to play in the world, I doubt anyone would switch to the flute.

[golfus]

I´ve seen a video or picture (don´t remember) of Jack Pearson playing one of those guitars.

[rhoadsscholar]

With Friends Like Mark, and repair folks like Pete Moreno a little over 2 hours away, I always have a reason to travel up to Kalamazoo. Thanks Mark for getting this done on my behalf. Pete always ceases to amaze me with his talents. That turned out great. Rumor has it that this is the model guitar Robert Johnson used in several recording sessions (KG21 ?) . He was a fan of the Kalamazoo line. I'll meet you all at the crossroads after I visit my Kalamazoo in Kalamazoo next weekend.

There is a utilitarian beauty of this old Kalamazoo. As Mark said, it plays pretty amazing and is quite loud for its size.

Here's a little bit of Robert Johnson Folklore.

Kalamazoo guitars was a budget brand offered by Gibson during the depression era. The KG-14 originally sold for $12.50.

^[1]

For the San Antonio sessions, Johnson used a guitar on November 23 that was subsequently lost or broken during an arrest, and when he returned on November 26, the studio obtained a guitar for him to use on the remaining recordings. Steven LaVere, in the liner notes to

The Complete Recordings

(The Centennial Collection), states that it sounds like Johnson used an archtop for the Dallas sessions and a flattop for the San Antonio sessions. In an interview in the 1990s, Johnson's travelling partner, Johnny Shines, stated that both he and Johnson used Kalamazoo archtops.

^[2]

The Kalamazoo archtops of the time were models KG-21 and KG-31.

[Greentone]

Even Gibsons with truss rods had the V. My '38 L50 has a substantial V-neck.

I really like the V. I puts you into a period playing mode, especially when playing rhythm.

[archtopeddy]

I don't have a Kalamazoo archtop but I have a 1933 Kalamazoo K-11 flat-top and I love that guitar. It's become my go-to instrument and I even used it last week in a jazz trio line up with sax and another guitarist with an Ibanez Gb-200. It worked out fine! Enjoy your "Zoo".

[citizenk74]

I have a 16" '30s Kalamazoo with a great big V neck and a mottled tortoise (shell? celluloid? Dunno. ) and I love it to pieces. It came my way with some issues, since repaired, and the bridge is definitely a replacement, which doesn't bother me a bit. The refretted rod-less neck is a joy. Scarred but un-bowed, loud & proud! From the era of "Only a Gibson is good enough", let me tell you, a Kalamazoo is not bad, not bad at all!

[Max405]

C74, it’s great to see you posting. Been thinking about you..

I have a 16" '30s Kalamazoo with a great big V neck and a mottled tortoise (shell? celluloid? Dunno. ) and I love it to pieces. It came my way with some issues, since repaired, and the bridge is definitely a replacement, which doesn't bother me a bit. The refretted rod-less neck is a joy. Scarred but un-bowed, loud & proud! From the era of "Only a Gibson is good enough", let me tell you, a Kalamazoo is not bad, not bad at all!

[silverfoxx]

C74

Ditto to Max 405's comments, glad to see you back.


Best, Silverfoxx

[icr]

??

[rhoadsscholar]

I added a K & K transducer setup using the endpin jack. Still needs an external preamp but it has a nice voice and is reverseable. There is one transducer just inside each F Hole near where the Bridge sits.

Didn't have the heart to mount a pickup in it.
[/QUOTE]