blindboygrunt Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 i have a friend who owns a little kalamazoo acoustic , i've only seen it once and it was before i became a member here so i didnt know anything to look for when i had a little go on it .... i remember not being overly fussed on the large neck but i'm sure a while playing would get used to that . reason i'm posting is just i met him yesterday and small talked about the little guitar .. he likes it a lot and isnt selling or anything but when i asked him how old it was he didnt know for sure other than saying the number on it was 32 . and he thinks that dictates the year .. is that right ? the guitars in good enough nick for the age of it , plays beautifully and has a lot of balls for a little body . cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobby b Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 i have a friend who owns a little kalamazoo acoustic , i've only seen it once and it was before i became a member here so i didnt know anything to look for when i had a little go on it .... i remember not being overly fussed on the large neck but i'm sure a while playing would get used to that . reason i'm posting is just i met him yesterday and small talked about the little guitar .. he likes it a lot and isnt selling or anything but when i asked him how old it was he didnt know for sure other than saying the number on it was 32 . and he thinks that dictates the year .. is that right ? the guitars in good enough nick for the age of it , plays beautifully and has a lot of balls for a little body . cheers I was just in Seattle Wash. and went to Emerald City Guitars, a great guitar shop btw... They currently have a small Kalamazoo KG14 that was just a dream to play and sounded fantastic. Really old and been through alot, it has side and top cracks that have been repaired. They did not know the year of it. It was, imo, prob the best playing guitar in the whole shop. Does the one your referring to look like this? Here is the link ... http://www.emeraldcityguitars.com/product/kalamazoo-kg14/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarjtb Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 I was just in Seattle Wash. and went to Emerald City Guitars, a great guitar shop btw... They currently have a small Kalamazoo KG14 that was just a dream to play and sounded fantastic. Really old and been though alot, it has side and top cracks that have been repaired. They did not know the year of it. It was, imo, prob the best playing guitar in the whole shop. Does the one your referring to look like this? Here is the link ... http://www.emeraldcityguitars.com/product/kalamazoo-kg14/ The one in the link is a KG-11, by the way. I am doing a neck reset on my KG-11 as we type. Mine has the small sunburst. I just sold 2 KG-11's at the Spartanburg show, and traded in the one I'm working on in another sale. They are great guitars. That price seems a little high for me, unless it has been X-braced. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobby b Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 The one in the link is a KG-11, by the way. I am doing a neck reset on my KG-11 as we type. Mine has the small sunburst. I just sold 2 KG-11's at the Spartanburg show, and traded in the one I'm working on in another sale. They are great guitars. That price seems a little high for me, unless it has been X-braced. James Interesting, what are the differences of a KG11 vs a KG14? Did Gibson make Kalamazoo guitars ...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpbiii Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Gibson L-00 3/4, Carson Robeson (KG--11), KG-14, TG-14, Kalamazoo Sport Model (3/4) Best, -Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Apparently, even though Robert Johnson was photographed with that famous L-1, he actually played the cheaper Kalamazoo arch tops to get his unique sound..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted February 27, 2013 Author Share Posted February 27, 2013 from memory it's pretty much like the middle one there in tom's pic . sorry bobby , but for some reason (iphone related) i couldnt see all the pictures on your link . are there countless variations on these kalamazoo's? and when the fella tells me that the number on it is 32 ... what's he referring to ? is this back in the days when serial numbers had two digits and phone numbers had three ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpbiii Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 from memory it's pretty much like the middle one there in tom's pic . sorry bobby , but for some reason (iphone related) i couldnt see all the pictures on your link . are there countless variations on these kalamazoo's? and when the fella tells me that the number on it is 32 ... what's he referring to ? is this back in the days when serial numbers had two digits and phone numbers had three ? Two obvious possibilities -- either it is a Factory Order Number or only part of the number can be read -- a common problem with 30s Gibsons. Gibson reused FONs in the 30s, and finding them and documenting them is like a archeological dig. Joe Spann has written a great book - Spann's Guide to Gibson 1902-1941 -- that has document 100s of them, but certainly not all. FON 34 in 1935 in Spann's book ia a Kalamazoo run -- KTG-21 and RK #1203 -- but that does not sound like your guitar. That is an archtop tenor guitar -- the RK model is "Recording King" made for Montgomery Wards. 34 in 1938 was another RK run #1123 and Washburn #5246 -- I don't know offhand what those models are, but they would not have said Kalamazoo on them. So FON 34 Kalamazoo guitar doesn't seem to have been documented yet -- not an odd occurrence. Best, -Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Apparently, even though Robert Johnson was photographed with that famous L-1, he actually played the cheaper Kalamazoo arch tops to get his unique sound..... You have to remember that Johnson was fairly late to the game. The guitar he is holding in the "photobooth" pic is believed to be a Kalamazoo KG-14. He is also known to have played Stellas and possibly a National Triolian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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