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Midtown Kalamazoo

StijnV

By StijnV
in Gibson USA

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RRIDER

RRIDER

Posted
Posted

Thanks for your review Vangoghsear! I'm glad to see the quality is better on yours than what has been shared by others.

I'm just hoping QC with the extra month wait some of us have proves to be worth it.

 

The lower bout width at 14.5" is in between the widths of my LPCC at about 12.5" and my ES-335 TD at about 16.25".

IMHO it sounds like a nice comfortable size.

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vangoghsear

vangoghsear

Posted
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Thanks for the comments on my review.

 

I realized I never dealt with one important point. I never got into the hollowbody sound/feel. Now my opinion, your results may vary, is that there is a distinctly hollowbody feel when playing it. I love semi-hollows and hollowbodies.

 

I own nine electrics and of those five are semi and hollowbodies. Of those five, two are very similar to the Kalamazoo. I have a Washburn Idol 67 which has a routered mahogany back and a carved maple cap, but only one f hole; I get very little semihollow vibe from that guitar, it is lighter, but feels more like an LP. I also have a Michael Kelly Hybrid Special. It too has a routered mahogany back and a flat maple top; this one is hollow to about the same extent that the Kalamazoo is hollow and has two f holes, but uses an acoustic bridge (with an undersaddle pickup and two humbuckers). There is more hollow vibe from the Kalamazoo than from the Hybrid Special or the Washburn.

 

I don't own another high end semihollow such as a Gibson ES 335 or 339, but I do have a modded Jay Turser JT133, which is a quite nice ES335 clone. This comparison is a bit tougher on the Kalamazoo. The JT133 has a marvelous semihollow feel in that it "breathes" against your arm and your body as you play it. It responds to your touch almost like a living thing. The Kalamazoo feels a bit like this, but maybe not as warm. Its response is brighter and more distinct, but there is still a resonance. It is my hope that the Kalamazoo will deliver more of that living feel while remaining more in control in a live situation where the JT133 feels too lively and out of control when played out live.

 

Sorry to hear about some of the bad luck a few people have had with their Kalamazoos. Especially that poor guy with the broken neck joint. I would have been extremely disappointed.

 

As it is, I'm a lucky happy camper. Good luck to the rest of you.

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rct

rct

Posted
Posted

Good observations VanGoghsEar, and I appreciate that bit about hollers and semihollers. I've been needing some big bodied hollow jazz box for quite some time now. I passed on the Kalamzoo because it isn't a hollowbody. Nice guitar, not exactly it for me. Enjoy it a long time in good health!

 

rct

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Thomse

Thomse

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I like this guitar a lot . very well done and its it own guitar can't compare it to any others it is its own sound and every thing . Fit and finish is good the workman ship on this guitar is great even to matching up the grain all i can say is they did a nice job .

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Greg Trout

Greg Trout

Posted
Posted

Hi all,

 

What do you guys think of the new Midtown Kalamazoo ?

 

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Designer/Gibson-USA/Midtown-Kalamazoo.aspx

 

Not for everyone ? Too expensive still ?

 

Thanks,

 

Stijn

 

Well,

I just got mine on Tuesday from Russo Music in Asbury Park, NJ. These guys are tight with Gibson and despite the crazy shortage, were able to get one for me. First impression in the store, perfect neck, great balance seated and standing and wonderful detail/finishing but something was off??. The problem, the strings. Gibson specs some hybrid superlight string which honestly almost put a kabosh on the whole deal. The guitar sounded all wrong. I took a chance but asked if they could restring and reset it with a set of Flatwound 11-50's and Scott, the manager said no problem! I went around the corner for lunch and came back an hour later to a completely different instrument. The guitar suddenly became everything I imagined and then some. I currently own 3 high-quality archtops and many, many solid-bodys and semi-hollows and I can honestly say, this thing is hands down a top 2 already for me. I am still a bit blown away on how nice it is for the low price. I thought the shorter scale would take some getting used to as I do not own a guitar of this scale and I am a large handed, big finger guy. I love the neck, I am not crowed at all and playability is great. I've been playing it through a Rivera Chubster-40 for overdriven and clean tones with my quartet, Fender Excelsior with my trio and Fender Blues Jr with great tones on all three. Great value and money well spent.

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vangoghsear

vangoghsear

Posted
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Greg, congrats on the new Kalamazoo. After reading your post I looked into getting flatwounds on mine. My local music store had the D'Addario Chromes, the shop owner put them on and adjusted the action for me. That change does warm the tone up considerably, which is good because it's a bright guitar to start with. The heavier gauge adds to the sustain, but is still pretty easy to play. Very jazz boxy tone now, which I like. The new strings really bring out the coil tap single coil setting.

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RevDavidLee

RevDavidLee

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Posted

Well the story continues [blush]

 

After initially ordering one of these from Wildwood guitars then waiting 2 months and not having any idea when exactly they were coming - I cancelled my order. Then I ordered from another online dealer who "promised me" I would receive it in 2 days. Well, then I received a Backorder email and thought oh poop on this entire thing, I wasn't meant to own this guitar. [scared]

 

Well I was just browsing again on Wildwood's website and I see they still have (had) 5 left. Now they only have 4 left because I just bought one. It will ship tomorrow. Mine weighs 8.31 pounds and I can't wait to finally get this baby and play the hell out of it. Santa said I'd been good and I deserved this guitar. These guys are GREAT to deal with and now I don't have to wonder when they're coming because they're already there. And a jolly Merry Christmas to me early next week. Then I may officially join all the Midtown Kalamazoo hoopla. Finally [smile]

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EternalStudent

EternalStudent

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Posted
1387602471[/url]' post='1464028']

Got the UPS email notice - she will be delivered on December 24th and "an adult signature will be required". That probably means they're sending a hooker to go with the guitar - this is great! Wildwood ROCKS!!!! [biggrin]

 

Sounds great , hope it meets your expectations, sounds like you have been tested here. I got mine about 10 days back, and it's beautiful, but I need to get it setup more to my feel. But no horror stories, in fact my process seemed quite "Sweet", I just should have been more descriptive to my Online Dealer, though the Sales Engineer has been fantastic, my bad not being more specific on setup. We both concurred that coming from Gibson, I should at least check out a "perfect" factory setup. Maybe they did, but the paperwork from factory was never filled out about setup measurements. This is the first guitar I ever bought based on looks, specs and apparent price value, and it is exactly 1 month old based on S/N today. Best wishes on yours!

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RevDavidLee

RevDavidLee

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Posted

Sounds great , hope it meets your expectations, sounds like you have been tested here. I got mine about 10 days back, and it's beautiful, but I need to get it setup more to my feel. But no horror stories, in fact my process seemed quite "Sweet", I just should have been more descriptive to my Online Dealer, though the Sales Engineer has been fantastic, my bad not being more specific on setup. We both concurred that coming from Gibson, I should at least check out a "perfect" factory setup. Maybe they did, but the paperwork from factory was never filled out about setup measurements. This is the first guitar I ever bought based on looks, specs and apparent price value, and it is exactly 1 month old based on S/N today. Best wishes on yours!

 

Probably not so much tested as never having pre-ordered a guitar before and being disappointed that it wasn't here sooner [biggrin] I have read that Wildwood does a great job of prepping before they send out a guitar but I did not give them any specifications to follow. I figured I'd just wait until it gets here and spend a few days with it before deciding what strings to put on it and then adjusting everything afterwards to fit my own preferences. I'm looking forward to spending time with this one. Thanks for your comments on your experiences with this one so far. :)

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RevDavidLee

RevDavidLee

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Posted

Wow - just read this terrible review from some guy on Musicians Friend's website about this guitar from someone named DixieSundae from Charleston SC - here's that review:

 

" Comments about Gibson Midtown Kalamazoo Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar:

 

A scam by Gibson passing this off as a quality guitar. A nice looking headstock and nothing else. A piece of junk. Not at all like a Byrdland. It is not an archtop guitar, period. It does not have a carved top, and yes it is 11 pounds. The 60 year old other guy that reviewed this may be a bit light in the head. Returned it immediately, a great disappointment poorly constructed, cheap wood, very heavy and no acoustic tone. Cheap electronics. You get what you pay for....., if you're lucky....., sometimes...., not from Gibson though this time!"

 

There was no other review on this that I could find so not sure what "60 year old other guy" is that they're referring to in this review. Also didn't know there were any out there weighing 11 pounds. The one I bought from Wildwood is 8.31 pounds and at the time I purchased it - it was their heaviest. [scared]

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charlie brown

charlie brown

Posted
Posted

Well, you know as well as anyone, that some people just love to bash, anything new,

or that doesn't meet their personal expectations. It was never advertised to

be "archtop" or "carved" top, or "fully hollowbody," etc., etc. etc. It is, what it

is! You'll know, when you get it, if it's something you're going to fancy, or not.

 

And, of course, it's not a "Brydland!" [lol] Was never intended to be. But, with

a great amp, some EQ'ing, and (more importantly) some great "chops," I dare say it will

do as well as any similar guitar, regardless of genre.

 

We WILL be interested, in your own "review," however. [thumbup][biggrin]

 

 

CB

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vaxxine

vaxxine

Posted
Posted

Wow - just read this terrible review from some guy on Musicians Friend's website about this guitar from someone named DixieSundae from Charleston SC - here's that review:

 

" Comments about Gibson Midtown Kalamazoo Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar:

 

A scam by Gibson passing this off as a quality guitar. A nice looking headstock and nothing else. A piece of junk. Not at all like a Byrdland. It is not an archtop guitar, period. It does not have a carved top, and yes it is 11 pounds. The 60 year old other guy that reviewed this may be a bit light in the head. Returned it immediately, a great disappointment poorly constructed, cheap wood, very heavy and no acoustic tone. Cheap electronics. You get what you pay for....., if you're lucky....., sometimes...., not from Gibson though this time!"

 

 

That same "review" with the exact same wording has been posted on several sites - apparently by the same person. It's the only one I've ever seen like that. It's either a real guy who had a bad experience or found the guitar absolutely was not to his liking (fair enough), or it's total BS posted by a troll. Every other review has been positive. No need to be scared.

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vaxxine

vaxxine

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Mine came today. First of all the answers to some of the questions being asked:

 

what is the lower bout width? Mine measures approx 14.5" at its widest point. Very comfortable to play seated.

 

Is it fully hollow? I can't see a center block, but I can feel one. Also tapping on the top shows it does seem to have a center mid block but the bottom and sides seem to be hollow.

 

Is it a laminated top? ....

 

The back of mine is routered out mahogany. Mine is two pieces nicely matched in the center.

 

Mine does have locking Grovers and coil tap.

 

 

It's absolutely amazing to me that Gibson does not include some of the useful information that you've provided here, but instead provides a lot of useless information that is generally of no interest to guitar players. Info such as the type of glue they use, the peg head angle, the neck set angle - crap that nearly all guitar players have no interest in.

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