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Waiting on KG 3/4 Sport -- It's here! --


Lars68

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I just bought the little beauty on the left below from Benn at Vintage Lick Guitars. Hopefully it will arrive safely here in Sweden in a week or two.

 

This will be my late night, kids in bed, couch guitar. I will also bring it when I travel with work. Has anyone experience with one of these? The nut width will be a challenge, but I'm ok with my son's Little Martin so hopefully I'll be fine. In any case, it is the cutest little guitar I have ever seen, and the first time I've made a purchase based on looks. alone...

 

Lars

 

image_zps801607d3.jpg

 

image_zpsdf8cce5c.jpg

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Lars,

 

Very, very cool!

 

As fate would have it, just after we e-chatted about this guitar over the weekend, I played its Gibson cousin, the L-00 3/4. As you know, that's the same guitar, but X-braced. I loved it. I was worried about playability given the narrow nut width, etc. But, I found it the perfect couch guitar.

 

You're going to love your new guitar. Please keep us posted.

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Thanks for the info everyone!

 

John, Tom, and others, what difference in tone can one expect between the x-bracing and ladder-bracing in a guitar as small as this? I'm guessing the ladder version to be snappier, with perhaps shorter sustain. True?

 

Lars

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Thanks for the info everyone!

 

John, Tom, and others, what difference in tone can one expect between the x-bracing and ladder-bracing in a guitar as small as this? I'm guessing the ladder version to be snappier, with perhaps shorter sustain. True?

 

Lars

 

True.

 

 

Best,

 

-Tom

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Thanks for the videos, Tom. Very cool! I have to say that I personally did not like the first little Martin in your comparison video. Not my thing. However, all the others sounded great. The Sport, was surprisingly close to its more famous Gibson brother, and it had perhaps the driest guitar tone I have ever heard. Very different from anything I have. The last Martin sounded almost like a dread in comparison to the others.

 

Could you elaborate some on the differences between the Kalamazoo 3/4 and the Gibson 3/4, apart from the bracing styles?

 

Lars

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Thanks for the videos, Tom. Very cool! I have to say that I personally did not like the first little Martin in your comparison video. Not my thing. However, all the others sounded great. The Sport, was surprisingly close to its more famous Gibson brother, and it had perhaps the driest guitar tone I have ever heard. Very different from anything I have. The last Martin sounded almost like a dread in comparison to the others.

 

 

The little Martin is a terz guitar -- tunes up a minor third. It fills a tonal range more like a mandolin or mandola. There is really no L-00 or other Gibson in the test that is a bit more like the 0-18, but the tonal variations is still a pretty good example of the contrast for 30s zoos and 30s Martin. Martins all have really big, full midranges.

 

Could you elaborate some on the differences between the Kalamazoo 3/4 and the Gibson 3/4, apart from the bracing styles?

 

The bracing is definitely the biggest difference. Many of the feature differences are typical for the Gibson/Kalamazoos from the era. Th Gibson has a more extensive rosette and a bound back. The body dimensions are the same and both have a French Heel -- which was not true of all Gibsons and Kalamazoos. The bridge is also essentially the same -- the one on our Sport is a repo copy of the original, which had been shaved when we got it.

 

We have several more 30s 00 sized guitars and also a KG-14. The Zoos are all dryer, rawer, and a bit more in your face. Of course,compared to the Martins, all Gibson 30s 00s are also dyer, rawer, and more percussive.

 

You can see our tests for big, small, and pairs at those links.

 

Best,

 

-Tom

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  • 2 weeks later...

The little sport arrived safely here in Sweden two days ago. What a wonderful little thing (it's VERY little). I honestly did not expect much in the tone department. I thought the size and ladder bracing would combine to give a very thin sound. I mainly bought it as a late night couch / travel guitar, but boy I was surprised. This is a real guitar, not a toy!

 

I am a very basic player, just strumming and simple finger picking patterns, that's it. So, advanced playing and any ventures into blues improvisations are beyond me. With that said, this guitar is great for light strumming and finger picking. Strumming hard doesn't work well, then it starts sounding thin, but with a gentle touch the tone is great and the bass surprisingly full. One thing it does better than any guitar I have tried is strumming with bare fingers. It does not sound muted or muffled at all, like many big guitars do for me.

 

This is really the Gibson tone at a fraction of the price, a real bargain compared to lots of other vintage guitars.

 

Thanks to Benn at Vintage Licks for makiing the transaction feel safe and smooth!

 

lars

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