Gibson MK35 identification

[Beljum]

I bought this great sounding Gibson MK35 used in 1985. It is now well worn with about a million miles on it so I figured to sell it and purchase a new Gibson. Problem is, this MK35 does not appear to be like other MK35’s.

 

No serial number.

 

 

No funky bridge.

 

 

Her measurements are 11 ¾ x 10 x 15 15/16

 

 

MK35

 

 

 

 

 

I wonder if any experts recognize the parts of this MK35.

 

Beljum

[ksdaddy]

I'm no expert on Marks. If I had to guess, I'd say it may have been assembled by an employee using leftover parts after the line was dropped in '78(?). The fact that it's missing the weirdass bridge and rosette, both seemingly integral to the Kasha design swings the pendulum further in that direction. The logo and truss cover are "wrong" for the series too. I can't explain the lack of serial number other than to say it somehow escaped the decal or stamping, depending on the vintage.

 

Sometimes guitars were seriously monkeyed up and were stamped "BGN". These were typically sold "in house", but there usually was an accompanying serial number on the guitar regardless.

[gearbasher]

My brother had a late 70s BGN stamped ES-350T/Byrdland. It was a fully laminated maple body with Byrdland appointments and hardware. The only other "serial #" was a 2 stamped under the BGN. When we tried to research it, we got a story similar to KSD's. We were told it was probably a "second" with some minor defect and was assembled with various parts and sold to an employee. But, I'll tell you, we couldn't find anything wrong with that instrument that would have made it a "second".

So, KSD might be on the right track.

[Beljum]

Thanks guys! That makes perfect sense; a sort of a bits and pieces guitar from the factory. I never considered that.

 

I wonder what “BGN” stands for? Builder Gone Nuts? Buggered Guitar Number?

 

Now its Columbo time. This is educational as I search for matching bodies and such to see how many guitars were used for this. I’ll post a snapshot of the bracing and see if anyone recognizes the layout.

 

Beljum

[ksdaddy]

BGN means 'bargain'.

 

In scouring ebay I've seen a couple instances of fluke Gibsons with parts that were altogether wrong yet they appeared to have come that way from the factory. Sometimes they were models that had been discontinued and it seemed like someone at the factory finished them just to get the parts off the rack without junking them completely.... maybe they were 'lunch hour' guitars or something.

 

Nothing new about that of course; Fender did it a lot in the late 60's, mating hacked up 3/4 Musicmaster necks to hacked up reject Mustang family bodies and selling them as Swingers. Ditto for the Fender XII 12 strings; the parts got slapped together as 6 string models and called the Custom. Gibson didn't seem to do that on any measurable amount on the acoustics, but they did with electrics....in the early 70s I wouldn't have DARED order a lower end SG/Melody Maker over the phone; God knows what it would have come with for pickups, knobs, other hardware.

 

Edit: I recall one really odd MK on ebay a few years back. They were experimenting with carbon fiber and spruce sandwich tops and apparently they made a bunch of tops with the carbon fiber strands oriented in varying degrees to the top grain; some were completed. One was on ebay. It went for stupid money so I backed away. I emailed Abe Wechter and asked him about them; he said they did so many different odd things when he was at R&D he couldn't possibly recall all of them.

[Beljum]

Thanks for the info daddy and basher.

 

Selling this guitar is not an option anymore. It still sounds great and it is my first one!! A refret attempt may be in the not so distant future. The tuners were removed and cleaned up; lookin’ like new!! There are no extra holes so these were installed from the factory.

 

I’ve not been real successful with identifying the bits and pieces of this guitar. This is where I may need assistance from the Gibson Phd’s.

 

I do not think the body is a MK35. A few J45’s seem to have a similar bridge. Below are a few pics of the sound hole, bracing and other features.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Any ideas how to clean and protect the decal?

 

 

 

 

If anyone has any idee’ers on which parts are what, I’ll be grateful.

 

Beljum

[ksdaddy]

The body is definitely MK. They had a distinctive shape not used on any other series. The decal, while 'real Gibson', is incorrect for the MK series. They had a finer, smaller script logo. The truss rod cover is wrong too. The MK series used a comically large triangle shaped one. The bracing looks like some kind of Kasha bracing but I'm not familiar with the intricacies of them; I know there were many different designs and I can't say which one (or more than one) was used in actual production. I know there was some production problems at first and some compromises in the design were made to facilitate an assembly line setting. I don't know what to say about the top; MK's had that weird donut ring around the soundhole and therefore had no rosette. I really think yours had a J45/50 top trimmed to fit the body shape and Kasha bracing used.

 

It's a mystery. Who knows, it could have been something R&D threw together at some point to make a MK more marketable by making it appear more Gibsonesque.

 

If that guitar were on my bench I would thin some lacquer and dab it into the chipped or lifting areas of the decal. Just a little dot at a time on the end of a toothpick or the fuzzy end of a match, and repeat as needed. If it's thin enough it will run under the lifted areas and at the very least stabilize it. If need be, you could also clearcoat the headstock face afterwards. But allowing a little thinned lacquer to ooze into the loose spots is the first step.