Update 2022: this beaut is back here for sale and so I've updated the post's details.
This Maryland-made KAPA was in for repair and return to its owner. It's the much-seen Continental model but in a two-pickup format and sporting a very-worn finish I don't see too often -- the company's version of "olympic white" and featuring a nice celluloid tortoise pickguard. The offset body shape and thinner depth compared to the Challenger and Cobra models yields a lighter, sportier, and surfier-feeling guitar -- though the Hofner-made "staple" humbucker pickups still give a Gretsch FilterTron-like tonality that's transparent and brighter but still humbuckery-smooth at its edges. The Jazzmaster-style trem/whammy unit and Fender-length 25 1/2" scale definitely give it Fender-feeling qualities, though.
Frankly, after work, this guitar is simply stunning to play.It has a quick, modern-profile, Hofner-supplied maple/rosewood neck that means playing all over the neck is easy-peasy -- and even more-so as I refretted it with medium/jumbo stock. Other work included swap-out of the cheesy orginial tuners for some older nickel-plated Kluson-a-like tuners (with split shafts), relocation of the bridge, better shielding and grounding of the wiring harness, better seating of the tailpiece/trem, and general spiffing-up. I also modified the pickup mounts to allow for height adjustment in the Fender manner.
It's now playing spot-on with a straight neck and 1/16" overall action at the 12th fret.
KAPA bodies, pickguards, and trem/whammy units were made at the Maryland factory but the necks, bridges, and pickups were bought-in from Hofner (mostly) in Germany. They were assembled in the US, however. I was pretty happy I had a vintaged set of Kluson-style tuners in my parts-bins for this guitar. They work well and look the business.
The rosewood board has a 12" radius and faux-pearl dots. The nut is 1 11/16" in width.
I love the crazy flaking-off of the finish all around the sides, too.
A spoke-style truss rod at the end of the neck is easy to adjust and the pair of Hofner "staple" pickups sounds wonderful. They're a bit microphonic so they pick-up body noise which -- to be honest -- I actually like a lot. Early Gibson P13 pickups (the P90 ancestor) did the same thing and they give a more transparent/acoustic vibe to the tone which suits rootsy playing.
Check out how far back I had to move the bridge, though, to get the intonation correct -- they really botched placement at the factory. I'm so used to seeing bad placement, however, that it's not shocking at all -- most bigger electric guitar makers save Fender and Gibson had quality control issues with placement in the past.
The controls are volume-tone-tone. The slider switches seem to allow individual pickup selection but both "two-on" selections are out-of-phase, it seems.
This whammy unit is almost a direct rip-off of a Jazzmaster/Jaguar type save that the spring is non-adjustable and there's no "lock" on the front edge. It works nicely but does not have the same range as a Jazzmaster-style unit and so it's best for light Bigsby-like swells.
Repairs included: refret, bridge relocation, replacement tuners, setup, etc.
Condition notes: the finish has tons of flaking at its edges and weather-check/crackle throughout. The tortoise pickguard is in good shape. The tuners are replaced but it's otherwise all-original. There are plugged holes in the body from having to move the bridge for better intonation. Overall, it's heavily-played but in good order.
My first guitar xmas 1969. They were made by Veneman Music. Mr Veneman took the first letter of each of his kids name to spell Kappa. I butchered mine to make it look like a strat. Added a middle strat pup. Wish I still had it as I received it. Veneman Music was bought out by Guitar Center.
First of all, before I forget, I want say what a great resource your blog is...
I have a circa 1967-68 Sunburst KAPA Continental that I bought late in 1968 or 1969. About two years after I bought it, I went off to university carrying a NAGOYA 12-string acoustical guitar. Because I never really traveled with the KAPA or ever gigged with it, it is still in very fine condition. And, apparently, since it was built later in the run of this model, it is a relatively high example.
I started playing guitar when I was about 13 with Flamenco guitarist Torcuato Zamora. That was my first foray into music on account of my protective mother having had a traumatic piano recital when she was a child. But Zamora afforded me a classical music approach. After he left to start a restaurant in Florida, I studied under Tom Guernsey who was late of the 60’s band THE HANGMAN ( He had studied guitar with Bill Harris - - of CLOVERS fame, who had in turn studied with Sophecles Pappas ). He eventually left to attend Junior College - - the music business being a harsh mistress. I think he wanted A vocation that would entice a woman to marry him. Sadly, Tom is long gone. I was a snot-nosed kid when he stopped teaching and I resented his choice to the point that it adversely affected my study of the guitar. Before university, I taught beginning guitar for nearly a year.
At university, I was more interested in stroking girls than stroking guitars. My playing skills deteriorated to the point that people started asking me not to try to play with them. Thus began a long desert of guitar interaction. But, fortunately, the KAPA was in such good condition that I never could bring myself to get rid of it. Not so for other guitars. Unfortunately I cast off at some point a beater of a FENDER Tele that I had ‘inherited’ - - looks exactly like what you pay thousands for today for a simulated beater from FENDER’s Custom Shop.
As the years rolled by, I would often think about picking up the guitar, again, but I would throw my hands up after taking stock of the unplayable equipment that I had left. Finally, a couple of years ago, I started playing that KAPA un-amplified for about six months straight. At first, I thought I would modify the KAPA - - new tuners, maybe even new pickups. Then, I started to accumulate equipment - - a modeling amp, and a WOLF - - a well executed Les Paul knock-off by a Korean company, so that I would have something to play while I took apart the KAPA.
Unavoidable delays ensued but that gave me time to do research that made me realize that I had something special in keeping the KAPA as stock as possible. So the KAPA project became one of a forensic study with minor repairs and reconditioning.
With COVID-19 delays, I finally managed to assemble everything I would need to the point that I could finally begin, last weekend. I took the guitar completely apart and documented everything. I looked for any manufacturing evidence but there was nothing hidden in the nether recesses - - probably owing to the manufacturing approach that was assembly-line by what were essentially untrained workers.
Aside from comments I’ve made under the two other nearby KAPA blog entries, My guitar had Japan manufactured parts in evidence and the only parts strictly German were the FRANZ PIX wound pickups - - he was a HOEFNER sub-contractor.
The only item that I replaced was the original nut that had some long standing damage. I also had previously replaced the original strap buttons with appropriately flavored locking SCHALLER buttons. My thinking is that my neck was made in Maryland. I didn’t see anything in my forensic analysis to make me think it was put together in Germany by that time.
Electronics and moving parts were all good. Just needed cleaning, a little corrosion removal and lubrication. 250K pots and notoriously wonky slider switches that evoke memories of HO gauge train equipment. Some screw heads were a little brown and there was a little ring of rust on the shaft of the whammy bar. All of it came off with a little solvent. All the finishes look brilliant. But then I was never one for beating up guitars.
By the way, the neck of my guitar is a 25.25 inch scale - - not 25.50 like FENDER. So my bridge was bang-on positioned for proper intonation.
I’m used to a low setup on this thin necked guitar. The current setup is a bit of a work in progress but I’m going by feel on the high-E side since I do a lot of string bending and finger vibrato. I will probably stick with a ‘standard’ low height on the low-E side. I went with a TUSQ nut ( 5010 ) as the closet match to the original. I tried going with some cheap-o wire-style saws but I could see that was not going to be smart. So I waited to finish until the next weekend when I could get some HIROSHIMA blades from GRIZZLY. ...Well worth it.
Big surprise in re-visiting your blog entries, I realized your two examples ( Continental and Challenger ) did not have zero-frets ! All the Continentals I’ve ever seen had zero-frets and I don’t see evidence in your pictures that you removed them. But I guess that was something they went to when they realized their untrained workers were no good at sawing nuts. What is obvious from my forensic analysis is that the factory would install the nut; apply the finish to the guitar; and then saw the nut. When they switched to employing zero-frets, nut sawing was no longer ‘rocket surgery’ for them ( ...if not pretty ! ).
Except for a couple of little dents in the top edge from the belt buckles of my teen years, this guitar is glorious ! It came with standard #10 gauge sets and that is what I had continued to use. But for the new age, I installed a #9 standard set of cobalt ERNIE BALLS. ...That guitar sounds like angels ! ! ! The neck has always been very stable and the tuning has always been very stable. I’m planning to buy more guitars over time but I can see that this high functioning example of a KAPA Continental is always going to be my go-to. ...It is nothing short of spectacular.
Comments
Veneman Music was bought out by Guitar Center.
I have a circa 1967-68 Sunburst KAPA Continental that I bought late in 1968 or 1969. About two years after I bought it, I went off to university carrying a NAGOYA 12-string acoustical guitar. Because I never really traveled with the KAPA or ever gigged with it, it is still in very fine condition. And, apparently, since it was built later in the run of this model, it is a relatively high example.
I started playing guitar when I was about 13 with Flamenco guitarist Torcuato Zamora. That was my first foray into music on account of my protective mother having had a traumatic piano recital when she was a child. But Zamora afforded me a classical music approach. After he left to start a restaurant in Florida, I studied under Tom Guernsey who was late of the 60’s band THE HANGMAN ( He had studied guitar with Bill Harris - - of CLOVERS fame, who had in turn studied with Sophecles Pappas ). He eventually left to attend Junior College - - the music business being a harsh mistress. I think he wanted A vocation that would entice a woman to marry him. Sadly, Tom is long gone. I was a snot-nosed kid when he stopped teaching and I resented his choice to the point that it adversely affected my study of the guitar. Before university, I taught beginning guitar for nearly a year.
At university, I was more interested in stroking girls than stroking guitars. My playing skills deteriorated to the point that people started asking me not to try to play with them. Thus began a long desert of guitar interaction. But, fortunately, the KAPA was in such good condition that I never could bring myself to get rid of it. Not so for other guitars. Unfortunately I cast off at some point a beater of a FENDER Tele that I had ‘inherited’ - - looks exactly like what you pay thousands for today for a simulated beater from FENDER’s Custom Shop.
As the years rolled by, I would often think about picking up the guitar, again, but I would throw my hands up after taking stock of the unplayable equipment that I had left. Finally, a couple of years ago, I started playing that KAPA un-amplified for about six months straight. At first, I thought I would modify the KAPA - - new tuners, maybe even new pickups. Then, I started to accumulate equipment - - a modeling amp, and a WOLF - - a well executed Les Paul knock-off by a Korean company, so that I would have something to play while I took apart the KAPA.
Unavoidable delays ensued but that gave me time to do research that made me realize that I had something special in keeping the KAPA as stock as possible. So the KAPA project became one of a forensic study with minor repairs and reconditioning.
With COVID-19 delays, I finally managed to assemble everything I would need to the point that I could finally begin, last weekend. I took the guitar completely apart and documented everything. I looked for any manufacturing evidence but there was nothing hidden in the nether recesses - - probably owing to the manufacturing approach that was assembly-line by what were essentially untrained workers.
=====>
The only item that I replaced was the original nut that had some long standing damage. I also had previously replaced the original strap buttons with appropriately flavored locking SCHALLER buttons. My thinking is that my neck was made in Maryland. I didn’t see anything in my forensic analysis to make me think it was put together in Germany by that time.
Electronics and moving parts were all good. Just needed cleaning, a little corrosion removal and lubrication. 250K pots and notoriously wonky slider switches that evoke memories of HO gauge train equipment. Some screw heads were a little brown and there was a little ring of rust on the shaft of the whammy bar. All of it came off with a little solvent. All the finishes look brilliant. But then I was never one for beating up guitars.
By the way, the neck of my guitar is a 25.25 inch scale - - not 25.50 like FENDER. So my bridge was bang-on positioned for proper intonation.
I’m used to a low setup on this thin necked guitar. The current setup is a bit of a work in progress but I’m going by feel on the high-E side since I do a lot of string bending and finger vibrato. I will probably stick with a ‘standard’ low height on the low-E side. I went with a TUSQ nut ( 5010 ) as the closet match to the original. I tried going with some cheap-o wire-style saws but I could see that was not going to be smart. So I waited to finish until the next weekend when I could get some HIROSHIMA blades from GRIZZLY. ...Well worth it.
Big surprise in re-visiting your blog entries, I realized your two examples ( Continental and Challenger ) did not have zero-frets ! All the Continentals I’ve ever seen had zero-frets and I don’t see evidence in your pictures that you removed them. But I guess that was something they went to when they realized their untrained workers were no good at sawing nuts. What is obvious from my forensic analysis is that the factory would install the nut; apply the finish to the guitar; and then saw the nut. When they switched to employing zero-frets, nut sawing was no longer ‘rocket surgery’ for them ( ...if not pretty ! ).
Except for a couple of little dents in the top edge from the belt buckles of my teen years, this guitar is glorious ! It came with standard #10 gauge sets and that is what I had continued to use. But for the new age, I installed a #9 standard set of cobalt ERNIE BALLS. ...That guitar sounds like angels ! ! ! The neck has always been very stable and the tuning has always been very stable. I’m planning to buy more guitars over time but I can see that this high functioning example of a KAPA Continental is always going to be my go-to. ...It is nothing short of spectacular.