1936 Gibson-made Old Kraftsman 2154 Carved-Top Archtop Guitar

Lately, a good consignor of mine has been bringing in quite the good catches as far as off-brand, carved-top Gibson products go. This one is perhaps the best so far as it's definitely as good or better than most "actual" Gibson 16" archtops I've played. It has a full-on, roaring, punchy voice with oodles of volume and cut. It has that lower-mids chop/chunk for chordal work and a zappy high-end for lead/melody work. It's my sort-of guitar, that's for sure.

While the "Other Brands of Gibson" book paints this as basically a fancier KG-32 Kalamazoo model per its catalog description, the reality is that this has a carved top with the kerfed bracing like you'd expect in a Gibson L-50 from the time and while the backs are often ply maple on these, this one actually has a solid flamed maple back -- evidenced by the repaired hairline crack at the lower-bout-rear. It's basically a fancy Gibson archtop but without a truss-rodded neck. That makes it more akin to the higher-quality Gibson-made Recording King archtops of the same time.

Interestingly, the three initial-decals on the upper-bout shoulder are actually a catalog add-on-for-free option -- when you ordered the guitar, you could opt to have them put on. How about that? I'd just need to change the middle initial to an R for it to work for me... hmmm!

When it arrived to me, it was obvious that the guitar had been cared-for a bit. The frets were either replacements or very-well-dressed originals. However, the neck angle was bad and so there was a ski-jump at the fretboard extension. I dealt with that and fussed with my usual work after it and now it's a bang-on player.

Repairs included: a neck reset, fret level/dress, cleaning, compensation of the bridge saddle/topper, and setup.

Setup notes: action is bang-on at 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE at the 12th fret. The neck is essentially straight but has 1/64" relief overall when tuned to pitch. I've got it strung with 54w-12 gauges and there's a ton of adjustment room available at the saddle with the thumbwheels and posts.

Scale length: 24 3/4"

Nut width: 1 3/4"

String spacing at nut: 1 9/16"

String spacing at bridge: 2 1/8"

Body length: 20 1/8"

Lower bout width: 16 1/8"

Waist width: 9 1/4"

Upper bout width: 11 3/8"

Side depth at endpin: 3 1/4" + arch of back/top

Top wood: solid spruce, carved

Back/sides wood: solid flamed maple

Neck wood: mahogany

Bracing type: two tonebars, kerfed

Fretboard: rosewood, original bone nut

Bridge: rosewood, comp'd B-string at saddle

Neck feel: medium V/soft-V shape, ~12" board radius

Condition notes: one repaired hairline crack on the lower bout, minor finish nicks/dings here and there throughout, and finish cracking/weather-check throughout but not extreme. The neck/tailpiece/bridge are not aligned perfectly on-center and so the tailpiece is hanging slightly askew from the endpin. It's not obvious when you're looking at it or playing it, so it's a non-issue, but it's there. The frets are lower and smaller vintage-style stock and so players used to modern wire may want to have it refretted to "medium" style at least. All hardware and parts are original to the guitar.

It comes with: a newer hard case and some original hang/care-for tags.