1940 Gibson-made Kalamazoo KGN-32 Oriole Archtop Guitar

My buddy Joel sent this beaut over for consignment. He goes through having the archtop bug and then purging them from his collection -- but I know he's a flattop player at heart, because he's had quite a few nice archtops in his life, heh heh.

These natural-finished Oriole versions of the steadfast KG-32 model are flashy instruments, especially the ones with tortoise binding like this one. This guy also has the "open book" headstock shape, '40s-era C-shaped (rather than V-shaped) neck profile, and fancier "Gibson-style" tailpiece. It's also got that great-looking bound celluloid pickguard.

After a glorified setup and install of some StewMac relic'd repro tuners, it plays great and has a good, punchy, direct, tone. It has a ton of snap and zing in the upper-mids for rocking-out all those old '30s/'40s jazz stylings and plenty of volume for group work. It also came with a K&K Pure Mini pickup installed with and endpin jack -- and it sounds quite nice through the shop's acoustic amp.

Repairs included: a fret level/dress, new tuners install, extra compensation of the saddle, and setup.

Setup notes: it plays perfectly with 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE action at the 12th fret. The neck is straight, the frets have good life left in them, and the strings are 54w-12 normal lights in gauge (I wouldn't go heavier unless detuning).

Scale length: 24 3/4"

Nut width: 1 11/16"

String spacing at nut: 1 1/2"

String spacing at bridge: 2 1/8"

Body length: 20 1/4"

Lower bout width: 16"

Waist width: 9 1/4"

Upper bout width: 11 1/2"
Side depth at endpin: 3 1/4" + top/back arch

Top wood: solid spruce

Back wood: ply flamed maple
Sides wood: solid flamed maple

Bracing type: x-braced/box-x

Fretboard: Brazilian rosewood, ebony nut

Bridge: Brazilian rosewood, compensated saddle

Neck feel: medium C-shape, ~10" board radius

Condition notes: Some old work had been done to it previously -- it had some Ping-brand tuners on it when it came in (ick). The back of the neck and the headstock have a thin layer of overspray and there may be a little on the top, too, but I'm not sure. In any case, the instrument has all of its original finish (with its crackle) under whatever overspray is on it, so it's not obvious at all. There are no cracks on the guitar at all.

It comes with: a funky old chip case.