1935 Cromwell G-4 (Gibson-made) Archtop Guitar

This Cromwell G-4 was made by Gibson and is essentially the same instrument as a Kalamazoo KG-31. It's solid spruce over solid mahogany and has a press-arched top and back. 1935 was early days for the Kalamazoo-grade lineup at Gibson and this Cromwell-branded one features the nicer tailpiece and pickguard bracket usually found only on Gibson-branded guitars at the time. These features would quickly disappear as production ramped-up.

Though this guy arrived here in overall excellent shape, it did need a neck reset and glorified setup work to get it going strong. Now that it's done, it plays quick and easy and has a full-on, super-punchy, stupidly-loud voice. While it may not have the refined/creamy upper-end voice of a carved-top Gibson, it has the lower-mids velvet and chunky drive of a Gibson carved-top guitar in spades. I really like these Kalamazoo-style 16" archtops for chord-chop backup for trad jazz, old-time fiddling, vintage "popular," and the like.

Repairs included: a neck reset, fret level/dress, compensation for the bridge saddle, replacement endpin, side dots install, setup.

Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: solid mahogany

Bracing type: x/fan/ladder hybrid

Bridge: rosewood

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 54w, 40w, 30w, 22w, 16, 12 custom set

Neck shape: medium-big softish V

Board radius: ~10-12"

Neck relief: essentially straight (~1/64" deflection)

Fret style: small/low

Scale length: 24 3/4"

Nut width: 1 3/4"

Body width: 16"

Body depth: 3 1/4" + arching

Weight: 3 lbs 15 oz

Condition notes: it's all-original throughout save for added side dots. The only hairline crack I've found is at the endblock in the side running from a screw-mount for the tailpiece (pictured). It's entirely over the endblock and poses no risk. The finish shows average uswear/wear-and-tear throughout except for a big splotchy/heat-damaged/chemical-damaged area on the back-lower-bout. I've pictured it. It's just a finish disturbance.

One more thing: the frets are the standard low/thin/small Gibson stock for the time and have been leveled and so they're a little shorter in first position and near the neck joint to compensate for minor neck changes over time. Someone who likes modern fretwire won't get along with this, but anyone used to older/small fretwire should be fine as long as finger placement is accurate.

It comes with: its presumably-original brown-orange chip case.