1935 Kalamazoo KG-11 (Gibson-made) Flattop Guitar

Instrument shuffle time! My friend Todd brought this KG-11 up from Nashville when he moved up here to Vermont a few years ago. It'd had a neck reset done on it but the rest of the work had been glossed-over. I remember going through it with him and after a bit of work it was playing on-the-dot and sounding crisp and punchy -- just like a KG-11 is supposed to sound.

I probably don't need to preface this post too much considering the sheer amount of KG-11s that have popped-up through my shop, but long-story-short is that Gibson made these Kalamazoo instruments as a "second line" to their main-line products. These KG-11 models are like a "squashed-body" 00-size instrument and I think they're one of the more successful "alternative" instruments made in the Gibson factor.

Compared to the L-00-shaped KG-14 model (that's slightly more well-known), the KG-11s are a little more compact and so fit better under the arm. Their bridges are also in more of a "sweet spot" rather than almost directly over bracing and so they're a little less punchy/snappy and a bit warmer and wider-sounding than a KG-14. They've still got good volume, though, but it's less leapy than a KG-14. For folks not into super-strident/spanky country-blues fingerpicking but still in love with the genre, these are pretty perfect guitars. For someone with a more relaxed hand, they also make killer old-time backup guitars because you can hear everything going on with them.

Todd brought this one back in for sale (he's got a huge collection -- he's shuffling stuff around) and it's remained stable since I saw it last. "Summer swell" meant I made a second, summer-height saddle for it when I recently gave it a restring and it's playing on-the-dot and comes with a taller, "winter" saddle as well that was dialed-in for midwinter humidity up here. It's ready to go.

Repairs included: (previously by someone else) a neck reset and cleats for minor cracks and (currently, by me) a fret level/dress, side dots install, new ebony bridge pins, two bone saddles (summer and winter heights), cleaning, and setup.

Top wood: solid spruce
Back & sides wood: solid mahogany
Bracing type: ladder
Bridge: rosewood
Fretboard: rosewood
Neck wood: mahogany
Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 50w-11 (I suggest 11s for standard tuning at max)
Neck shape: big V
Board radius: ~10"
Truss rod: N/A
Neck relief: straight
Fret style: low/small
Scale length: 24 3/4"
Nut width: 1 3/4"
Body width: 14 5/8"
Body depth: 4 1/8"
Weight: 3 lbs 2 oz

Condition notes: two repaired smaller side cracks, two repaired hairline cracks on the back. There's avereage uswear/playwear throughout and the finish has weather-checked/crackled all over and small scratches/dings here and there all over as you might expect. The back of the neck shows plenty of playwear/rubbing to the finish. There's pickwear to the side of the pickguard. The current saddle is a replacement and the tall/winter saddle is the modified original. The bridge pins and endpin are replacements. Otherwise the guitar is original. Its original tuners have a little slack in them and are not the best but are original and hold decently once you've got it in pitch. These things are true of all variants of this particular tuner type that I've handled.

It comes with: a good, older, hard case.