1935 Kalamazoo KG-11 (Gibson) 00-Size Guitar

The factory order number on this one is almost illegible but seems to read something like 1435. This suggests a 1935 year of build and the guitar certainly looks like a '35. It has the wider sunburst finish pattern but it's not quite as wide as what became "standard" through the late '30s -- with the "spot" in the middle almost going to the edges and finished in less of a black/natural and more of a deep brown/reddish-natural.

Anyhow, this guitar arrived with some pretty bad neck joint trauma -- it had obviously been whacked a good deal. The neck reset/joint repair work was trying but I've managed to get it stable and sturdy despite the "crunch-in" of the binding around the soundhole edge. It also had a mildly-warped neck but a board plane and refret with jumbos has both the advantage of giving it a more-modern fret feel (and more sustain) and also some long-tanged frets that give a little bit of compression in the fretboard to aid in stiffening-up the neck against tension.

Now that it's done-up, it's an excellent player's guitar that handles quick and easy and dishes-out a ton of volume, snap, and sustain. This one cuts like a knife. Ancel and I tag-teamed the repairs on this guitar and it's been stable in service since work and good to go.

Repairs included: a neck reset, neck block/joint repair and reinforcement, two extra braces installed in the upper-bout-top, a board plane and refret with jumbos (the last few frets on the extension are mediums, however), side dots, saddle-slot conversion to "drop-in" style and a new bone saddle, new ebony bridge pins and endpin, back-brace repairs, hairline crack repairs to the top, a new bone nut, cleaning, and setup.

Weight: 3 lbs 5 oz

Scale length: 24 7/8"

Nut width: 1 3/4"

Neck shape: medium-bigger V

Board radius: 10"

Body width: 14 3/4"

Body depth: 4 1/8"

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: 52w, 40w, 30w, 22w, 16, 12

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: jumbo

Condition notes: the saddle, bridge pins, endpin, and nut are replacements but the rest is all-original. Note that there are 3 repaired longer hairline cracks on the top (two south of the bridge, one along the pickguard edge). There's a bit of "muck-up" to the finish around the neck joint and fretboard extension. There are two extra braces fit under the fretboard extension to stabilize the area. There's "pinching-in" at the heel/sides joint and also at the soundhole binding. It's a little ugly but a non-issue now that it's all patched-up.

It comes with: no case, sorry!

Consignor tag: A26