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Old 10-26-2021, 07:41 PM
blindjoe blindjoe is offline
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Default 1937 Kalamazoo Kg-11

I’m the third owner of this guitar. When I bought it it had two small cracks on the sides, and two seams on the three piece top had started to separate a bit giving the appearance of two cracks on the top which you can see in the pictures. The bridge plate also needed attention, and it needed a neck reset. I hired a luthier and had all of these issues taken care of, as well as a new bone saddle made to replace the original plastic one that was barely visible above the Brazilian rosewood bridge. The guitar now plays well and sounds gorgeous with plenty of saddle left to lower the action if you so preferred. Being an almost 100 year old guitar there is a little bit of a bulge behind the bridge, although with some appropriate humidity and the bridge plate repair I’ve noticed it’s gone down some. It doesn’t effect playability or the wonderful tone on this guitar. There are no breaks or overspray my luthier could find, and the guitar is lightly built and wonderfully resonant. Original ebony nut, original tuners. Brazilian fretboard. Fun little guitar. I’d like to net 1250 to me after fees and shipping. Thanks.

https://imgur.com/a/JBbTGBK

Also a recording. No eq but it does have a considerable amount of reverb on it. Just some noodling, I can upload or send you one sans reverb if you’re interested in the guitar. Thanks.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O8S...w?usp=drivesdk

Last edited by blindjoe; 10-26-2021 at 07:51 PM. Reason: Misspell
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Old 10-28-2021, 02:16 PM
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blindboyjimi blindboyjimi is offline
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Welcome to the AGF.

That’s lovely. Who dated it for you? I’d bet a ton that it’s a very late 1934 to early 1935. The flat headstock was a 1933-1934 thing, that sharp V neck and those tuners look early too, but that's a 1935-1936 sunburst. 1935 would still have the ebony nut, but a light stain on the back....hmm, that's a Senior thing as these had wood that would normally have a black-ish stain to hide the poor quality wood. Your wood is higher quality like they put on the Seniors. Yeah, I'm going early 1935. Great price too. The pre-1936 ones are the ones to have as the early ones are the lightest, hence a bit of belly, like all the good ones have.

If I didn’t have a mint 1934 KG-11 Senior, I’d pick this up in a heartbeat. Best of luck.
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Old 10-30-2021, 11:12 AM
blindjoe blindjoe is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blindboyjimi View Post
Welcome to the AGF.

That’s lovely. Who dated it for you? I’d bet a ton that it’s a very late 1934 to early 1935. The flat headstock was a 1933-1934 thing, that sharp V neck and those tuners look early too, but that's a 1935-1936 sunburst. 1935 would still have the ebony nut, but a light stain on the back....hmm, that's a Senior thing as these had wood that would normally have a black-ish stain to hide the poor quality wood. Your wood is higher quality like they put on the Seniors. Yeah, I'm going early 1935. Great price too. The pre-1936 ones are the ones to have as the early ones are the lightest, hence a bit of belly, like all the good ones have.

If I didn’t have a mint 1934 KG-11 Senior, I’d pick this up in a heartbeat. Best of luck.
Thank you for all that extra info. The date is coming from the original owner who bought it new back in the 30s, all though that could just be the year that they bought it and not the year that it was made. She played it in church. The guitar is very lightly built. I was considering replacing the nut, and maybe trying to flatten the top with a bridge doctor or the traditional steaming method (using my luthier of course not diy) but stopped when I decided I was going to offer it up for sale. I’ve got about 1500 in it with original purchase price and the work I had done to it to insure its continued playability and health. Sounds a lot better than my brand new Martin 000-15sm I picked up a while ago, but I prefer the neck and string spacing on the Martin and can only keep one. Surprised nobody has snapped this up with the price being below what I consider market value! Glad somebody else thinks it’s as cool as I do.
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Old 10-30-2021, 11:37 AM
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blindboyjimi blindboyjimi is offline
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It’s definitely cool. The house roof headstock was a 1935-37 thing, but early 35 on most of the other features. But it was Gibson and the Kalamazoo plant so anything goes, but your back and side are of higher quality than most KG-11s. I wouldn't change out the nut, but that's me. I'd shim it if it needs it, or cut out a square wedge and glue in a tight piece of ebony and re-cut a slot if only one string buzzes. Or at least make a new one from ebony. They switched to bone about 1940, but by then they were much heavier braced so it's hard to tell what's contributing to the tone. Most people searching for these will go for the earliest they could afford. But clearly a super cool guitar.

Mine was over $2,300 plus shipping. My 1933 is my 4th KG-11 (and I've had 3 KG-14s and have a Waterloo too). Your price is very good. Yeah, I thought it'd be gone in a day, but the market is funny. You just need one buyer. Hang in there.

BTW, these are so light and loud, I use a very thin maple bridge plate overlay (with hide glue so it's removable) and 11 Retro Monels tuned to Eb on mine. That drop in tension really protects the belly and fits these guitars and it's still loud and funky.

Last edited by blindboyjimi; 10-30-2021 at 11:47 AM.
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