1966/67 Kalamazoo KB1 entry-level bass guitar made by Gibson

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Blake writes:

I came across this on a local craig's list post in Michigan. I thought you might be interested. Keep up the good work!

http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/msg/3964178634.html

Thanks for that, Blake. I'll just borrow some text from the listing that is quite informative about these instruments:

The Kalamazoo bass, or KB (sometimes referred to as KB1), arrived in 1966, as a companion model to two Kalamazoo KG guitars that had been launched a year earlier.

Modern styling in solid-body 4-string bass that offers full, true bass tones in a sleek, rugged economically priced instrument. With one pickup of extremely powerful design and full volume and tone control, the Kalamazoo Bass creates the full driving bass sound that sells a combo.

The vintage Kalamazoo-brand bass guitars are perhaps not that well known outside the United States, due to their short production time (just a few years in the mid 1960s) and the lack of endorsement by well known musicians; however being made by Gibson, in the USA, out of genuine Gibson parts meant that they were better instruments than many in the same price range. Good condition examples can change hands for reasonable sums amongst vintage guitar enthusiasts, and players alike.

There were two body shapes - later models are SG shaped (have a closer look at a 1967 KB bass), but the majority are more like a Fender Mustang (see a 1966 KB bass). They have a bolt-on maple neck; something that Gibson (up until this point) didn't do, rosewood fingerboard, and were short scale. There were two subtley different headstock shapes, the first again suggests Fender, though a bit rounded off - the second has the characteristic 'beak' and is almost identical to that of the non-reverse Thunderbird (see images below). The Kalamazoo logo is engraved on the headstock. This bass used some standard Gibson components; a typical EB series humbucker right up at the neck, as used in the EB0, EB2, EB3, Melody Maker bass and Epiphone Newport This pickup in this position, has more affect on the sound than anything else. This bass does sound quite a lot like an EB0. Tuning keys are the Japanese-made closed keys that were also used on the Melody Maker bass and a few EB0s. The bar bridge had been in use on all bass models, but around 1966/67 this was replaced by the two-point intonatable bridge. From this point, the KB bass was the only one using these bridges - likewise the only one using the old-style (and position) chrome handrest. The scratchplate is almost identical (except some minor screw hole differences) to the Melody Maker bass, but the fingerrest is not rosewood as on all Gibsons, but actually plastic. The body material is not specified in Kalamazoo literature, but is supposedly a wood-laminate of one or more unspecified species, produced by a toilet-seat manufacturer in Wisconsin. There were three colours: Flame Red, Glacier White, and Las Vegas Blue. These were not the expensive nitrocellulose finishes applied to Gibsons, but again catalogue descriptions are not specific, perhaps some form of polyurethane?

Kalamazoo, rather than Epiphone was Gibsons Budget brand. A common misconception about Epiphone is that its 1960s guitars and basses were cheaper imitations of the Gibson lines. This is simply not true. From the late 1950s until 1969 Gibson and Epiphone instruments were made side by side at the Kalamazoo factory in Michigan, using the same woods, techniques and components. The purpose of the Epiphone range was to continue to provide Epiphones high-end instruments; those that had been Gibsons competition, and to circumvent certain supply agreements (Gibsons protective territorial policy). There was actually a waiting list to become a Gibson dealer, and to avoid upsetting existing dealers, Gibson was able to offer its (almost identical) Epiphone models to newcomers.

Currently being offered for sale on Craigslist in Michigan for $650.

G L Wilson

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Kalamazoo KB bass from 1966

guitarz.blogspot.com:

A couple of years ago when Gibson announced its plans to launch a decidedly Stratocaster-like signature Jimi Hendrix guitar with full support from his adoptive sister Janie Hendrix (see here), there was as outcry on the internet and the whole project was abruptly and conveniently swept under the carpet, Gibson acting as if it had never happened.

The reason for the outcry was two-fold. Many thought it was in poor taste, a crass attempt at cashing in on Hendrix's legacy. But many seemed shocked at the very idea of Gibson issuing a guitar so obviously based on a Fender design.

I was surprised at the fuss was being made over this secondary complaint, for this was nothing new. In the late 1980s, Epiphone - a subsiduary of Gibson - issued budget guitars based on the Stratocaster and Telecaster (which are NOT as "rare" as eBay sellers would have you believe). At around the same time Gibson themselves issued the US-1 and the U-2 - guitars firmly in the Superstrat mould.

Even before this in the mid to late 1960s, Gibson decided that they wanted a slice of Fender's success with their student models and from 1965 produced bolt-on neck guitar and bass models under the Kalamazoo brand (named after Gibson's original home of Kalamazoo, Michigan) which looked suspiciously similar to Fender's Mustang series. These were indeed budget instruments with bodies being made from Medium-Density Fiberboard (MDF). It's not surprising that Gibson wanted a different brand name on them, which isn't to say they were bad as such, but that they didn't represent the usual high quality build that Gibson were known for.

In 1968 the design was changed so that the bodies took on more of a SG-inspired shape, but still used the same MDF construction with bolt-on Fender-esque neck. These were still being produced into the early 1970s.

Gibson continued to flirt with bolt-on neck designs throughout the 1970s and 80s. These included the S-1, the timber and composite resin bodied Sonex, the L6-S, the unexplainably weird-shaped Corvus, etc, but with the exception of the latter named these all had more of a familiar Gibson look to them and wouldn't be mistaken for a Fender or derivative thereof.

The above-pictured 1966 Kalamazoo KB bass in Las Vegas Blue is currently being offered for sale on eBay and looks to be in fine condition for a student model of its vintage. It had a starting bid of $0.99 and has been attracting a fair few bids. I don't think it's going to sell for big bucks but these Kalamazoos have certainly been generating a lot of interest in recent years.

With thanks to Colin Brown who suggested featuring this auction via our Facebook page.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

1967 Gibson Kalamazoo KG2 serial number 00001

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Here is the Gibson Kalamazoo KG2, Gibson's response to Fender's Mustang at a time when the two dominant companies didn't yet carefully split the market. And it is probably the most Fender model produced by Gibson ever, not only by its design but with the single coils pickups, bolt neck, 6-in line tuners, tremolo (though it's a very Gibson short Vibrola trem with  Tune-o-matic bridge).

Kalamazoo was a short-lived budget line released by Gibson in the late 60s - there was two models, this one and a SG-style one, each with one or two pickups (KG1 & KG2) and with 2 different scales (both short), with bodies made of artificial wood (MDF) and cheap gear.

And this one has the serial number 00001 - it can interest collectors...

bertram


 Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!