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

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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What's that guitar? New Sound budget electric guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Jimi writes:

Hi 

My name is Jimi Cullen. I am a musician from Ireland. I have been following your blog now for some time and absolutely love it. It's really great for building ideas as well as identifying unusual guitars. I have spent many hours looking through all the great stuff. Thank you. The other day I picked up a guitar that I have been unable to identify and cannot find on the blog. I was wondering if you knew anything about it.

The name on the headstock is New Sound but I'm not sure this is the original neck as there is a small gap at either side of the neck pocket so it may be a replacement. It's the body that I'm really interested in. Have you come across one before? Of course I may be mistaken about the neck and it may belong to the body.

I have attached some photos. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and keep up the great work

Jimi

Hi Jimi, I think we can safely say that your New Sound would have been a "budget" guitar back in the day. The single pickup is very similar to that appearing on the cheaper Teisco and Kay guitars. I'd wager also that the neck was original - they were rarely a snug fit in the neck pocket on these cheaper guitars. I'm not really able to say much more about it (because I simply don't know) but let's throw the question open to the Guitarz readership?

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Budget ergonomic guitar is a Klein/Telecaster hybrid

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Ergonomic guitars don't usually come very cheap. They are specialist instruments and are very often luthier built. It's little wonder that many people have sought to build their own, which is where the resources available at the Building the Ergonomic Guitar website make themselves invaluable.

The one design that crops up time and time again is that based around the Klein guitar as designed by Steve Klein (no doubt using the Ovation Breadwinner as inspiraton). Kleins have long been out of production with existing examples changing hands for many thousands of dollars, so it's not surprising that the design has been appropriated by other builders.

The above pictured guitar, however, is currently listed on eBay for $199 Australian dollars, which is approx £132.40 GBP, and a little over $206 US dollars at the time of writing. The body design, although a bit "blocky" and under-sculpted is copied from the Klein, although unlike the Klein guitar it is not headless (note the cutaway area behind the bridge - that's where the headless tuners would be on a Klein). The bridge, pickups and controls are borrowed from the venerable Telecaster.

Now, at this kind of price I couldn't comment on the quality of the guitar, but suspect that seeing as it utilises readily available Telecaster components, that it could be upgraded very easily and may well appeal to those on a strict budget wanting to experiment with guitar ergonomics.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

1964 Gibson ES-120 T (T is for thinline)

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This Gibson ES-120 T is the cheapest ever Gibson archtop model. Produced between 1962 and 1971, it could achieve its budget price by having all its electronics mounted on its scratch plate - single-coil pickup, pots and jack output - this allowing only one F-hole.

Once a total cheapo, as a vintage Gibson guitar, it can nowadays be considered as a collector, but who cares?

Bertram

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

Behringer Vintager guitar and amp package

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Christmas is coming - there's deals to be had...

If you're on a budget, one-day only deals like this one for a Behringer guitar starter pack from e-buyer.com in the UK look too good to pass by.

For just £68.99 you get a Behringer Vintager guitar, a Behringer AC108 Vintager 15 watt amp, gig bag, strap, guitar lead, 3 picks, instruction books and chord chart. Oh, and free delivery in the UK.

These are available at this price now, as I type this, and for the next 10 hours.

"So, is it any good?", you may well ask.

I bought one of these last week in a similar promotion. The guitar is so-so, to be honest. More or less what I'd expect from a budget guitar. It's the typical Strat-layout although the makers have tried to go with their own body shape. It looks OK, vaguely PRS-ish in shape.

The guitar is solid enough, although it's quite certainly not made from any quality timber. However, I don't think it's mega-cheap and nasty plywood either. I'd guess it was a low-grade basswood or similar. The neck is maple with a maple fingerboard and feels as if it's not been finished too well. In fact, up near the headstock end of the neck it feels quite uneven in its cross section like a wonky V. However, like the body, it's perfectly solid and - more importantly - straight. The action is quite acceptable. (People will insist on calling cheap guitars like this "junk", but they are fantastic when compared to the budget guitars of yesteryear!)

The pickups aren't so hot, as you may expect on a guitar of this price, but the guitar is perfectly playable although it does require a good setting up first. On my example, the strings hadn't even been wound on properly. I was tuning it up having had just taken it out of the box and the high E string boinnnged right off. As I was winding the machine head, the tension felt all wrong - I thought the string was going to break. Let's face it, it was probably put on by some poor kid in a Chinese sweatshop.

Speaking of the machine heads, they are not great. Obviously cheapies, but what else would we seriously expect? They do the job for now.

Another thing that bugs me about budget guitars which are obviously aimed at beginners is why oh why do they always insist on copying the Strat styling complete with "vintage style tremolo"? A tremolo is the very last thing you want on a guitar for beginners, especially if the guitar has not been set-up in the first place. All it is going to do is to confuse the beginner guitarist and - most likely - send the guitar out of tune.

What I'd like to see on starter guitars would be a simple hardtail bridge, perhaps with the intonation pre-set as on some of the wrap-around bridges you see on student model Gibsons and the like. It is the logical thing to do.

However, I'm sticking the guitar on eBay and am going to get a few quid back on my initial investment of £68.99. And if no-one buys it, it's going down one of the local charity shops and they can make some money from it. I simply have no need of a cheap Behringer guitar. The reason I bought this package was for the amplifier.

The Behringer AC108 Vintager 15 watt amp, according to the blurb, has "a hand-selected vacuum tube, vintage-tuned 8" guitar speaker, 2-band EQ plus mid-shift, dedicated headphone output and CD input".

Blimey! It's a real tube amp for peanuts!

I had to buy it, just to check it out. Forget the guitar, that's going on eBay.

Just read through some of the reviews on Harmony Central - folks are rating this little cheapie quite highly. Several of the reviewers have recommended swapping out the vacuum tube for something of better quality and even doing the same for the speaker, but to my ears straight out of the box this amp sounds streets ahead of any practice amp I've tried before. It doesn't have the smoothest distortion in the world when turning up the gain, but it certainly beats the horrible fizz from transistor practice amps. Plugging my Fernandes Sustainer guitar into this baby, it just sings. I don't think I've ever been able to drive any other small amp with a sustainer before, they just can't manage the level of gain to allow the sustainer unit to function properly.

So, my advice is, snap one of these packages up whilst they are nice and cheap. Keep the amp, sell the guitar or give it as a Christmas present to someone who might appreciate it (you might want to give them your old practice amp too!).

Apologies to those outside the UK, but the above still applies as there are deals to be found on these packages.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

The 40 Quid Str*t

Just after Christmas my 12-year old nephew was making noises that he'd like to get a guitar, although his mum and dad weren't too sure about spending a lot of money on something that he might possibly lose interest in after a while and end up not using. I suggested that he "borrow" one of my guitars and that if he took lessons and made progress with it then he could keep it permanently. However, a little while after I regretted this slightly as the guitar I had offered - a Washbrun Idol WI64DLX - was actually well suited to down- and drop-tuning, something I'd been recently playing about with. So, I had it in the back of my mind to look out for another guitar for my nephew.

Now I get these regular weekly emails from a company that mainly specialises in recordable CD and DVD blanks as well as various computing items, a few electronic items, toys and things like that. Well, I received such as email last Thursday - it looked like they were having a stock clearance with hard disk and DVD recorders for bargain prices, and also - I noticed - a Jaxville Custom Series "relic" S-type guitar for £39.99 with free postage and packing.

OK, a cheap and possibly nasty guitar, I thought... but at that price, still very tempting. According to the specs the body was made from basswood, which whilst not as desirable as certain types of wood, is a perfectly good solid material from which to build a guitar. So, I reckoned, as long as the body and neck were sound I could always upgrade the hardware and get a workable good sounding guitar for peanuts.

I placed the order Friday morning. The guitar came today. Upon opening the box I admit I was very impressed. It is indeed a solidly-built nicely constructed guitar. The neck is nice and tight in its pocket - no huge gaps like some bolt-ons; the neck appears to be good quality and with what looks like a very dark piece of rosewood for a fingerboard (so dark, I suspect it may have been dyed). The "relic" finish is actually artwork - the guitar hasn't been deliberately dinged and knocked about like custom shop relics. To the touch the body actually has a smooth satin finish. I can't figure out if the relic artwork been printed onto the body or if it is some kind of transfer. Whatever, it is quite nicely done; the look seems to have been influenced by Stevie Ray Vaughan's now legendary beat-up Strat. Cream-coloured pickup covers, knobs and selector switch tip in a black scratchplate complete the look.

Did I mention that the action was nice and low?

So far, so good. You know the expression "If it looks too good to be true..." - well I was desperately looking for the catch. Plugging it in I discovered that the pickups didn't sound half bad either. Obviously they're not the best units in the world but are perfectly serviceable and will certainly suit my nephew's needs. If there is a weak link I think it might be the machine heads. They felt cheap and are not the smoothest turning tuners I have ever come across. I think they'll do for now - possibly I can swap them out for something better later.

So, yes... I've been very pleasantly surprised. This should make a very nice starter guitar, and as I've already pointed out could be upgraded with pokier pickups and quality machine heads if desired. Let's see what my nephew makes of it.