"Bandit" (2bandit)
05/02/2014 at 19:26 • Filed to: guitarlopnik
5
15|
"Bandit" (2bandit)
05/02/2014 at 19:26 • Filed to: guitarlopnik | 5
| 15 |
I bought this today off craigslist. It was being sold by a guy who knew nothing about guitars. It was advertised as "old guitar." I thought I knew what it was, an Old Kraftsman (Kay) built in the late 40s or early 50s. Most were built by Kay but in 1936 and 1937 they were built by another company. Gibson. He took it to the local guitar shop and they told him it was built in 1936 or 1937 by gibson based on the F-hole cut, mother of peral inlays, and bindings. Kick ass! For $25 I am now the owner of a pre WWII Gibson built archtop acoustic guitar. I want to do some double checking on the authenticity of that statement, but if the shop was correct, this guitar is awesome. It needs some TLC because the back is rough and the set neck is starting to separate but that's nothing too bad. It's also missing the pick guard. I had the same problems on my Kay parlor guitar from the '50s so I've done that type of work before. In good shape (mine will never be any good really) the gibson built ones are worth north of $1000.
Freddy "Tavarish" Hernandez
> Bandit
05/02/2014 at 19:30 |
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Wow, great find!
Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> Bandit
05/02/2014 at 19:39 |
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As the owner of a 50s Gibson archtop acoustic I am unbelievably jealous
Vizzini
> Bandit
05/02/2014 at 19:50 |
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Great find, but it's pretty dinged up. How hard will it be to restore that back panel?
Leadbull
> Bandit
05/02/2014 at 19:57 |
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You know, I think I've heard of a guy who plays a Kay archtop. You should check him out, he's kind of good.
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Bandit
> Vizzini
05/02/2014 at 23:39 |
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Pretty hard. I'm not going for a restoration, I just want to fix it up enough to get it playable. I like my old guitars to show their scars.
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Bandit
> Vizzini
05/03/2014 at 00:17 |
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I will probably end up taking that back panel off to repair it. I also need to remove and reset the neck. I'm going to lightly clean the body with soapy water first and then rehydrate the wood with some old english oil. Same for the fretboard and neck. The tuners will be disassembled, cleaned on a wire wheel, oiled, and reassembled. The tail piece will be polished with steel wool and then polishing compound. I'll probably make a new strap peg for the bottom of the guitar.
wontacceptthis
> Bandit
05/03/2014 at 10:46 |
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I would have never guessed that Gibson every made Old Kraftsman. I thought they were always made by Kay. I'm actually pretty fond of my $50 Sears & Roebuck parlor guitar. Unlike your guitar, it is a time capsule. Also unlike your guitar, its market value truly is $50.
At least it looks like the inner part of the back is still good. I don't know how you plan on fixing that veneer though. You might want to consider just cutting a small piece to fill the area that is missing, and then epoxying the whole seam.
One of my best friends has a 1930s era Kay or Harmony archtop that he found in a dumpster. Even in similar condition to yours, it plays ok, though it scares the living bejeebus out of me with that much tension on such a deteriorated structure.
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Bandit
> wontacceptthis
05/03/2014 at 20:38 |
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Yeah, for some reason I really like old Kays. I have an electric from the 60s that my grandfather gave me, a bass from the 70s, two parlor guitars from the 50s, and helped restore a Style Leader last year.
TheLOUDMUSIC- Put it in H!
> Bandit
05/04/2014 at 22:28 |
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Great minds think alike!
Sorry for sideways potato pics.
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Bandit
> TheLOUDMUSIC- Put it in H!
05/04/2014 at 22:30 |
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Huh, Kinja turned it right side up. Any idea what year your arch top is?
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TheLOUDMUSIC- Put it in H!
> Bandit
05/04/2014 at 22:33 |
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AFAIK it's a '55. It's a Kay Model K35, and that's just what I've found out from Fleabay. Been in the family for about that long, too.
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Bandit
> TheLOUDMUSIC- Put it in H!
05/04/2014 at 22:39 |
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Yeah, I've got the same design tail piece but my neck has no truss rod, my bridge looks much wider, I should have a pick guard, and I've got a different headstock. Why couldn't they just keep accurate records of how these were built?
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TheLOUDMUSIC- Put it in H!
> Bandit
05/04/2014 at 22:50 |
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The original bridge was lost, and the screw holes for a pickguard are still there. Before my dad refinished the guitar sometime in the late 80's, it was a sunburst, exactly like this .
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Bandit
> TheLOUDMUSIC- Put it in H!
05/04/2014 at 22:53 |
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Awesome thanks for the link. Annoyingly these things didn't change much over their production run so dating mine is really hard. All I have to go off of is what the guitar shop in town has said.
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TheLOUDMUSIC- Put it in H!
> Bandit
05/04/2014 at 22:56 |
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If you look in the to f hole, with a flashlight, you might be able to see a model number stamped inside. Mine says K35 6635. Whatever the hell the 6635 part means.