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Anybody have a Kalamazoo guitar? Pretty much the company Gibson "left behind" when they moved from Kalamazoo. I see them on ebay, but have never had a chance to play one. Just wondering about their overall construction and playability.

Don;t confuse Kalamazoo with Heritage.

Heritage was formed in the old Gibson factory when Gibson moved by some Gibson luthiers who wanted to break out. They make awesome quality (but expensive) guitars.

Kalamazoo I am not sure I think it was a similiar story to something. If my memory serves moe correctly, Kalamazoo guitars were not particualtly well made. I remember some people checking out some of the SG style ones with single coil pups and saying they were not that great of guitars, though kind of a cool vintage piece if you got them cheap. Definitely not near old Gibson quality though I don't think.

Right I am definitely confusing them.

Kalamazoo is related to Gibson though, yeah? Were they like Gibson's budget brand before they bought Epiphone?

They were Gibson's budget brand. IIRC their guitars were made of Chipboard.

They're fucking terrible. A lot of shortscalers are intrigued by the Mustang-looking one just because, but don't bother.

I've got one of the MDF kalamazoos. The body material is one of the reasons people hate on them, but nobody ever complains about danelectros being masonite. The necks are bolt on, but great, and the pickups are awesome.

People seem to forget that these are for all intents and purposes Gibson Melody Makers built like solidbody danelectros that can be had for dirt cheap.

M D F .. are u serious..can you post some fotos?

i've always wanted to try one of these

I have a 1942 Kalamazoo 12 fret acoustic which I like very much. All the electric Kalamazoo's I have played have been pretty terrible.

I am sure if you find one that is pristine and has been set up just right, they are great. But during the height of Vintage Pricing people were looking at them as cheaper version of getting an old guitar. Problem is that they were not the quality that the instruments were the emulated yet do to the fact that they were old and had a sort of name recognition to them, they were selling for a decent amount.

If I found one locally I could play first dirt cheap I would consider it... Kind of like I might buy one of the better Kay's, Teisco, etc. If they are in decent shape and have a functioning truss rod that is.... By dirt cheap I eam under 100-150 at most.

hotrodperlmutter wrote:i've always wanted to try one of these

That's actually kind of attractive.

I suppose building anew body is an option but people are asking stupid money on ebay for these.

anything over 450 or whatever is stupid, but if you buy a complete one with the trem system the 60s gibson parts on their own are worth it from a strictly monetary standpoint. I've thought about replacing the body on mine, but it's held up so well and I can't imagine that it would sound any better thru an amp.