Kel Kroydon KK-1 Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar, made by Gibson (1930), Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 9767.
The Kel Kroydon KK-I flat top is one of those odd Gibson creations, built for a specific time and place but eventually becoming recognized as a timeless player's classic. The Kel Kroydon line of banjos, guitars and mandolins was conceived to enable Gibson to soldier through the worst part of the depression by reducing the instruments to their bare essentials to enable the company to offer the lowest possible price. The KK-1 is structurally the same as a 1930 12 fret Gibson L-1 and l-0 flat top, with plainer cosmetics and built without the patented adjustable truss rod. The Kel Kroydons retain the X-braced spruce top (later Kalamazoo-brand flat tops do not) and are the lightest flat top guitars Gibson ever built-which has meant that not that many have survived intact.
Sold originally for $20 retail, by the standards of 1930 the KK-1 was still not an inexpensive guitar, but it did offer an unusual value and exceptional sound quality for that price. The natural-finish top is single bound, there is a simple triple B/W/B soundhole ring and the "Kel Kroydon" logo is stenciled on the headstock. Some of these had an amazing colorful tropical bird design stenciled on the top-this is a "No birds" KK-1 but a fairly early one-the Factory order number stamp is very faint but appears to be 9767, which puts it in with a batch of the very similar L-0 models from the second half of 1930. This particular guitar was sold originally by Friedman's Music in Newark NJ, a store which was a major Gibson dealer in the area and some old-timers here remember well. It is marked by them with an elegant stamp on the back of the headstock and a small crest applique inside the soundhole. This is a lovely and fantastic sounding little fingerpickers guitar, an obscure but delightful if unassuming depression-era gem
Overall length is 38 1/2 in. (97.8 cm.), 14 7/8 in. (37.8 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 9/16 in. (11.6 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/4 in. (44 mm.). This guitar is in very fine structural condition, all original with some typical cosmetic wear but no major damage or repair. The top shows some fairly heavy strumwear down into the wood on both sides of the fingerboard, extending below the soundhole on the treble side. The finish overall is all original with dings, dents and scrapes but no other large areas of loss. These extremely lightly built Kel Kroydons have often had major repairs or rebuilds-this one has amazingly survived without any major failings-no cracks at all, which is extremely rare on these. It has had a very clean neck set but retails its original rosewood fingerboard and small-wire frets and the neck is perfectly playable. The top has only a very slight arch retaining its original bridge and small maple bridgeplate. The sound of this guitar is magical; it is exceptionally responsive and sings at the lightest touch. While this is not the cleanest of this model we have ever seen, it is the best playing one we have ever encountered-at least without major restoration-and certainly one of the best sounding. Excellent - Condition.
