Kalamazoo KG-3/4 Sport Model Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar, c. 1938, made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, sunburst top, dark back and sides finish, mahogany back and sides, spruce top; mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, original black soft shell case.
This very cool little 3/4 guitar was a relatively late addition to Gibson's budget Kalamazoo line, available from 1937-41. Built on the body pattern of 1920's TG-1 tenor guitar, the just over 12" wide "Sport Model" is a dainty tight-waisted design compared to the more familiar and rather stumpy body of the far more common Kalamazoo KG-11. The neck is very slim with a fairly sharp "V" profile and an ebony nut. The center-peak peghead is adorned with the standard Kalamazoo silkscreen logo, with "Sport Model" underneath, and early Kluson strip tuners.
The top "sports" a typically nice late-30's wide sunburst, with single binding on the edge and soundhole and a small firestripe celluloid pickguard. The sound is bright and tight...this is a cool little blues picker and would make a great high-strung "Nashville" tuned guitar. While likely intended for young students this is still a nicely made instrument fully the equal of other Kalamazoo instruments, and represents an unusual value in a pre-WWII "travel guitar" with full Gibson appointments. A fairly rare small-body Gibson design and dare we say an awfully cute little guitar.
Overall length is 36 7/8 in. (93.7 cm.), 12 5/8 in. (32.1 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 in. (10.2 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 22 3/4 in. (578 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.). Very clean for a 1930's guitar; some small areas of top wear between the fingerboard and pickguard that appear to have been colored in and one small repaired back crack, otherwise just light play wear. A very nice example, one of the best we have ever seen. Excellent + Condition.
