Gibson Kalamazoo KJ Mandobass c.1930's

This is one of the rarest instruments ever made by Gibson! Only 37 KJ mandobasses were ever made during it's brief run from 1936-38. The Kalamazoo KJ differs from the Gibson J mandobass by having F-holes, instead of the single oval hole found on the Gibson J. It has an arched (not carved top and back). These are neat, because you can play them like an upright bass with the endpin on the bottom, or, you can pull the endpin out and place it on the lower side, which enables you to play it in a position similar to an electric bass. Pretty slick for back then! This bass has the scale length of a 4/4 sized upright bass, 42" and has a fretted neck. The original tuners are gone and it now has geared Schaller ones. A passive pickup is installed, as is a strap button. On the side of the fingerboard, there are nails installed for position markers. There are a lot of repaired cracks on both the top and back. Not the prettiest, but they are solid. There is also a headstock repair (doesn't show in photos) a thin line comes from the E tuner down to the bottom of the headstock, then up it's side and into the headstock's face veneer. We didn't do any of these repairs, but we checked them all out and things are solid. Sorry about the glare in the photos, the original black gloss finish wants to reflect everything. There is some minor fret buzz on the first 2 or 3 frets if you play it really hard. The condition, when considering it's rarity is very good. All the repairs are solid. It does not have a case. It is being sold "AS IS."

Given it's large size, we will not ship this, local pickup only.

• Made by Gibson in Kalamazoo c.1930's
• Solid spruce top
• Solid maple back
• Maple sides
• 42" scale length
• 1 11/16" nut width
• Schaller tuners
• Passive pickup