Gibson Recording King 1930s / A Mystery Unraveled

Alright gang, settle in.  There is a mystery to unravel here.  We are calling this a Recording King, for the sake of listing it, and it is a strikingly gorgeous flat top acoustic with great curves, and a trapeze tailpiece, in Excellent condition for a 93 year old instrument.  However, we can not say with certainty that this was truly a Recording King.  We don’t know just how this guitar was originally sold.  However, we do think that we know who made it and when.

During the Great Depression, the major guitar makers in America, including Gibson, Harmony and Kay, all had to scramble to stay alive.  The market place was divided into your typical mom and pop music stores, department stores and catalog retailers (there were no big box music stores at the time).  Gibson guitars were sold almost entirely through mom and pop music stores and Gibson had a contractual agreement with those stores not to undercut their prices by selling Gibsons for less through catalog retailers or department stores.  Harmony and Kay sold through both the mom and pops and the department stores / catalogs.  So, for Gibson to stay afloat , they had to find a way to expand their markets more heavily into the Department Stores and Catalog merchants, without breaking their contracts with the mom and pops.  They did this by making guitars under different brand names, and with some subtle and not-so-subtle changes to them to make them not recognizable as Gibsons.  Many know of brands such as Kalamazoo, Cromwell and Recording King, but Gibson actually made guitars, banjos  and mandolins under over 30 different brand names (Harmony made guitars, mandolins and basses under about fifty different brand names).  Some were made in larger quantities for the nationally known catalog retailers, like Montgomery Ward, Spiegel and, of course, Sears.  Others were made in small batches for local or regional department store retailers, most of which have been lost to time.

The Gibson line of off-branded instruments tended to have the most significant changes from the more well known Gibson guitars.  Acoustic flat-tops were ladder braced, the patented Gibson truss rod system was left out, head stocks were changes and ornamentation and bindings were kept simple.  Finishing techniques tended to stay about the same, as did hardware, but the overall appearance of the instruments (and their sound) was notably different.

In searching out information on this guitar, we wound up focusing on four specific details: the width of the lower bout, the trim around the sound hole, the profile of the neck, and the shape of the headstock.  After searching the internet far and wide; we can not find another example of a guitar that looks like this one, and has a 15 5/8” lower bout.  There was one guitar, a Kay, that looked very similar to this (from a distance), but had a 15 7/8” lower bout, different sound hole trim, a C-profile neck (this is a classic V-profile) and a standard Kay headstock.

The headstock on this guitar is identical to many found on Recording Kings, some of the Kalamazoos, Cromwells and Capital guitars, all made by Gibson.  The headstock is in some ways similar to a Regal guitar, but not as sharp in the corners.  The V-profile neck was typical for Gibson guitars of the time, but not so much on other brands.  The patterned trim at the sound hole was referred to as a “Zipper” binding and, from what we have read, was only available for one year, 1932.

In the end, we believe that the headstock design, sound hole trim and neck profile indicate this to most likely be a Gibson made guitar, probably intended for a smaller, regional retailer, and sold as the equivalent of a saxophone “stencil,” an instrument on which a retailer might add their own name or logo to make it unique to their shop.  There are no serial or FON numbers to be found.

Now, more about the guitar.

This thing is a beast!  It has one of the biggest voices we have ever heard out of an acoustic guitar, and it doesn’t just resonate, it positively echoes.  In some ways, it looks like a flat-top version of a 1920s L-4. Here are the important specs:

Top: Spruce - the top is flat

Back and Sides: Birch (I believe) - the back is arched

Neck: Maple

Fretboard and Bridge: Brazilian Rosewood

Scale: 26” (yep, 26”)

Lower Bout: 15 5/8”

Upper Bout: 11”

Waist: 8 5/8”

Body Length: 19 7/8”

Body Depth: 3 3/8”

Nut: 1 3/4”

Action at 12th Fret: Low E - 2.5/32nds”, High E 1/16th”

The trapeze tailpiece actually serves to take stress off of the ladder braced top, which has kept the top from bellying over the years.

When it came into the shop, it was actually in very good shape, with a straight, well set neck. Structurally, there are no cracks, splits or open seams.  The finish has plenty of little dings and scratches, all honest play wear from over ninety years of use.  The open back tuners have been replaced and are in great shape, turning easily and holding a tune very well.  Two of the braces for the back of the guitar were loose on arrival and the back, over the years had apparently flattened out a bit, because they no longer fit the curve of the back.  We sanded them back into shape to fit the back and reglued them.  One of the braces was really tough to negotiate within the body and the glue work, completely solid, is not as clean as we would have liked.  It serves its purpose and is hardly visible from outside the guitar.

In addition to resetting the two braces, we leveled and crowned the frets, lemon oiled the board and bridge, lubricated the tuners, and reattached a loose pick guard.  The chipboard  case was falling apart, so we have replaced that with a new, On-Stage Hybrid padded soft case.

There is a very slight amount of relief to the neck.  We made the decision to opt for a lower action in order to take any stiffness out of the playing.  As a result, the G, D and Low E fret out at about the 14th fret.  If we set the action at 3/32nds of an inch, they do not.  If you need to play up at and above the 14th fret, you can raise the action easily at the bridge.

As noted above, this guitar is loud! It will certainly cut through in an acoustic setting.  The sound quality with the strings we have on it (D’Addario Nickel Bronze Light Gauge 12-53) is barky, more akin to an arch-top, but much louder.  You might experiment with different strings to get a mellower tone (try Silk and Steel or Martin Retro Monel strings).

Please be sure to check out and zoom in on the photos, as we have tried to capture this guitar from all angles.

This vintage guitar is sold “AS IS” and is not returnable unless it arrives in a condition other than as described or photographed, here.

Price: $2200.00 plus $125 shipping (Lower 48 USA only)