Members Kalamazoo37 Posted July 31, 2015 Members Share Posted July 31, 2015 Hello all, hope you're well . I've had the pictured 1937 Kalamazoo hollow-body for a few years, it was sold to me as an electric guitar with a pickup installed but from my research it seems that the pickup was likely installed at a later time, however it's a great sound and if any of you kind people recognise it I'd really like to know what sort it is, so I can potentially have the same sort installed on other instruments down the line (it's also a little microphonic unfortunately, so may eventually require replacing). I'm asking on here as opposed to the electric guitar forum as the size of it suggests to me that it was designed to go over a soundhole on a normal acoustic guitar? Cheers, Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted July 31, 2015 Moderators Share Posted July 31, 2015 Looks like a P-90 style single coil pickup. What is the model or name of your Kalamazoo? If you are correct and it is a 1937 model, then the pick-up is definitely not original, as P-90s actually debuted around 1940 [although officially only after the war, in 1946 when they restarted production of guitars], with metal covers. Does the other 'dog-ear' protrude under the pickguard? As you are probably aware, Kalamazoo was Gibson's original 'budget line' from around 1933 until the beginning of WWII....so there is a very brief overlap of time where Kalamazoo instruments and the P-90 we co-produced by Gibson. The P-90 was designed for archtops, like yours. It definitely has a few interesting things going for it, for one, no visible pole pieces [fairly rare for postwar era Gibsons, an early design variant covering the 'slug' {non adjustable} pole pieces], and what appears to be a very low profile [hard to tell for certain from the pics]. There are a number of manufacturers who make similar type p-ups today. Have you tried removing it to see if there is any identification on the under side? As to the microphonics, you could consider having it potted. Do you get a lot of 60Hz hum? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kalamazoo37 Posted August 1, 2015 Author Members Share Posted August 1, 2015 Hi DaddyMack, cheers for your response, yep the other dog ear comes out under the pick guard. I've read around what scarce information there is on the brand and seen a handful of photos of similar models without the pickup, such as this one from '38 http://cdn1.gbase.com/usercontent/ge...1z053uf_ss.jpg. It was labelled in the shop as being a 1937 Gibson Kalamazoo, they didn't know a great deal beyond that, looking through the F holes there's 595 stamped inside the low one and WE5 and KE5 stamped on the back and bracing respectively visible through the other, all in dark green ink. I haven't tried taking the pickup out for a look yet, i'm not very handy so am always nervous of fiddling with stuff like that. I may be taking it in to a luthier to see if it's sound to fit a couple of strap buttons on soon enough so might see if they could have a look. There's no current issue with 60Hz hum, but there's a constant buzz that gets louder when the guitar is near a computer or an electric light, it did pick up a radio signal once as well, thought the thing was haunted . It's only very slightly microphonic, the times i've particularly noticed is when I was recording direct with the singer I was accompanying in the same room and her voice managed to find it's way (quite quietly but audibly) onto the guitar recordings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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