Anyone know anything about Custom Kraft guitars?

[chimi]

I tried googling it but didn't find much on it. I found a guitar (les paul type guitar) and it says Custom Kraft but can't seem to find any info on it. Does anyone know anything about this company? Any history, where they're made, etc.?

[Jon Hiller]

At one time they were sold in the Spiegel (I think that's spelled correctly) catalog, but they were a "stencil" line, meaning they were made by someone else. I have seen information on the line in either my Gruhn's guide or some other book, but my reference books aren't here at home, so I'm not much help other than this.

[Clyde42]

Custom Kraft was the house brand of St. Louis Music in the early '60's. Solidbodies were made by Valco, and semi-hollows by Kay. By 1967 Valco purchased Kay, and by 1968 both of those companies died. Custom Kraft stuff appeared until sometime in the early '70's when old stock dried up. Some later examples may be from Japan, but most are USA made. There are some funky designs that will fetch a few bucks, but general quality is funky too. I picked up a Valco made Strat type at a pawn shop for $25, and drove across town to trade it against an SG Jr. I got $120 in trade, and the shop got almost $200 for the cheesy old thing. Neck was bad, frets worse, pickups microphonic, but it was USA cheese, so the shop actually turned it pretty quickly after working on it a bit. Go figure.

 

The previous poster referring to the Spiegel catalog, is thinking of Old Kraftsman, many of which were also Kays, and some were even made by Gibson.

[Jon Hiller]

Clyde, you're right, I was getting Old Kraftsman and Custom Kraft turned around.