The Convoluted History of Guild Guitars

 

Guild Guitars

Recently someone asked me if Guild Guitars were still built in the United States. Well that is a tough question to answer. So I did a little research into the history of Guild Guitars.

Guild Guitars was one of the preeminent guitar brands in the United States. Their acoustic guitars were well built and sounded great. Back in the day, many acoustic jazz artists and Folk Music performers preferred Guild instruments over Martin guitars. 

Alfred Dronge on the Right 

The Guild Guitar Company was founded by music store owner Alfred Dronge in 1952. Alfred Dronge was born Avram Dronge on August 16th, 1911 in Poland. He had immigrated to America with his parents in 1916. Along the way, he took up classical guitar and banjo, but became enamored with American Jazz guitar through listening to Eddie Lange, Nick Lucas, and other players of the day. 

Dronge married Dorothy Abrams in 1934 and they had 2 children: the daughter’s name was Joy and the son’s name: Mark. Dorothy and Alfred met on a Bay Line Cruise ship on the Hudson River where Alfred was playing a regular gig with a small orchestra. He also gave guitar lessons to supplement their income. 

Park Row NYC 1954

In 1936, a small music store called ‘Sagman & Dronge’ opened at 130 Park Row in New York City. Barney Sagman had some money and liked the idea of investment in a music store. Mr. Sagman knew of Dronge as he worked at a neighboring store called Harry Newcorn and Silver & Horland. Sagman was aware of Alfred Dronge’s knowledge of the music industry. 

Though 48th Street had the reputation for the best concentration of musical instruments in New York City, Park Row had the reputation of the place to go to find a bargain. The music store opened. 

Within 2 years, Dronge was able to buy out Barney Sagman and rename the shop: Alfred Dronge Music. He specialized in used instruments and there were plenty of them to be found. He also invested in a repair shop. The need for repairs was clear: he would take in used instruments, repair or restore them and make them available for re-sale. 

One result is that he became familiar with all types of instruments and intimately familiar with what makes an average instrument or what creates an exceptional instrument. Alfred Dronge also got to know most of the representatives from the major American Musical instrument manufacturers by dealing with them from his little shop in lower Manhattan. 

Dronge and Mann

George Mann from Epiphone would linger in New York City as there were so many music shops to deal with. Dronge built a reputation on fairness and always paying on time. He ran his business carefully and built strong relationships that would help him later. 

Sadly, Alfred’s wife, Dorothy, contracted Hodgkins’s disease at the young age of 27 and in 1943 she died at age. Alfred quickly remarried Dorothy’s younger sister Mildred Abrams. This was not unusual in Jewish tradition as it helped ensure stability and family continuity in raising the children. 

War Ration Coupon Book

The war years of 1941 through 1945 became a difficult time for all US industry due to material shortages limiting the availability of new instruments. Dronge was able to focus on used instrument sales to keep the business afloat. 

After the war, Italian accordions had become popular and profitable. They became the new specialty of his shop. I remember an accordion salesman coming around to my parent's apartment when I was only three years old. The upstairs neighbor purchased an accordion for their daughter with the promise of cheap lessons.

Sonola Accordion

Dronge began importing Sonola accordions built by Cupido in Castelfidardo, Italy. This worked so well that Dronge gave up the store in 1948 to concentrate on the import business and built a distribution market. The new business was called: The Sonola Accordion Company. 

Mr. Dronge relocated the offices to 220 Fourth Avenue (Park Avenue South) near Union Square. 

Alfred’s younger brother Louis got involved in the business and stated working at the company at about this time to handle sales. 

John Caruso 

An accordion virtuoso of the time by the name John Caruso had a local accordion studio where he employed 29 teachers for lessons. Alfred and John were friends. John suggested the use of better quality and fuller sounding reeds for the Sonola Student accordions. Adding better models was a great idea as the newer line expense made the imports sound like more expensive models. The new accordions were a hit. Dronge made a small fortune on accordions. 

Epi Strathopoulo

Epiphone was another wonderful guitar manufacturer. It's facility was located in New York City. The company’s president, founder, and namesake Epimanondas (Epi) Strathopoulo died in 1943. The company was taken over by his brothers Orpheus (Orphie) and Nicol (Frixo) Strathopoulo. However, they did not show the interest or drive of their older brother and the business began to decline. 

Frixo left the business in 1947 and his position as Vice President and Secretary was filled by a Mr. George Mann. New ideas were put forward. Unprofitable items were discontinued. 

The Strathopoulo Brothers

The remaining brother, Orphie, did not have patience with the union workers and craftsmen. By 1951 there was a union dispute that shut the factory down for 4 months. To handle the strike, management decided to move out of New York and move the factory to Pennsylvania. This angered the striking workers as they had no desire to move their families to another state. 

This solution also upset George Mann, the new partner. George contacted Alfred Dronge and the two of them worked out a plan to start a new guitar company using the talented craftsmen that Epiphone left behind and eliminate the lengthy and expensive process of training new luthiers. 

Dronge and Mann registered their new venture on October 24th, 1952. The name “Guild” was chosen. It was reminiscent of the craftsmen’s’ organizations “Guilds” of the Middle Ages. This implied tradition and quality. This same name had been used by a San Diego amplifier manufacturer t that was going out of business. 

536 Pearl Street NYC

The two partners had put together a plan for a company but did not yet have a facility. They eventually found space in Manhattan New York at 536 Pearl Street near Foley Square, on the 2nd floor. Six months later, the first guitars emerged. 

The shop Forman was Enrico Cappiello, former 25-year veteran from Epiphone. There were 4 other Epiphone graduates. Dronge’s son, Mark, started work at the factory. 

George Mann left the business, while Alfred Dronge continued. The company initially specialized in archtop Jazz guitars as New York was one of the nation’s music centers. Alfred loved jazz guitar and  knew many of the New York players. 

Johnny Smith Model Guild

Guild concentrated on full-depth jazz acoustic guitars. In 1955 and he began working with Johnny Smith to develop a signature model archtop guitar. Smith had been voted top guitarist by the Downbeat Readers Poll of 1954 and had just the type of credibility that Dronge was looking for. 

Apparently, Johnny Smith was not entirely happy with the Guild design, even though he had been intimately involved in the initial design work. He seemed to feel that Dronge had made too many changes. Guild later changed the Johnny Smith model’s name to Guild the Guild Artist Award. 

Guild was not a union shop and quickly came under pressure to unionize. To escape union interference, Guild moved over the river to Hoboken, New Jersey. The timing was good as they needed more space anyway. 

Guild Factory Hoboken NJ

The new factory opened on November 1st, 1956 at 300 Observer Highway. Guild occupied approximately 6,000 square feet on the 6th floor of the old Neumann Leather Building. Over the next few years, the company expanded from a steadily growing demand from Jazz and the emerging folk boom. 

The ‘Artist Award’ developed for Johnny Smith was immediately accepted as an exceptionally fine instrument. Guild continued to refine its flattops and classical guitars as well as amps and accessories. 

Over the years Guild acquired employees from Martin, Gibson, Epiphone as well as luthiers like Carlo Greco from Italy and Argentina. 

Its sales force was headed by Herb Sunshine a veteran sales manager from Epiphone who had been in the music business since 1926. Guild expanded within the 6-story Neumann Leather Building. In 1960, Guild was registered as ‘Guild Musical Instrument Corporation’ and Dronge took the company public with a stock offering of 325,000 shares at $3 per share. 

During the 1960’s major American corporations and holding companies were advised to diversify. The music business was lucrative and appeared to have a bright future. Suddenly, guitar manufacturing was a desirable addition to corporate portfolios. 

Fender was consumed by CBS, Gibson was bought by Norlin, LoPrinzi Guitars was purchased by AMF. Guild was bought by Avnet for about $5,000,000 in July of 1966.  Dronge retained as president. 

Mark Dronge recognized the influence of the folk boom and the Greenwich Village scene of the early 1960s. He became responsible for Artist Relations for Guild and spent a fair amount of time in nightclubs in and around Greenwich Village. He moved into the Village to better monitor the scene. He developed relationships with many of the artists and moving forces of the Folk scene and he introduced them to Guild. 

Guild Facility Westerly RI

In 1966, Guild had outgrown the facilities in Hoboken and needed another factory capable of larger runs of lower end guitars. Al Dronge found a factory in Westerly Rhode Island that had been a custom furniture facility and came with 25 experienced woodworkers that were rehired by Guild. 

Remarkably, the foremen from Hoboken were all willing to move to Westerly RI. Dronge simply brought the new employees to Hoboken for a 6-week training session and was able to get the new facility in Westerly up and running with minimal disruption to production. 

To make the commute easier, Dronge had taken up flying and owned a small plane. 

In 1968 Mark Dronge left the company, wanting to strike out on his own. In 1989 Mark Dronge eventually started his own company, DR Strings, which manufactures hand wound guitar and bass strings. Mark passed away in May of 2022. His daughter Annika is now the company CEO.

By the end of 1971, all factory operations had been transferred to Westerly Rhode Island. The future looked bright for Guild 

NY Times Article
About Plane Crash

Sadly on May 3rd of 1972 Alfred Dronge, a director of Avnet, Inc., diversified manufacturing concern, and president of Avnet's Guild Musical Instruments division, was killed when the private plane in which he was flying alone crashed near the airport here. 

Mr. Dronge was only 60 years old and had residences in New York and also had homes in Watch Hill, Rhode. Island., and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 

Leon Tell took over as president and shortly after, Neil Lilien became Vice-president. Demand for Guild products was still rising, and the primary problem became skilled labor. Guild had been hiring skilled people from Portugal and Italy and didn’t maintain as aggressive a pay scale as its competitors. 

1971 Guild Electrics

Guild began building solid body guitars in the 1980s with a series of models that have a slim pointed headstock. The distinctive shapes were sometimes referred to as: ‘duck foot’ or ‘cake knife’. The new models included: the Flyer, Aviator, Liberator and Detonator, the Tele-style T-200 and T-250 (endorsed by Roy Buchanan) and the Pilot Bass, available in fretted, fretless, 4 and 5-string versions. 

1970's Guild X-175

In 1973, the company decided in to build archtops only as custom orders. The 1980s saw a resurgence of interest in archtops and Guild responded by returning them to their catalog as a standard line. They continued to be built at their Westerly, Rhode Island facility. 

In mid August of 1986, Avnet sold Guild to a management/investment group from New England and Tennessee. Officers of the newly formed Guild Music Corporation included company President Jerre R. Haskew (previously Chief Executive Officer and President of the Commerce Union Bank of Chattanooga Tennessee), Executive Vice President of Plant and Operations George A. Hammerstrom, and Executive Vice President of Product Development and Artist Relations George Gruhn (Gruhn later left the company in early 1988). 

And this group sold Guild to the FAAS Corporation (Chuck Faas) which changed name to U.S. Music Corporation. 

Unfortunately, the remaining members of the investment group (Gruhn had already left) defaulted on bank obligations in November of 1988, leading to a court supervised financial restructuring. 

U.S Music Corporation

The FAAS Corporation of New Berlin, Wisconsin (renamed to U.S. Music Corporation) bought Guild in 1989.

The Fender Musical Instrument Company (FMIC) bought Guild from U.S. Music Corporation in November 1995. The Westerly factory artisans and workers prepared guitar 'kits' that they shipped to Fender's Corona, California facility. These kits were near-complete production guitars that only needed finishing and final assembly before being sent to retailers 

Fender shut down the Westerly Rhode Island Guild manufacturing facility, after being in production for  almost 30 years in 2001. 

Tacoma Made
Guild F-50M

In 2004, FMIC had also acquired the Washington-based Tacoma Guitar Company. Tacoma Guitars established a manufacturing facility and trained a number of local craftsmen. This was a possible solution to ongoing staffing concerns in Corona. All American Guild acoustic production was moved to Tacoma, Washington. 

DeArmond M-75

To deal with lagging sales of the Guild electric solid body designs, production of American-made Guild electric guitars was simply discontinued. Some of these guitars were then produced in South Korea by the Samick Company, while others were produced in Indonesia under the brand name DeArmond. 

It would not be long before Fender completely shut down production of Guild. 

2009 Guilds Made In
New Hartford, CT

Then in 2008, Fender again moved Guild to a new plant when it acquired Kaman Music Corporation and its small production facility in New Hartford, Connecticut, where hand production of all US-made Guilds resumed in a manner consistent with other high-end, boutique guitar builders. 

The New Hartford Guild facility began production in early 2009, starting with the top-end D-55 and F-50 models. Production quickly ramped up to include most of the popular Traditional Series acoustic guitar models. Acoustic-Electric versions of these models were also made available. 

In the late spring/early summer of 2014, Fender's New Hartford Guild facility closed its doors as the Fender Musical Instrument Corporation (FMIC) prepared to sell off the Guild brand. 

Cordoba M-120e Guild

Córdoba Music Group (CMG), based in Santa Monica, California purchased the Guild brand rights and began setting up a new manufacturing facility in Oxnard, California, led by Gibson alum Ren Ferguson as the VP of Manufacturing and R&D. 

Córdoba started production in late 2015, releasing its first models (M-20 and D-20) in early 2016. Higher-end models like the D-55 were released in late 2017. 

Guild F-512

In February 2023, The Yamaha Guitar Group acquired Córdoba Music Group. Guild guitars are now made in multiple locations: some USA-made models are built in Oxnard, California, while the Westerly Collection is made in China. Newark St. electric guitars are produced in South Korea, Indonesia, and China. 

So yes, Guild Guitars are made in the United States, in Oxnard, California, but Guild Guitars are also made in other countries. 

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The Rather Eccentric Orville Gibson And His Carved Guitars And Mandolins

 

Orville H. Gibson

Orville Gibson’s name is on some of the very finest quality commercial guitars ever made. He was a musician and a self-taught luthier. 

As a musician, Gibson was a mandolin player during an era when mandolin orchestras were popular: the turn of the last century. His love of the mandolin and guitar influenced his unique ideas on building the instrument. 

Through my work career I have encountered some fairly unusual people. More than one guy often came to work wearing a kilt. There were ladies (and men) that decided it would be a great idea to wear a tutu to their job. 

After studying Orville Gibson's life I believe he would fit into the rather eccentric and odd category of funny people that I had the pleasure to have known. Gibson enjoyed dressing up in costumes and uniforms, some of which were just plain silly. Above all Orville Gibson loved to perform. One of my rules of life says, "We all have to wear the Monkey Suit." Gibson was one of those people that wanted to be noticed and felt the need to be different than the rest of us. He proudly wore the Monkey Suit.

We know that Orville Gibson moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan around 1876 when he was 19 years old. He had spent his childhood in Malone, New York, a town that is 75 miles south of the Canadian border. This was an extreme move to a new and different city. 

He desired to be a performer and at the time Kalamazoo had become a popular city for aspiring musicians. It had dance bands, orchestras, and even a city military band. 

Orville Gibson 

Gibson was featured in a fund-raising event for a Presbyterian Church. He played guitar and sang in an Irish dialect. This successful event  not only made a profit, it also introduced him to other musicians in town. 

Sprague Shoes and Boots

To support himself Orville Gibson took a job at a shoe store. We do not know exactly when he started creating his own stringed musical instruments. However we do know that by 1888 he had created his Mandolin-Guitar. As a luthier he was completely self taught

Orville Gibson created an entirely new style of mandolin and later guitar. He based his instruments on violin design, with its curved top and bottom carved into shape, and arched like the top and back of a violin.

Gibson Family Mandolins

His original invention was what he called the Mandolin-Guitar. It had nine strings with the three treble strings tuned like a guitar, and the lower six strings tuned in courses or pairs.

Orville Gibson's Patent

Ten years later, in 1898 he applied for and was granted a patent on his original mandolin design. The sides were also carved out of a single block of wood, rather than being made of bent wood strips. Due to his instruments sound board being hand carved there was no internal bracing or neck block needed. 

The instrument's top was carved with an arch, while the back was fairly flat to enhance sound projection. On the guitars, the neck was hollowed out to increase resonance.

Style F Mandolin
Style 0 Guitar 1894

Orville Gibson’s instruments were larger, and more durable than contemporary fretted instruments of the day. At the time all guitars were strung with gut strings. Because of his guitar's sturdy design, he used steel strings similar to the ones used on Mandolins. Because of this, and the larger body shape, Gibson's guitars were much louder than other instruments of that era. 

Musicians soon demanded more instruments than he was able to build in his one-man shop.  It is said that Gibson's instruments sounded dull by today's standards. His designs were revolutionary. To my ears his guitars sound pretty bright.

Based on Gibson’s ideas, in 1902 five interested Kalamazoo Michigan investors took a chance by forming the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co., Ltd, making Orville Gibson an offer for his business, and selling shares of stock in the company.

Within a short period after the company was started, the board passed a motion that "Orville H. Gibson be paid only for the actual time he works for the company." 

Orville Gibson Style O

Orville Gibson's guitars were usually designated as Style O, while his three point fancy mandolins were Style F. His instruments all featured round sound holes. The rounded headstocks were usually inlaid with a quarter moon and a star. 

1904 Style O Headstock

Gibson has used a compound dovetail neck joint as an integral part of its acoustic guitars. Orville Gibson  believed this arrangement brought the instrument closer to resonating like a single piece of wood

At that time most other builders were using a scarf joint. This is still common in the industry.

There is no clear indication whether he worked there full-time, or as a consultant. Newspaper accounts stated that Gibson received a lump sum payment (perhaps as much as $10,000, with monthly payments thereafter. I have also read that Gibson was paid $2500 to train employees.

Gibson and the new company used music teachers to market the instruments along with print advertisements. 

At the time mandolins were all bowl backed instruments. So Gibson’s flat back design was quite revolutionary. His guitars, built on a similar method, were influential as well, and his guitar patterns are still recognizable in modern jazz guitar. 

Gibson's Workshop 1904

The idea of carving the instrument tops and bottoms appears to have originated with Orville Gibson and is not based on any mandolin or guitar building tradition. Although inspired by the carving of violins, he did not use violin manufacturing techniques or patterns to build his instruments. 

In addition to a variety of variations on the mandolin, and his guitar design, Orville Gibson built award winning harp guitars. He also built some violins. 

And though Gibson lent his name and expertise to the company he was never an owner. In 1908 Orville Gibson was paid an annual salary of $500. This was equivalent to $20,000 a year today. 

Orville in a Mandolin Ensemble 

Orville’s leisure time was spent with mandolin orchestras and ensembles. These groups included different voiced mandolins—soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. Orville Gibson also sang at these concerts. 

Gibson Ensemble

By 1900 Orville Gibson was having some health problems. His cousin, Margaret aka Maggie, was close to him and looked after Orville. Eventually Gibson moved into the home of Maggie and her father. 

Orville Gibson’s health took a turn for the worse in August 1908. He became ill with stomach issues and was placed under a doctor’s care. 

In June the following year Gibson evidently suffered a nervous breakdown. He was placed in the county jail for being violent and “brooding over imaginary troubles” His relatives in New York were contacted. After a few weeks of confinement, he was found “incompetent” by a court in July of that year, and a Mr. William R. Fox was appointed as Gibson’s guardian. 

Orville H. Gibson

His imaginary troubles were in fact early signs of a medical condition called endocarditis. This is caused by an infection in the lining surrounding  the heart. Symptoms include loss of appetite, weight loss, cough, blood in the urine or stool, and confusion or disorientation. In fact Orville's weight dipped below 105 pounds from his normal weight of 150 . Antibiotics would have cured him but were not available until the 1940's.

Orville was moved to New York State to live with family. His health began to improve, but by now he was forced to retire from building instruments. He returned to Kalamazoo at least twice after his retirement. 

Gibson Guitar Co. Kalamazoo

His first trip back was in August 1912 when he spent a few weeks with friends in Kalamazoo, South Haven, Grand Rapids and Chicago. He stopped by the Gibson plant on Harrison Alley. He was quite impressed with how much the town of Kalamazoo had grown in the three short years since his departure. 

After 1912 Orville Gibson returned to Malone, New York where he made “several beautiful instruments by hand, exquisitely inlaid and ornamented. 

Orville H. Gibson

Orville made a second trip to Kalamazoo in April 1915 on his way to the Panama–Pacific International Exposition (1915 World’s Fair) in San Francisco, where he planned “to exhibit musical instruments that he had built. Few in Kalamazoo seemed to notice his presence, as there was no word of his visit in the Kalamazoo papers. 

O.H. Gibson 1855-1918

Orville’s health continued to decline and in early 1918 he was taken ill and admitted to the A. Barton Hepburn Hospital in Ogdensburg, New York, which was an asylums for the mentally ill.  After five months of treatment, Orville Gibson passed away on 19 August 1918, at the age of 62 from endocarditis. 

The instruments we have left that Orville Gibson made are scarce. Although he created many guitars, harp guitars, mandolins, and even violins. However there are no more than 25 instruments remaining in existence. Only half of the instruments remaining are guitars.

Orville Gibson Harp Guitars

Though Orville Gibson's musical instrument designs were extraordinary, the necessary carving required to create the front and back from a solid block of wood was an impractical task for creating a quantity of guitars and mandolins expediently. His successor, Lloyd Loar, took mandolin and guitar production a step further by improving the process.

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The 2025 Limited Edition Squier Hello Kitty Stratocaster

 

Jimi with a Hello Kitty Strat?

I am so happy! My life is now complete. Fender has just brought back a limited edition Squier Hello Kitty Stratocaster for it's 50th Anniversary. It is the dawn of a new era!! 

For those that are not aware Hello Kitty was a fictional character created by Yuko Shimizu, currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi, and is owned by the Japanese manufacturing company Sanrio. The character was designed to sell sandals and vinyl coin purses. 

Hello Kitty

Though Hello Kitty may look like a kitten the character is purportedly a little girl named Kitty White or in Japanese, Kiti Howaito. She lives in a London suburb with her sister Mimmy and must be doing well as London property is expensive. 

She came on the scene around 1975 and became popular due to a trend called Kawaii or “cute culture”. (Silly me. I thought Kawaii was a piano.) 

By 2010 Hello Kitty was a marketing sensation, with comics, music, video games, magazines, clothing, and even theme parks. 

2005 Squier Hello Kitty Guitar

In 2005 Fender created the Squier Hello Kitty Stratocaster which was marketed to preteen girls. At that time the guitar sold new for around $225. 

The original instrument’s body was made of a Agathis wood, a soft wood harvested in India. The Hello Kitty guitar had a single pickup with one volume control. 

The 2005 guitar's neck was Maple with a plain headstock. This instrument had a budget hardtail adjustable bridge saddle. The originals had Hello Kitty face adorning the pink body. Fender’s original run was around 7,000 instruments. 

Slash With Hello Kitty Guitar

The funny thing is a number well-known artists were seen using Hello Kitty guitars on stage. These included Dave Navarro, Slash, Courtney Love, Amy Lee, and John 5.

Vintage Hello Kitty Guitar

In 2019 the used price of a used 2005 Hello Kitty guitar almost tripled with some collectors asking $750 to $1000. 

Limited Edition Hello Kitty

The new limited-edition models have a suggested retail price of $579. The body is made of Okume wood, a hardwood harvested in central Africa. 

The guitar’s C-shaped neck and fretboard are maple wood with red fret markers. The guitar has a single Fender designed Alnico pickup and the jack is placed on the instrument’s lower side. 

The most popular body has a pink finish with a matching pink headstock. The Squier Hello Kitty models are also available with a pearl white and black finish. The guitar's back feature's Hello Kitty written in script. 

Apparently I missed the boat on the pink model that was released in 2024. But the 2025 white and black models are readily available.

The plastic pickguard is an image of Hello Kitty’s face. The instrument comes with a matching Hello Kitty gig bag. 

Fender Hello Kitty Products

But wait there is more! For an additional $125 you can purchase a Hello Kitty Fuzztone. The Hello Kitty 10-foot pink and white woven guitar cable is $37.99. The polyester Hello Kitty guitar strap is $35, a box of 18 Hello Kitty guitar picks sells for only $20, while a Fender Hello Kitty crew neck sweatshirt is $59.99 (although sadly they don’t come in my size). 

I am ordering mine right now!

UniqueGuitar Publications (text only) 2025

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The Unusual Story Of The Gibson Toilet Seat Guitar

 

 

My Grandma lived on
 the top floor of this house.

When I was a young fellow  it was a real treat to visit my Grandma. She lived in an apartment above an old residence with an amazing staircase that today would be considered antique. In fact the entire house was antique. The home belonged to my cousin's grandparents during the 1940's and '50's. The Bellevue, KY house is still there.

There is the staircase
with the circular window 

At the first level of the staircase there was a circular window. I imagined it to be like a port hole on a ship. Grandma's living area had a sitting room which contained a small TV,  a small couch, and her favorite rocking chair. Her bedroom had this fascinating treadle sewing machine, her kitchen had an an old fashion wooden sink and an antique gas stove.  

The door behind her kitchen contained a large room that may have been a bedroom at one time, but it was converted into a bathroom. This was common in older homes when the outdoor privies were replaced by indoor plumbing. On the other side of the bathroom was a mystery door that I was not allowed to open.

Mother of Pearl Toilet Seat

Her huge bathtub had claw feet. The ceramic sink was set on a pedestal, but the most fascinating object to a child of my age was her toilet seat. It had pearl-like chips of back, gray, and white embedded in it. The boring one we had at home was just plain pink.

Mother of Toilet Seat Pickguard 

This same pearl-like design showed up later on some electric and electric steel guitars. Due to the popularity of its use on potty seats of the 1950’s it was nicknamed  “mother of toilet seat” or MOTS.

Bemis Toilet Seat

I thought about Grandma and her wonderful toilet seat when I recently received a Facebook post from The Bemis Manufacturing Company. This was an old company from Sheboygan Wisconsin founded in 1858. By 1901 they were best known for manufacturing bathroom fixtures that include sinks, tubs, along with quality toilet seats. Due to the shortage of metal during WWII the company invented the molded plastic toilet seat.

Bema Seat from
The Amsterdam Synagogue 

Often times I think it ironic when I go to a public restroom and notice that the words “Bemis Seat” is embedded in blue letters on the ‘throne’ where I am about to place my keister.  Bemis Seat has a similar sounding name to the elevated platform and raised chair that was a place of judgement for Jews and Christians and known as The Bema Seat. 

I think that is so ironic. 

Guitar by Gibson,
Body by Bemis 

This Face Book post from the Bemis Manufacturing company was a reminder that at one time the Gibson Guitar Company had contracted with Bemis Manufacturing to produce guitar bodies. Yep, it is hard to believe, but it is true. Gibson actually offered a TOILET SEAT guitar.

In 1965 the guitar market was flooded with Japanese imported  inexpensive electric guitars because every kid not just the United States, but I dare say much of the world, wanting to be a Beatle. At that time Gibson’s student guitar was The Melody Maker. This instrument was of a much higher quality than any of the imports. The Gibson Melody Maker was first launched in 1959 and in 1971 was discontinued. In 1964 a single pickup Gibson Melody Maker had a suggested retail price of $127.50. The median annual  income that year was only $4600.

1959 Melody Maker 

The Melody Maker guitar had a thin slab-style solid mahogany body and a one-piece set in mahogany neck. To keep assembly costs down all the electronics, from the small single-coil pickups to the cable jack and controls, were assembled on the pickguard and installed in a rout in the front of the body. The strings ran from a straight-sided simplification of the traditional Gibson headstock at one end to a wraparound bridge/tailpiece unit at the other. Some more expensive models came with two pickups and a budget vibrato unit. 

1964 Melody
Maker 

From 1959 until 1961, the Melody Maker had a single cutaway slab body style similar to the early Les Paul Junior model but thinner. Then in 1961 the body style changed to a symmetrical double cutaway. 

1967 Melody Maker 

By 1966 the body style was changed to a style similar to the Gibson SG guitar, with pointed "horns", a large white pickguard, and white pickup covers instead of black. 

In 1959 the original retail price for a Gibson Melody Maker was $99.50. By 1960 the price for a twin pickup model was $135.50. By 1966 the same Melody Maker price was increased to $149.50 and had a $10 price increase each subsequent year.

But in 1965 many imported Japanese made electric guitars were selling in the $50 to $100 price range. A U.S> competitor was Danelectro/Silvertone who offered electric guitars as cheap as $39.95 for their guitars made of Formica . It would be very difficult for a lot of families to afford an American made instrument for their budding rock star.

Vintage Bemis Toilet Seat

This competition from imports forced Gibson management to look into developing a low cost guitar. To do this they turned to the Bemis Manufacturing to compression mold a guitar body. Yep, the same company that was best known for manufacturing toiled seats using this process. 

The core of the guitars body was comprised of MDF or medium density fiberboard (Masonite) which, like the toilet seats, was coated with molded thermoplastic material. 

Until this time all Gibson guitars were made of solid wood, though some electric models also had solid veneer tops. Gibson had never made guitars of composite materials. So involving a company that specialized in Masonite just made practical business sense.

Gibson already had the Epiphone brand which it used to market a line of guitars. They had acquired the 

Epiphone brand name in 1957. and in those days were also built at their Kalamazoo facility as a sister project.  Epiphone would not become the budget guitar brand that was manufactured offshore until 1970.  

Gibson desired something truly affordable and profitable. The company had retired the Kalamazoo brand name in 1942 due to the war production. So in 1965 Gibson decided to revived the Kalamazoo brand for this line of budget electric guitars.

1965-66 Kalamazoo
Electric Guitars  

The Kalamazoo electric guitars all had bolt-on necks (something that Gibson, up until this point had never done), and a rosewood fingerboard. The bass guitar was a short scale instrument. A decal proclaimed  Kalamazoo "USA" on the six tuners on a side headstock, to set it apart from cheaper, imported guitars. 

These guitar had two subtly different headstock shapes, the first has a characteristic 'beak' shape, and is almost identical to that of the non-reverse Thunderbird. The body resembled of Fender Mustang. 

1967-69 Kalamazoo
 Electric Guitars

The second headstock style, appearing on the SG-shaped bases is more like that of a Fender, though a little more rounded. The Kalamazoo logo is engraved on the headstock. The necks were actually pretty well made and are highly playable.

The first design, manufactured from 1965 to 1966, was pretty much a copy of the Fender Mustang.  The second design, made from 1967 to 1969, resembled Gibson's SG design. 

Kalamazoo pickguard assembly  

Expense was also saved on the pickguard which was a single sheet of unlaminated plastic, and like the Melody Maker all the electronics were mounted in the pickguard and then placed on the body's routed area. The tuners were inexpensive open back types.

KG-1

Models were the KG-1, with one single-coil pickup selling at $89.50. 

KG-1A

The KG-1A, with a single-coil pickup and tremolo arm retailing at $99.50. 

KG-2

The KG-2 with dual single-coil pickups costing $104.50 . 

And KG-2A which came with dual single-coil pickups and a tremolo and retailed at $114.50. 

KG-2A

1966 KB -1

The Kalamazoo Bass was introduced in 1966 and like the guitar model had two body styles resembling the Mustang and next the SG. The earlier headstocks were, again, reminiscent of Fender models. Later headstocks bore a resemblance to that of the Gibson Thunderbird bass guitar. 

Several standard Gibson components were used in the KB, namely a typical EB series humbucker pickup that was used in many Epiphone basses. 

1966 and 1968 KB-1's

Sales were initially good, and during 1966-67 this was by far the best selling bass made at the Gibson plant. Production of the KB ceased in 1969. Gibson sales records show that 23,994 KG models were manufactured from 1965 through 1969 and 6287 KB basses sold from 1966 to 1969. The KB bass retailed at $119.50. Surprisingly these bass guitars came with the "Mudbucker" pickup that was found on more expensive Gibson basses.

1968-69 Kalamazoo Electrics

As stated in the 1967 the body design for the Kalamazoo line of guitars and basses changed to the SG shape. So the later pickguards were cut differently to reflect the newer body design. The bridge on the KB-1 was slightly modified as an improvement.

1966 Kalamazoo Catalog

For years I knew the Kalamazoo electric guitars bodies were made of compressed fiberboard, but it was not until I recently read a Facebook post discussion revealing this Gibson product used bodies that were produced by a toilet seat manufacturing firm. 

There is also literature suggesting that the bodies were made by a factory that specialized in molded medium density fiberboard for commode seats, The Bemis Manufacturing Company has it's headquarters in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.  

1971 Epiphone 5102T

By 1970 Gibson contracted with the Matsumoka factory in Japan, which had been building guitars under the Aria brand name.  Gibson first used this company to build inexpensive copies under the Epiphone brand name.  So the Kalamazoo electrics were eliminated in 1969.

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