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| 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.
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| There is the staircase with the circular window |
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. On the other side of the bathroom was a mystery door that I was not allowed to open.
Her huge bathtub had claw feet, the ceramic sink was set on a pedestal, but the most fascinating thing 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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| Mother of Pearl Toilet Seat |
Her huge bathtub had claw feet, the ceramic sink was set on a pedestal, but the most fascinating thing 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.
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.
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| 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.
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| Bema Seat from The Amsterdam Synagogue |
I think that is so ironic.
This Face Book post from the Bemis 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 made 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.
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.
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.
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 Japanese electric guitars were selling for around the $50 to $100 price range. Another competitor was Danelectro/Silvertone who offered electric guitars as cheap as $39.95. It would be very difficult for a lot of families to afford an American made instrument for their budding rock star.
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| Vintage Bemis Toilet Seat |
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.
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.
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| 1967-69 Kalamazoo Electric Guitars |
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.
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| Kalamazoo pickguard assembly |
Models were the KG-1, with one single-coil pickup selling at $89.50.
The KG-1A, with a single-coil pickup and tremolo arm retailing at $99.50.
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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.
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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