Before Gibson bought Epiphone in the mid 20th Century, they produced a series of lower tier, more affordable guitars under the name "Kalamazoo", a reference to their place of manufacture. These Kalamazoo guitars have gained quite a bit of popularity in the last few years, partly due to the skyrocketing prices of their Gibson counterparts, but also for the ability to essentially get a 30's Gibson without the name for much less.
Made alongside these Kalamazoos, almost identically sparing minor trim differences, were a line under the Cromwell name, and were sold in catalogs as low cost alternatives to their other Kalamazoo made siblings. Usually, these featured an inlaid strip down the center of the fretboard, although this G2 does not, and is visually and structurally incredibly similar to the L-00 from the era- spruce, solid mahogany, Braz. rosewood fretboard, a large V shaped mahogany neck with a 1 3/4 ebony nut, and a gorgeous sunburst.
The scale is a comfortable 24.75", and there's 19 frets with the joint at the 14th fret.The main difference is the ladder bracing, as opposed to the L-00's X bracing, a common way of saving money of construction during the period in Gibson's history.Flat tops were actually a fairly rare occurence from the Cromwell line, as it was most often used to ape the L-30/50 smaller archtops in Gibson's line.
This guitar is in good shape- there are a few repaired cracks in the back, as well as a plugged endpin hole. The bridge pins are vintage Ebony, but are not original. The finish is old and checked, but there are no major places of loss, just some dings here and there. This guitar comes with a period hard case.
