Old Kraftsman Stratotone

Old Kraftsman was brand name of the Spiegel mail-order catalog. Most guitars under this name were made by the Kay Musical Instruments Co. in Chicago, with some at times by Harmony, Danelectro, or National/Supro/Valco. Mine is a 1954, it's an early edition made by Harmony. 20 fret, flat-top solid body guitar, that is actually just 1 piece of wood, Body, neck, and headstock. Neck is a louisville slugger, or something, it's HUGE. 1 single coil pickup in the neck postion. Single volume, single tone, and a slider switch. The slider switch lets the player change from a more bassy rhythm tone, to a brighter, more trebly lead tone. The pickups are a mystery, some say that harmony made the pickups on the early models, others say they were made by Rowe-DeArmond Co. of Toledo, OH who made most of the pickups on the later Harmony models. Mine is a very faded green color, with a rosewood fingerboard. Strip, open geared tuners. And a floating bridge. This is an inherited guitar, that I just recently got a new bridge for to make playable again. Minus the bridge guitar is 100% original.

Let me start off by saying, WOW! I play mostly covers, from Counting Crows, to Tom Petty, to Rage Against the Machine, to Silverchair, and some Hendrix. This thing will play ANYTHING. Pickup has a very high output. It's not as loud as my Lace Sensors on my strat, or the stock humbuckers on my Gibson, but very close. Not noisy, and doesn't seem to give that screaching high gain feedback. On high volume levels the body vibrates quite easily, so you can get quite a lot of string vibration feedback, but I actually love it. Great for that real Hendrix type musical feedback, that you can chord and vibrate. I like the sound best running the volume wide open, and the tone knob close to the same. The slider switch is a nice little feature, but I find the rhythm to be a little dark for a lot of what I play. But for a Rage sound, and even some Sabbath songs it songs very accurate. I can't describe this thing's sound. It has that glassy rich sound, and the sustain is RIDICULOUS. It has that bell characteristic to it.. strike a chord or note, hold it, and it rings out like a church bell... beautiful.

It's over 50 years old, so factory set-up is a mystery. Pickup height doesn't adjust. Tuners are older, some are slightly bent, and they are kind of rusty, but that's somewhat to be expected. All in all I have a great guitar for the age, consider myself very very lucky.

This guitar is a tank. It's still kicking strong, and sounding great.

They've been out of business for.... ?????? years

I've been playing a few years, and I also have a 2000 Gibson Les Paul Special, and a Project Strat I put together out of fender parts and Lace Sensors. This guitar has a sound all of which is it's own. It's tone is somewhat in the middle of the strat and the Les Paul. Very very thick vintage single coil, bordering p-90 territory. I'm playing it through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe LE, with a Celestion Vintage 30. Play my distortion with, the same amp, and ear plugs. The guitar has almost more sustain then my other 2 guitars, combined. I love it, and consider it a family heirloom, if it were stolen, someone would be in REALLY deep crap. Maybe crude or primitive by today's standards, but come on. If vintage tone is your thing, AND you can even find one of these babies, I strongly suggest you do. GREAT sounding guitar. I also find the monster neck to fit my hand perfectly for chording. Some with smaller hands may disagree. If you can find one, and have the money, GET ONE. You won't regret it.