Kawasaki 1340 Acoustic Guitar

 

Click HERE for audio samples of the Kawasaki 1340 Acoustic Guitar 

This vintage acoustic guitar had been "hanging on a wall" of the owner's home for more than 10 years; and it showed. It was literally in unplayable condition, with the strings being way too high above the fretboard for anything except slide; I suppose.

Since I could not find any useful information about this instrument online, we'll just go with my personal observations. For starters, the build quality, materials used and age suggest that it was manufactured in Japan; probably around the late '70s or early '80s. The 1340 is definitely a dreadnought, sporting a spruce top and mahogany neck, back and sides. The bound rosewood fretboard features 20 medium-jumbo frets in surprisingly good condition, and flowery acrylic faux mother-of-pearl inlays. The bridge, meanwhile, appears to be rosewood, though from a distance; it looks an awful lot like ebony.

The whole body is bound in white/black/white binding, with added abalone purfling on the top and around the rosette. The neck heel is protected by a plastic heel cap, and on both sides of this heel cap; lovely herringbone inlays extend all the way to the butt end of this guitar.

Besides a string change and setup, work done on this guitar included replacing the stock nut and tuners; as well as lowering the compensated plastic saddle for better playability.

Soundhole Label

Stock Tuners

Replacement DJ333C-M9 Tuners

Bound Rosewood Fretboard

Spruce Top/Mahogany Back and Sides

Abalone Purfling

Abalone Rosette Inlay

Rosewood Bridge

Mahogany Neck

Heel Cap

Herringbone Inlays

White/Black/White Binding