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Wow! These Kustom guitars were only built for a very short time-maybe 2 years or less (mid 1967-early 1969). They are very rare-especially in any other finish than natural. Even better is when they have a matching headstock and the early WHITE pickguard!...but wait, even better than that is when they have a factory Bigsby tailpiece! This one has all 3: translucent Blue finish with matching headstock, 100% original with original Kustom hardcase. This guitar has no cracks or repairs and it is ready to play. It needs nothing, except you!
This K-200 Deluxe model Kustom was made at the Original Kustom factory in Chanute Kansas, U.S.A. in March 1968. It is one of the earlier versions and has a low serial number. The finish is outrageously cool. It is a Blue translucent finish that allows you to see the woodgrain! Very cool. The hue is bright blue, but appears a slight turquoise tint when viewed at an angle-see photos. The headstock and back of the neck match the body. I come across natural wood, black stained and walnut stained K-200's from time to time-but I've only seen a couple of Blue ones in all of my 37 years of business in the vintage guitar world and this is the only one I've seen with the earlier white pickguard.
The Thinline hollowbody guitar is fairly clean with a few pecks and rubs and other typical signs of handling evidence. Inside the control cavity-there is an employee hand-written date of 8-17 which could suggest a production date of either the 17th week of 1968 or it could be August 17th, 1967 as the volume potentiometers both date to the 1st week of 1967 and the tone potentiometers date to the 52nd week of 66 (hard to read for sure on the tone pots-the solder is on top of the year digit) So either way, the guitar was either assembled in late summer 1967 or early 1968. Moving on...The neck joint is solid.
The neck itself is straight and smooth. It has the classic vintage slim neck profile that is very similar to a Rickenbacker. The nut measures 1 5/8" wide and the neck depth is 6.94" at the 1st fret and 8.50" deep at the 12th fret. The binding is nice and there is only slight wear on the backside-just enough to call it 'broken in' see photos. The original Kluson double row nickel tuners all function nicely and the headstock and logo display excellent! The rosewood fingerboard is clean and exhibits slight wear-the frets have been polished and look excellent-see photos. The dot markers are really cool too. The action is low and this guitar plays great. The string height is currently .010" at the 1st fret and .055" at the 12th fret. It can easily be raised if you choose to do that. The guitar plays awesome up and down the fingerboard with zero fret buzz.
YES those are the factory original DeArmond Dynasonic pickups and they sound bright and clear! The tone is a pure spank and sparkle. They have an excellent signal and perfect balance. The neck output is 11.61 ohms with the bridge output being 11.60 ohms. All of the controls function smoothly. The bridge is clean and fully adjustable and the original Bigsby tailpiece functions smoothly.
The guitar is super lightweight (it only weighs 7.24 lbs!) and very comfortable. You can play all night long and forget about neck fatigue with this baby.
