Recording King Dirty 30s Series 7 000 Acoustic-Electric Guitar with Gold Foil Pickup Tobacco Burst.
The Recording King Dirty 30s series instruments have been around for a few years, and are part of a large assortment of old time catalogue instrument revivals. Gretsch, for example, has some out that are modeled on the old Sears Silvertone guitars, and in this case, the Dirty 30s are based on the old Montgomery Ward Catalogue instruments.
This wonderful line of inexpensive guitars isn't an accident, or some attempt to create demand in a price category that became a knife fight a decade ago. It's a natural outgrowth of the superheated vintage guitar market that began in the 90s. As the top name brands like Gibson, Martin, and Fender became too pricey, many collectors moved down the scale to the older economy level brands, aided by the popularity of artists like Jack White who initially used cheapo vintage axes like Airline and Kay.
That created a mixed bag for lower level collectors and vintage lovers. Many of those guitars (that actually survived into this decade) have tangible virtues, like the better wood used when the materials were much cheaper, which after 50 years or more of aging have made some of the guitars sound as nice as lower line Gibsons, etc. of the same era.
The trade off was putting up with problems on many models, particularly worn or bad tuning pegs, overstressed or poorly reinforced necks, and cheap frets. The wide range of inexpensive vintage recreations with decent hardware is a nice development.
The Recording King Dirty 30s series gives the average player a nice alternative to the minefield that the lower line vintage market has become. Particularly when the price of a mint Kay, for example, can go over a thousand, and everything else one can afford comes with some sort of issue. If you like the old catalogue guitar look and sound, it's available now with modern conveniences like good tuning pegs and necks.
There are some differences of course, mainly less traditional woods. The neck wood on the Recording King is nato, and the fret board is an African wood called ovangkol. Feels a bit like the baked maple Gibson used on some guitars, and has a similar sound and sustain. It feels a bit slick when bending notes, but that's really a matter of preference. I prefer a maple neck on my telecaster, so it felt fine.
The body is described as "white wood," which can mean poplar, but even a Google search didn't bring much clarity. At this price, maybe not knowing is best anyway. Guitar discussions have become as coded as sports analytics, with woods ranked in order of sound quality, types of bracing, bone or plastic nuts, and other nuances like which automatically determine if it's a pro or amateur instrument in many minds.
More than a few guitar players who own higher end stuff, while treasuring their Martins or Gibsons are finding that adding vintage replicas like these Recording Kings are a nice way to add vintage mojo without buying thousand dollar guitars that should really cost a few hundred.
In the real world of guitars, looks count. Good vintage reissues with authentic detailing fill a real demand. What drew me to this Recording King was that I could add a long desired blues and roots music configuration to my sounds at low cost.
I've wanted to get a smaller body acoustic with a sound hole pickup for some time, but the classic blues setup with a vintage DeArmond pickup a la Elmore James was out of reach. To get a nice vintage looking guitar with a Gold Foil pickup for two hundred was a no brainer.
The guitar itself, part of the Series 7 Dirty 30s, would run around 150.00 and would be seen as a entry level or secondary guitar for most. The laminated spruce top could be a turn off for those who prefer a solid top (or believe it wouldn't sound good without one). On the other hand, laminated bodies and tops have less feedback issues, relatively speaking, so in this model, it can be a plus.
The Gold Foil pickup, which I've discussed in an earlier blog entry, has a (modern) mythology and mojo that dates back to Ry Cooder putting one on a Fender Strat. It's a type of pickup that I've read DeArmond created (with cheaper versions made under subcontract for various Japanese guitar makers). The DeArmond pickups are justly famous so the Gold Foil is a classic design.
It's a lower output passive pickup and ideal for clean electric or low volume acoustic work, and if managed correctly on an amp, easy to overdrive for a cool vintage dirty sound. Another reason it's popular in the custom market is that it's flat (and doesn't require routing on a solid body) and ideal for surface mounting.
The guitar is a comfortable 000 size acoustic, with retro stenciled fret markers on a very playable C shaped neck, and cool two tone binding. It came well setup out of the box (though I played it in the store first) and has a nice even tone across all the strings. It doesn't boom like a dreadnaught, and sounds woody, though a bit more resonant due to the Recording King designed X bracing. It's a good package for roots folk, country, blues, and finger picking work.
It has a decent amount of volume, but if you're looking for dreadnaught level sound, a 000 size body isn't going to give you that unless it's a Martin for thousands more.
But then...that's what the pickup is for, isn't it?
When I took the guitar out of the acoustic room and said I wanted to try it out on one of the Fender amps, the young sales guy looked puzzled and said I might prefer to try it on an acoustic amp to get a better sound. I just told him that if I wanted an accurate acoustic sound the I wouldn't want a Gold Foil pickup on it.
The amplified sound at low volume and clean was fine. I found that the Recording King acoustically produces a balanced tone with nice woody character, great for roots music, and in my view, the amplification system takes over after that.
Through a small amp, at lower volume, I was able to get a nice range of usable tones, from clear acoustic to dirty Memphis and Blues...for my purposes, which will be for recording and some live work with the amp miked, it was just fine. At the volume I was working at, feedback wasn't an issue.
Since this guitar is available at a much lower price without the Gold Foil, it's good to also look at this as an electric instrument. One question that can come to mind, would it be better to buy a lower priced hollow or semi-solid body electric like an old Harmony, an entry level Epiphone or Ibanez or buy a purpose built acoustic with on board amplification like Fishman.
Most of those electrics are overbuilt (to reduce feedback) like with arch tops, which were originally designed to be loud enough in ensembles and naturals for electric work. However, plenty of artists simply mounted pickups on standard acoustics, which led to overbuilt box guitars with internal electronics.
All of those started off as attempts to make the acoustic sound louder, but really resulted in a variety of acoustic-based electric sounds that are manipulated via tone and volume controls. It really comes down to whether you like the sound that the configuration produces.
In the case of the Gold Foil, it will produce a nice clean sound, but to these ears, really comes to life when the mid and treble are boosted into blues or rockabilly territory. It's also a decent classic jazz guitar, as acoustics with a sound hole pickup were used by artists like Gabor Szabo and others. A purpose built acoustic with a preamp might be better for producing a louder "natural" sound.
This guitar gave me the range of folk and roots tones I wanted, and at much less than the price an old vintage catalogue guitar and pickup. The playability is several times better than any vintage beater, and it stays in tune. Things that you really would prefer to not have to think about.
These catalogue inspired instruments have a unique link with the past. The Montgomery Wards or Sears guitars brought music to people who didn't have much access to it before, or made possible a life playing music to greater numbers of people. The sound may not have filled concert halls, but it certainly enlivened the air at street corners, living rooms, small parties and juke joints.
If guitars like this remain regarded as beginner or amateur level instruments, that's pretty much what the catalogue guitars were back then too. That the modern versions have remained cheap and accessible means that they'll do the same amount of good.
There is a lot of guitar here for the price. It's got a great vintage look, a good electric guitar style neck, with a perfect choice of pickup that will make it as fun as any old Silvertone, 60s Japanese electric, or Gretsch. It has a fun factor that's off the charts.
- Al Handa
Features:
Body:
Body type: 000 14 Fret
Cutaway: No
Top wood: Spruce
Back and sides: Whitewood
Bracing pattern: Cross Lap X
Body finish: Satin
Orientation: Right handed
Neck:
Neck shape: Thin C
Nut width: 1.69 in. (43 mm)
Fingerboard: Ovangkol
Neck wood: Nato
Scale length: 25.4 in.
Number of frets: 20
Neck finish: Black Satin
Electronics:
Pickup/preamp: Yes
Brand: Recording King
Configuration: Gold Foil Magnetic
Preamp EQ: No
Feedback filter: No
Tuner: No
Other:
Headstock overlay: Black
Tuning machines: Ivory button
Bridge: Ovangkol
Saddle and nut: Bone
Number of strings: 6
Special features:
Case: Sold separately
Accessories: Truss rod tool, printed box
Country of origin: China
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