Kentucky Mandolins

[Slim Pickins]

Were the Kentucky mandos ever made in the US? I know they were made in Korea first the later in China. How good were the first ones made?

[kudzugypsy]

the original run of kentucky mandos were made in japan, with the HIGHER end KM-1000 / 1500 / DAWG models being made by a selected group of luthiers in a different location in japan. do a search, there was a good thread a month or so back.
i think they were all made in japan up til the early 90's ('92?)
i will flatly say that the KM-1500 is one of the best mandos made in the 80's, and i have a Nugget, Gibson F5L and a Paganoni to put it up against.

[Desert Rose]

The Kentucky project was started in Japan. The low end models made at the Kasuga factory now out of business. The higher end models were made by a now almost legendary team in Maruko, Nagano. The team broke up in the late eightys and all production was taken over by Sumi one of the team members. He continued making the 1000 and 1500 until about 1990 or so and then dropped the 1000 due to a lack of profit. He continued building the 1500 until late 1992 at which time he dropped the Kentucky project totally and began building under his own name.

When the Kasuga factory closed production of the cheaper midels was moved to Korea, when Sumi dropped the 1000 the Koreans tried to make it failing terribly.

A couple of years ago the Koreans moved to China at which time the Kentuckys REALLY took a beating. They are thru the learning curve and are improving steadily

Scott

[doublestop]

I absolutely love my Japanese made KM-1000 and so does everyone that plays it. How come you never see any used ones for sale?

[emilys]

Hey Scott, do you know which factory in China is making the Kentucky's now? I don't think Da Yuan is doing it, or at least I didn't see them when I was there last month. I know Da Yuan is making the Bean Blossom, Epiphone, Dean and Rally mandos.

[evanreilly]

My old Kentucky 1500 came with the little 'Made in Japan' sticker on the back of the peghead.

[GTison]

Yeah Evan, I remember peeling that of my '84 km1000. I thought it looked cheap. Who would have thought here20 years later that a "Made in Japan" sticker might be a thing to be desired!

It's one loud mando. If I get in a jam w/ too much noise I'll pull it out. You can beat the fire out of it and make the banjers back up,:laugh:

[kudzugypsy]

i used to take the KM-1500 out a lot to festivals, and it never failed that someone would see "The Kentucky" and dismiss it as cheap.....then their high dollar mando would get smoked by it.

btw, these were not *cheap* mandos back in the day. the list on a KM-1500 was $1595 in the mid 80's. that was when a gibson was like $2400. i can bet that comparing a mid 80's gibson to a mid 80's KM-1000/1500 would yeild surprising results. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif

[doublestop]

Yeah, I too usually take my KM 1000 to jams and leave my more expensive and inferior mandolin at home.

[GTison]

Haaaaaaaaa LOL ,LOL..

YEAH folks see that brand name on it and scratch their head. I had a version of the electric tape on it. I made a paper gibson label and taped it over the "kentucky". Just to kid the guys in the band ( not to really fool anyone). I left it on there to see what happened. A respected friend saw it, When I pulled out the new fern . He said I didn't know you bought another one! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif I had to show him the tape job. He said he liked it better. But to be honest I don't think it has the quality of tone that the new one does. I've recorded with both now and that KM1000 doesn't sound pretty to me. You can hear Ronnie McCoury play his Km1000 on their sawmill album. It was as good a KM1000 as there was and It sounds rather dry on that album. (Man he could jam)

I did take the tape off. But I'm gonna make another one. Maybe I'll make a galviston, kentucky , Stella,or Harmony, and put it on the Gibson! Will pride let me do it? You know folks ALWAYS look to see what kind of mandolin you're playing. I wonder what folks would do?