Duane Allman’s 1940s Kalamazoo KG-12

Duane was photographed playing this guitar on October 7, 1970, the day before the Berry College show in Rome, Georgia. The photograph was taken by Stephen Paley, and Duane is seen sitting on a bed of a hotel room, likely in Florida the day before the show. Unfortunately, aside from those photos, the guitar is practically a mystery.

From the looks of it, it appears to be a vintage Kalamazoo, model KG-12, but there doesn’t seem to be any background story behind it. It could’ve been something Duane picked up while on the road or something he borrowed.

One interesting thing to note – the guitar looks pretty dark-colored on the image above, similar in color to something like a Martin 00-15 which is of course a mahogany-body guitar. Based on sources online, every Kalamazoo KG-12 is either a clear finish on spruce (very light in color) or a dark sunburst. Duane’s guitar looks like flat dark color, which is a bit of a mystery by itself.