Joined:
April 2003
Posts: 608
Location: Caribou, ME | Trying to sharpen the line between Moosup and Korea production. It's my understanding the AA series (AA-14, AA-24, etc) and the AF series (electric) were all made in Moosup. In fact, to make it simple, all aluminum necked Applauses were made in Moosup.
When production moved to Korea around 1982 or 83, they dropped the whole aluminum neck concept, the rosette and binding changed to a more normal configuration, and the most obvious distinction is that the garden variety model became the AA-31, in essence, if not literally officially replacing the AA-14.
Does that sound right so far?
A couple pedantic questions that are under my skin:
Did Korea ever make aluminum necked Applauses?
Any US Applause decal I have ever seen (that I recall anyway) has plainly stated "Made in Moosup, CT, USA". Any AA-31 (Korea) label has simply said "A Kaman Product" with no country of manufacture on the label (they likely had a foil sticker on the back of the headstock stating Made in Korea).
I recently saw a label on a (presumably) US made aluminum necked AF-14 but it did not say "Made in Moosup" on it. Could this be indicative of very early or very late production? Or...?
Sorry to be a pest about these, but there seems to be very little to no history on them. |
Okay, another Applause question
