So I am going to continue this from the welcome forum.  I recently received a guitar (Applause AA14-1 serial #00145) as a gift that belonged to my wife’s grandfather. It has always been an interesting guitar to me because in the body there is a sticker that says “service test model, not for resale”.  It also had the serial number taped to the body.  I talked to my mother-in-law and her brother and they gave me the rundown on the history of this guitar. 

Grandpa worked at the Kaman Aeronautics factory in Moosup, Connecticut making helicopters.  At that same time another department was developing what would become the Applause AA14-1.  During this developmental phase the company ended up giving employees that enjoyed playing guitar these “service model” guitars for free.  The only catch was that they had to review the guitars and let the developers know what they liked about the guitar and what they didn’t like about the guitar. 

I found this extremely interesting.  R/D from their own employees! ?? Also producing helicopters on one side of the factory and guitars on the other.  

Has anyone here seen anymore of these “service model” guitars or heard of them?  Did anyone work at the factory and remember them doing this?  Is there any way to date it?  My wife’s uncle thought that he got it in the sixties or seventies but was unsure of a year.

Next thing I am going to do is fix the bridge, it is separating from the top, so I can string it up and start playing it.

Here are some pics! Hopefully it works.

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IMG_1185.jpg (97KB - 0 downloads)

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