Sssh... New Carlos

Carlos Model 226

The Carlos is dead, long live the Carlos!

Carlos acoustic guitars are products of Coast Wholesale Music which is connected to Kaman Music Corporation and made in Korea from about 1976 until the late 1980s. They are rare, but not highly sought after.

So after the old Carlos steel-string was stolen from daughter's house last January 2018 she mentioned a hard time with it because the stiffness of steel strings. I related that Carlos back in the day made classical guitars and told her I would keep my eye out for one.

Carlos steel string guitars pop up now and again on eBay, but I only found one classical over the past year (seller looked sketchy with burry photographs, no sales history, and was removed within a day!). Lo and behold just before Christmas I find this Carlos classical guitar for $8o! The instrument had several pairs of cross-marks gouged into the fretboard, but other than that it looked playable.

When the guitar arrived I found the binding was missing from one side, so I took on a project to install some very beautiful decorative binding you can barely make out in the photo. That was a fun job involving Stew-Mac binding glue, 600 grit sandpaper, and lacquer. There was also a chip on the business end of the nut, but strangely enough the intonation is perfect.

Once the craft work was finished I had some voodoo to attend on the Carlos. The magic of my old Carlos steel string was that back in 1992 when middlin son was 2 years old he poured a glass of apple juice down the soundhole when I left the guitar unattended for a moment. I has doused the inside with baby powder to absorb what moisture I couldn't dump out, so the interior had this powdery white patina that always reminded me of toddler Panda.

Although he was hesitant, I prevailed upon middlin son to repeat the scene (ha, although with only a shot glass worth of apple juice this time) and I put in the baby powder. The interior now looks just like the old stolen Carlos and evocates same joyful memories.

Here it is, three days past Christmas and daughter (recently married) hasn't yet made it by for her present. She will probably think it is weird, but that's her dad.😀