Klira Triumphator de Luxe (Quelle mail order), 1963

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Instrument: This guitar, remarkable in more ways than one, represents a piece of German music... more
Klira Triumphator de Luxe (Quelle mail order), 1963

Instrument:
This guitar, remarkable in more ways than one, represents a piece of German music history. The model was built by Klira in Bubenreuth from 1962 to 1971 and delivered to Quelle Versand just around the corner in Fürth. Under their own brand Thriumphator de Luxe, Quelle then sold the guitar (and other models) hundreds of times through their mail order catalog. In the last decades, most of these guitars have probably disappeared, as inexpensive entry-level models they were often treated badly, worn out in children's rooms and disposed of without hesitation. The few that still circulate on eBay, for example, are usually badly battered and/or completely tinkered with. Our Klira dates from 1963 and is therefore one of the early ones. You can tell by the brass frets, the narrow bridge and the plain tuners mounted on a straight plate. There is a stamp in the body with the numbers 21 2, so the guitar may have been made on 2/21/1963.

Material:
Body made of maple. Three-piece longitudinally glued beech neck, end-to-end incl. headstock. Rosewood fingerboard with dot inlays. Beautifully marbled pearloid pickguard, open tuners. The arched top and back are finished in the typical and very popular brown-orange sunburst design. Bridge made of black stained pearwood, nickel-plated tailpiece.

Instruments history:
Unknown. We took over the guitar as part of a small collection, inherited from the seller's grandfather, who could not tell us anything more about it, except that grandpa must have bought the guitar new at the time.

Restoration work:
Actually none. We blew out the body and cleaned it from almost sixty years of dust. All the lacquer surfaces were extensively cleaned and polished, and the hardware was polished as well.  We lightly sanded and oiled the fingerboard and polished the frets. Then we mounted a set of new 11 gauge bronze strings from Pyramid, did a setup (probably the first on this guitar), that's it.

Current condition:
This beautiful guitar does without any decoration, but contradicts in an impressive way some "wisdom" about construction and sound, which often circulate on the web. Because a little played guitar with laminated woods, zero fret, missing bling-bling and no truss rod MUST be inferior and sound terrible. Wrong! First the sound: Completely surprisingly, this Klira comes along with real punch. It is one of the loudest archtops we ever had. With a lot of bass, balanced mids and highs, it easily plays in the 1,000 Euro league in terms of sound. Far away from the tinny sound of bad cheap archtops. Plus the great, almost pristine condition after almost sixty years of guitar life. This guitar was not played often and always stored in a dark place. Wood and glue joints are of course solid and strong. The string action is up to date with 2 mm at the 12th fret. There is a dull spot on the back of the neck in the size of a 1 Euro coin, but it is barely visible and does not interfere with playing. There are also a few micro dents and dings on the edges, and that's about it in terms of "damage". This is both an unusual collector's item and a guitar with a lot of spirit that finally wants to be played - but in any case a rare opportunity! No bargain, but worth every penny and perhaps the best price-performance ratio, which we currently have in the store.

Measures:
Overall length 42.1”/107 cm; body length 20.5”/52 cm; lower bout width 16.3”/41,5 cm; waist width 10.2”/26 cm; upper bout width 12.2”/31 cm; body depth 3”/7,5 cm; scale length 24.8”/63 cm (zero fret to saddle); fingerboard width 1.6”/4,2 cm at nut, 2.1”/5,3 cm at 12th fret; overall weight 1.920 g, string action on 12th fret 0.08”/2 mm (adjustable!).

Purchase and payment:
Just send us an email to info@german-vintage-guitar.com and you will receive your invoice immediately. Or simply order here through the shop.

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