Kapa Minstrel - comments?

[Bob K]

Hi folks,

There's a Kapa Minstrel for sale locally, and I'm wondering if I should take a look. I'm guessing it's MIJ since the pickups look vaguely "Kawai-ish" but I really have no idea. I had never heard of Kapa until I saw this ad. I didn't see any Kapa catalogues on this site for reference so I'm clueless here .

It's a teardrop shape body, with three pickups. Natural finish. Ad says it has electrical issues. He is asking $300.00/OBO.

It looks interesting. Can anyone educate me on this model?

Thanks,
Bob

[VintAxe]

Hi Bob, good to hear from you. This is what the Blue Book has to say about KAPA:

Instruments previously built in Hyattsville, MD between 1962 and 1970.
Kapa guitars were designed and built by Kope Veneman and Company during a successful eight-year production. Veneman, a Dutch immigrant, was running a music store during the early 1960s that imported German and Italian guitars. In 1962, Veneman founded his own production facility, and named the company based on initials from his family member´s first names: Kope, his son Albert, his daughter Patricia, and his wife Adeline. During the eight-year run, the Kapa company produced nearly 120,000 decent quality, fair-priced instruments.

[Bob K]

Thanks for the reply, Steve.

Here's the picture in the ad:



Bob

[cheepaxes]

Kapas were made in the Washington DC area, where I'm from. I've had the opportunity to play a few over the years. They're pretty decent. The necks remind me a bit of Hagstroms - often with low action - very "fast." I'd guess that a Kapa might be worth $300 in terms of quality, but I doubt they sell for that much on a regular basis. I'd go take a look and be prepared to haggle.

-Scott