The Kalamazoo (back then) was real close to the Gibson Mando bass. Binding, and probably lower grade top wood is the significant difference. The comparison between the two marques in the pre-war era is more like Gibson vs Epiphone in the early 60s. That being said, Gibson Mando basses used to turn up pretty frequently in the 80s usually in the $1000 range. Like the EB6, a lot of people would own them for a while, and then start to think of basses they could have bought with the money and actually played.