1934 Gibson L-00 from Instagram

I like to post pictures of guitars on Instagram and sometimes I will search hash tags for other old guitars.  Today I found this one, a 1934 Gibson L-00.  Neither the guitar or the pictures belong to me (unfortunately!).

This guitar, bearing the batch number 1212 - 31 was manufactured in 1934 according to Spann's Guide to Gibson: 1902-1941.  It features the smaller sunburst typical of the early 30s.  Supposedly the sunburst was small because wood supplies were not very good during the depression.  The black part of the sunburst served to cover up imperfections in the wood.

Structurally, this guitar is very similar to my '33 L-00.  One way that it differs is in the lining used to join the sides to the top and bottom of the guitar.  You can see from the photo above that this guitar has the modern, kerfed lining.  My guitar has the solid, steam bent lining.  See below:

There was a soldier overseas during World War II that wanted to someday be a touring Country Western musician.  He bought this guitar used upon his return from the war.  He followed his dream for a while but soon opted for the life of a family man instead of that of a touring musician.  He still played every once in a while with some other musicians.  He played this guitar until his death.  It was then passed on to his granddaughter where she displays it proudly on her wall.

The tuners have been changed but they look very similar to what would have been on there.  I think that these are the cheaper tuners that Harmony used on their guitars in the 60s.  Everything else on the guitar looks to be original.  I don't see any bad repairs but I don't have any shots of the underside of the top.

What a stunning little Gibson!  After I wrote this I took mine out of its case and played Mississippi John Hurt's version of "Make Me a Pallet on the Floor" and remembered why these are so popular for fingerstyle blues.

TVG

1943 Gibson J-45: All Mahogany, All blues

This banner Gibson J-45 was made in the lowest of low time period during World War II.  It is made from all solid Mahogany and features no steel truss rod but a solid Ebony insert down the neck for stability.  Stock piles were at there lowest point because everything was going to the war effort.  While this guitar may not be as desirable as a Spruce/Hog with truss rod guitar, it is a very cool part of Gibson history.  The neck is straight and the tone is unique and warm.  I love playing this guitar!!

When I saw this guitar and its combination of features and probably original case, I had to have it.  It was a great compliment to my Spruce banner J-45 and just looked so interesting.  I met the seller outside of a Cracker Barrel in Chattanooga and fell in love a first strum.  Something about the color of the burst just grabbed me.  I am currently waiting to get it back from my luthier after some set up work and reglue some loose braces.

As evidenced from the wear around this soundhole, this guitar has been played.  I am still trying to figure out what kind of playing style would make that!  I don't mind it though.  The rest of the guitar is pretty clean when you consider what it has been through.

This guitar did have 2 large cracks down the back of the guitar that were repaired.  They sanded and buffed this area but luckily did not overspray it.  It was tastefully done but I would rather them have just left the finish alone.  It still has the original tuners which is quite rare.  It is ever rarer that they function!

The elephant in the room has got to be the tone of this instrument.  I will attempt to describe it.  It still has the lapping thump of a banner guitar.  The highs are more rounded off and pleasant.  Sometimes the highs can be shrill on a Spruce top but not with this one.  There may be a slight decrease in volume from my Spruce banner but that could also be a variance from guitar to guitar.  The lows are warm and comfortable but don't overpower.  The mids are equally warm and present.

I should also mention the girth of this neck.  With a nut width of 1 7/8" it can be quite a handful.  It did take a couple of minutes to get used to even after playing my other banner J-45.  Since this guitar did not receive a truss rod but a big v shaped Ebony inlay down the neck, Gibson made the neck with more girth in an attempt to give the it some stability.  It seems to be working because the neck is dead straight.  This was probably not the case before they did the refret.  There is significant playing wear on the back of the neck so I'm not sure that it was because the neck was warped or because of the fret wear.  Either way it is a joy to play now and I am glad to have it in my collection.  When the maple banner gets back from the luthier I'll have to complete banner J-45 line up.

TVG

1944 Gibson J-45 "Only a Gibson is good enough"

The banner on Gibson's wartime flat-tops appeared around June of 1942 and disappeared sometime in 1946.  It is still a but unclear why but we may know more about the banner after this book comes out: Kalamazoo Gals.  Maybe it had something to do with national pride during the war years since the Martin guitar company was still family owned and the original CF Martin was in fact, a German immigrant.  This is solely speculation though, It may have had nothing to do with Martin.

This guitar was probably made in 1944 but again, that is just a guess.  It bears no visible factory order number and may have never received one which is common for the late war years.  It was constructed of a two piece Spruce top and a solid, one piece flat-sawn Mahogany back.  The one piece back is of note because it is evidence that wood stock piles were low so "lower quality" wood was used.  The Mahogany should have been quarter sawn for appearance and strength however this process wastes more wood than the flat sawing method.  Also of note, the Kalamazoo Gals that built this guitar were told to put "back strips" on the interior of the guitar to help the two joined quarter sawn pieces of Mahogany.  Yet this guitar has a one piece back.

I mention this because the people that built this guitar were probably not men who had worked in the factory for many years.  More than likely they were "Rosie the Riveters" that filled the empty positions of men who had gone to support the war effort.  In John Thomas' book, "Kalamazoo Gals," an argument is made that these guitars were somewhat superior to other Gibsons because of the nature of the women who made them.  These women had been working with their hands all of their lives.  They may not have been making guitars but they were very skilled nonetheless.  Since the book is not out yet I cannot say that this is the exact point or argument made.  I am very excited about the book as you can imagine!

One thing that I have noticed as a pattern of the banner Gibsons is that they have a distinctive percussive "thump" that vibrates throughout the entire instrument when a string is struck.  My experience is limited since I have played only as many banners as you can count on two hands but it is certainly a pattern.  A friend once described the thump of this exact instrument to be akin to a "lapping", as if from the tongue.  I thought that was a great way to describe it since thump would indicate a bit bass heavy, which these guitars are not.  I am worthless when it comes to describing tone with words so just bear with me.

I have three banner J-45s: one spruce and mahogany, one all mahogany and one in the mail that is spruce and flame maple.  The maple banner is still in the mail and should arrive in a couple of days.  I'll be doing two more posts on the other two banners later this month.  Do you have a banner Gibson?  Send some pictures to my email at tvguit at gmail.  I don't want to post the actual email for fear of bots.

TVG

Another Nick Lucas.... This one is probably a little later

This Nick Lucas walked into the local shop that I frequent.   My ears perked up when I heard about it even though I knew it was a bit rough.  Since there were only 57 (but about 200 have been found/documented, an estimated 400 total produced thanks to some forum knowledge, thanks TM) documented Nick Lucas Specials produced in any body style, one showing up locally is quite an occurrence.

I told you it was rough, but I could not care any less.  The Gibson Nick Lucas Special is my favorite flat-top guitar ever.  What makes them so special is the combination of appointments, scarcity and body depth.  Of course, I am not the only one who thinks the NL is special.  Here is Bob Dylan with his.

The first Nick Lucas Special is believed to have been produced in 1928 with a list price of $125.  The first models shared the same body dimensions as the L-1 and L-3 (like the previous NLS that I wrote about).  This guitar features the 0 and 00 body width but retains the deeper body much like the L-1.  It also has 14 frets clear of the body instead of 12.  The serial numbers on NLS guitars often date to '28 or '29 even though they were often made much later.  I don't have the FON on this one but I would guess '34, '35 or '36 because of width of the burst and the Maple back and sides.  

Here is a shot of the interior.  I don't think the interior of this guitar has been worked on much because I don't see any ugly reglued braces.  You can pretty easily see the loose back braces.  I would venture to guess that they would just fall out if you nudged them.  The top braces are probably in about the same condition.  The owner is taking no chances on this guitar: he is sending it to Ren Ferguson of Gibson Montana fame.  Ren is not only responsible for turning Gibson's acoustic offerings around at the end of the 80s but is also a top notch guy.  He took the time to talk to me (just a nerdy guitar kid) about how they came up with the idea for using Walnut on the Gibson Jackson Browne Signature model among other things.

I am absolutely thrilled that the owner decided to send this guitar to Ren.  The guitar may even be more valuable just because Ren worked on it (at least it is to me!).  It will probably take him a long time since Ren has been quite busy as of late.  You may have heard that he is working with Fender (Guild).

Here is the back of the Nick.  You can see the gorgeous flame maple peeking through that Cremona Brown sunburst.  It has plenty of nicks and scratches but it really isn't that bad.  I don't think it was even dusted off at the time of this picture.  Looks like whoever played it used one of those nasty capos that took chunks out of the back of the neck.  Pet peeve of mine.

Here is the label on the Nick.  I love seeing the hand written model numbers/names.  The handwriting is usually very elegant which is very rare these days.  I know my handwriting is terrible!  This appears to have been filled out in error though.  The space after "Gibson" should say "GUITAR" and the style should say "Nick Lucas Special."  I thought at first that this was even the wrong label but a friend from a forum informed me that the they used this label on the Maple NLSs.  The original label looked like this:

I'm not sure if they ran out of them or just stopped using them.  That is one interesting thing about Nicks is that they often have strange features.  As my friend says about Gibsons, "If it perfectly matches the description then it is probably fake."  They had a couple of different body shapes, 3 different types of wood for the back/sides and many different style bridges.  These are true custom made guitars.  It is estimated that 300-400 were produced over 11 years in a time where Gibson was slapping guitars together with whatever they had around.

Here is one repair we can clearly see.  The fretboard has been planed about halfway down.  I'm not sure if that was a result of a neck set or a couple of refrets.  I will guess that it is a result of a whole bunch of refrets because the fret wire they used was much softer than what they use now.  I didn't really see any evidence of a neck set either.  Although, I know it will need a neck set now. 

Leave it to Ren,  he will get this sad looking Nick in tip top shape.  I'll do another post when it comes back.  I might be able to include a video!  We will see what the owner will allow.

TVG

1928 Gibson Nick Lucas... from an email

I'm active on a couple of guitar nerd forums and I like to look out for cool guitars.  The Gibson Nick Lucas Special is one of my all-time favorite guitars ever produced.  Here is an email that I got from the grandson of the original owner of this guitar:

My grandfather bought a new Gibson Nick Lucas back in the twenties. He never got around to learning how to play it and it sat in its case until he gave it to my brother in the late Fifties. It sat under his bed until I found it in the early Sixties.

It had been strung up and ignored for decades. The action was redunkulous. I didn't know any better since it was the first guitar I had ever touched. Many sore fingers later I heard about light gauge strings and tuning down. In the meantime it was handled with absolutely no care by an ignorant teenager - me. I dropped a clock radio on it, several times - note the huge gouges. 

Eventually i took it to a guitar shop where they "improved" it by filing down the original bridge to get the action a little better. I took off the open gear tuners and drilled holes for shiny new closed gear Grovers. The tuners were a great improvement, but - now the guitar wouldn't fit in the case unless I took off the D and G pegs!

I got a Dearmond soundhole pickup and played slide for quite awhile. I had a neck reset in the Nineties and have been playing fingerstyle with it tuned down a whole step ever since. 

According to the guys at Gibson, the serial number (in pencil) on the label indicates it was made in 1926 but that doesn't match up with the description on the Gibson Nick Lucas reference page. Mine has the pearl "The Gibson" and the notched diamond inlay at the third fret. It is a 12 fretter so my best guess is late 1928. That makes it 85 years old sometime this year. August 22 is Nick Lucas's birthday. :)

This guitar has been rode hard and put away wet. It is LOUD! It sounds clear and true. Rings for days. Playing up towards the neck produces a wide warm tone and playing down by the bridge gets a crisp sound. This is true of every guitar but is really remarkable on my Nick. The "improvements" and hard wear probably make it a lot less desirable to a collector, but I have no plans of setting it loose in this lifetime.  

Neither of my sons plays guitar but maybe my grandson will someday.   

It is very rare to have a full history on a guitar.  Thank you BmoreTele for sending me this.  A very cool guitar indeed.


TVG 

On buying old, broken guitars before you can hear them

Most of the guitars that I buy are finds- as in they have been in a closet or under the bed for 30 years.  That means that they usually need a fair amount of repair like loose braces, neck sets, lifting bridges, etc.  When they need these kind of structural repairs I can't play them before buying.  I can't always hear how they will sound after being fixed up before I buy them.  It can be a bit of a gamble.  Here are a couple of those gambles.

This was probably the biggest gamble of all.  This is a 1943 Gibson J-45.  This has the fabled "banner" gracing the headstock that was only present during the war years.  I bought it from the grandson of the original owner.  The back braces, tone bars and finger braces were all loose.  The owner could not be convinced of this fact for some reason.  He had strings on it at full tension which caused the action to be very high.  I bought it anyway because I wanted a banner.

This was a GREAT bet.  I figured it would need a neck set but after the braces were glued tight the neck set was perfect.  It has almost factory saddle height.  The tone is warm, dry and very responsive.  You can feel the pluck of each string deep in your chest.  Suffice it to say they were right about the banners.

This 1955 Gibson J-50 was a recent gamble.  It was listed as a '54  and was about an hour and a half from Birmingham.  I could tell from the pictures that while the tuners were there the buttons were not.  I just happened to have bought an old Kay with period Klusons for next to nothing the week before!  When I got the guitar in my hands I could tell that the bridge had been shaved meaning that it probably needed a neck set.  I bought it anyway.

This is a very special guitar and probably the best gamble of all.  I took it straight to my local shop where my friend Keith works.  We put the extra set of Klusons on and strung it up.  As he was winding the strings I could hear that familiar hollow thump typical of the round shoulder Gibsons.  At full tension we immediately knew that this was not just an average 50s Gibson.  It was loud, nuanced, responsive and most of all LOUD.  I'm talking bluegrass loud.  We couldn't hear each other talking over the rumbling E chord.  Then we took it into the acoustic room to compare it to some new guitars.  We soon realized that this was guitar of myth and that it could never leave our circle of pickers.

This is a 60s Silvertone (Harmony Sovereign), I can't remember the Silvertone number designation.  I bought it from a different local shop needing a neck set.  When they got it in the called me because they knew I love the American made solid wood guitars.  They just said it was a Silvertone.  When I walked in I immediately recognized the distinctive bean shape and pinless bridge as a rebranded Sovereign.  I was ecstatic.  They thought I was crazy for buying a hard case for it.

The neck set was easy because the dovetail had already shifted in the joint.  I strung it up and started strummed some cowboy chords and fell head first in love with Sovereigns.  The J-45s sat in their cases for a few days while I became acquainted with it.  It had the rumble of a J-45 but sounded more bluesy- no, boxy.  This was probably a result of the ladder bracing.  Sometimes I just want to strum my favorite chord progression and belt out the lyrics.  This guitar was just about perfect for that.  It had the magic and can be had for less than $500.  Don't be fooled by the price, this is a professional instrument.  I sold it to a big time session player in Nashville.  It is a safe bet to say that you have heard him play.

It is a special feeling to strum an old guitar for the first time.  It is even more exhilarating when you have a bunch of time and money invested in it!  Maybe I have just gotten lucky but I have never had a bust- yet.   If you find one of these for a good deal then don't be afraid.  Take the plunge.

TVG

Pre-war Gibson Flat-top: 1933 Gibson L-00

When I was back in school I was lucky enough to find a guy with an early 50s J-45 and a mid to late 30s L-00.  I knew the J-45 was for me so I quickly sold off the L-00.  Mistake.  The thing had been played and played and needed a neck reset but it felt so good.  Sounded even better.  When I got word of this one for sale I was ecstatic.

The L-00's first catalogue appearance was in 1932 but supposedly they had been making them since 1929.  They were Gibson's budget model flat-top guitar.  They were lightly built cheapies that were made out of whatever they had around at the time.  Consequently, the features tend to be a bit sporadic.  They all feature Adirondack Spruce tops and Mahogany back and sides.  The L-00 began as a 12 fret guitar but changed to 14 in '33.

This advertisement is kind of interesting.  The 00 is on the lower left and just beside the body of the guitar is a short paragraph about how they are using 14 fret necks for more comfort and fret board access.  You may have noticed that none of the guitars picture have 14 fret necks.  This is typical of Gibson I guess, sigh.

This particular L-00 has a bit of a story attached to it.  Before I had seen it in person I saw a few pictures from the owner.  One showed the back of the headstock.  I could see a little impression in the lacquer that I recognized as a "Made In USA" stamp.  This was the marker that Gibson used on all export instruments that went outside of the US.  But I found this guitar in Tennessee??  I was a bit perplexed because almost all of the instruments that come my way are "finds" as in not from a dealer so how did this guy get this thing anyway?

After talking with the owner for a bit I got the story on how he came to own the guitar.  His uncle was housing a drifter for a while but the drifter had no way to pay him.  All he had was this guitar so he used it as payment.  The uncle had no use for the instrument so when his nephew showed an interest in music he gave it away.  That was a long time ago.  The owner had made his way to the states by way of Canada- the missing link in the story.

This guitar was easy to date as far as vintage Gibsons go.  I saw from the pictures that it had a small burst so I knew it was early to mid 30s.  The Factory Order Number was easy to read: 876 which appeared in the ledgers in 1933.

The neck on this old guitar has a wide 1 3/4" nut width with a fairly defined "V" shape that I find very comfortable.  I'm not sure why this shape has fallen out of vogue.  Fingerstyle blues just feels "right."  The neck is straight, frets properly dressed and the action is very comfortable.  I was looking for signs of a neck reset but I couldn't find them.  I believe that this is the original neck angle.  The saddle is kind of low but not as low as I would expect.  There is still a bit of room to come down if needed.

Some of the guitars from this era have some kind of ugly wood.  They have been seen with three piece tops and backs and off center seams.  Supposedly this was the reason for the small burst: most of the wood was not very aesthetically pleasing so the burst served to cover it up.  For some reason this guitar was spared of ugly wood.  The top is a nice 2 piece book matched Spruce and the back is a solid piece of close-to-quarter sawn Mahogany.  The sides are both quarter sawn.  I say close to quarter because it looks like this piece was very close to the center of the tree.  Here is what I mean by quarter sawn vs. flat sawn:

Quarter sawn wood has a higher strength to weight ratio but wastes more wood.  It is considered higher quality because of its features and scarcity.

The Tone Report:  Open, woody, Americana.  If you closed your eyes and just listened to it you might mistake it for a much larger guitar.  However, it is much different than a dreadnought.  It is more nuanced and sweet.  They are fantastic for fingerpicking.  The notes are clearly defined as well as balanced.  If you plan on strumming away your Nickleback chords then you may want to stay away from a 00.  The boom and sparkle probably won't be enough for you (as well as other obvious problems with that situation).




Dating this Gibson L-00 was relatively easy with the features and Factory Order Number.  The number is 867 which according to Spann's Guide to Gibson means 1933.  The other features were the small burst which was done in the early 30s and the solid kerfing on the interior of the guitar.  This is the lining that provides a solid glueing surface for the rims to the top and back.  This was mostly used in the late 20s and very early 30s.  There are some exceptions such as my friend's '32 L-00 that has standard cut pieces of Mahogany.  Here is a shot of the solid kerfing:

And the FON:

I'm really excited to have another L-00.  I really love fingerstyle blues and this is the guitar to have for that (except for maybe an L-1?).  I thought I liked the larger burst of my last one better but I've changed my mind.  The small burst is unique and the reasons behind it are representative of the times in which it was built.

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