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 

50s Kay Kraftsman Jumbo.... The poor man's J-200

I saw an old amp on Craigslist in Tuscaloosa the other day.  It was a Silvertone 1472 sporting about 10 watts or so and a 12" speaker.  I was heading to Tuscaloosa on business that day so I figured I would inquire about it.  Unfortunately I was about 10 minutes too late.

The seller was very nice and asked what else I was interested in.  I told him I like anything old and made in America.  He said he had an old Kay flat top that had a body made by Gibson.  I thought to myself, "I've heard that before."

The body was not made by Gibson but that didn't matter to me.  This is a mid 1950s Kay (Harmony) Jumbo (actual model? I dunno.  Maybe just Kraftsman).  It was made in Chicago and features a solid Spruce top, solid one piece flame Maple back and veneer sides.  It has 17" wide hips (a regular dreadnought is 16") and has ladder bracing.  It is original save for the Guild bridge added sometime long ago.  It even came with the original Kluson tuners!

I was drawn to this guitar for three reasons: the size, appointments and the FLAME MAPLE BACK!  This is an absolutely beautiful slab of maple.  They didn't even cut it in half and book match it.  It is just one solid piece of sexy Maple.















She came to me in pretty good shape except that the neck was falling out and there was no nut or saddle.  I was very excited to have another neck reset project.  My last one didn't go so well but I learned a lot from it.  You can read all you want about it but there is not substitute for just doing it.  I highly suggest it if you are so inclined and have a suitable subject (ie not Gibson).

This is a dovetail joint.  It requires skilled craftsmanship to make and fit the neck to the guitar at just the right angle.  It takes a lot more time and human attention than a bolt on neck.  Dovetail joints are not easily made by machines.  They are a sign of old world craftsmanship.  Do you own a Taylor?  Your guitar probably does not have one of these.

I was really excited to see no gaps when I was done!  These are crappy cell phone shots.  I forgot to take real pictures.  I didn't want any good evidence in case it went bad.

The wife was kind enough to let me turn the apartment into a repair shop.  It was a mess and still kind of is.  This is a shot of me cutting the me bone nut.  It was my first full nut made from scratch.  I was happy with the result since it was my first try.  I will definitely do some things differently next time.

This is an interesting guitar because it has a 26" scale length.  That is the distance from the saddle (the white piece on the bridge) to the nut (the white piece at the top of the neck).  The standard scale length for a Gibson is 24 3/4" and the standard Martin scale is 25 1/2".  This is significant in both the way it plays and sounds.  A longer scale means that the strings must be tighter in order to sound the note.  This  usually makes for a louder and more difficult to play instrument (on average).  The tighter the string is the more difficult it is to push the string down to the fret.  Needless to say, this thing is a hoss to play and sounds great!

Another interesting feature (or lack thereof) is the absence of a truss rod.  Maybe it was just an attempt to save money.  They accounted for this by making the neck a monster.  It is by far the biggest neck I have ever seen.  It really gives it that 40s and 50s feel.  The neck is straight as an arrow so I guess they called Time's bluff.

I really like the peghead overlay on this one.  They used a celluloid overlay and carved and painted the detail and logo with white and gold paint.  I was talking with a friend about this guitar and he made a good point about how the peghead is very underused and plain on most guitars.  I agreed and thought that this was one of the most beautiful headstocks I have ever seen.  

Enough talk.  Let's pick.