Gibson L-00 Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1937)
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Item # 12239
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Gibson L-00 Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1937), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 1346C-48 (FON), sunburst top, dark back and sides finish, mahogany back, sides and neck, spruce top, rosewood fingerboard, black tolex hard shell case.
This is a somewhat unusual but great playing and sounding example of a 14-fret L-00, Gibson's most popular Depression era flat top from the 1930's up through today. While this model stood near the bottom of the company's guitar line, it is a very well-designed instrument and offered great value in sound. The FON code stamped on the neck block in this example indicates it was built in early 1937 when the list price was $30.00, without the case.
This brings up a serious oddity about this guitar that illustrates just how difficult it can sometimes be to tell the whole story on vintage Gibson instruments. While the overall features (and the clearly stamped FON) indicate a 1937 build date, the dark sunburst top finish and especially the pickguard style look more correct for the period 8-10 years later. The likely scenario is the guitar either had the top refinished and the guard replaced at the factory at that time, or was entirely re-topped. A detailed examination suggests the latter is the true story, giving this guitar a fairly unique hybrid of prewar and late-or just post WWII specs.
As noted the sunburst top is a bit darker and less "orangey" than typical of mid-1930s guitars. We think the top (and possibly side) finish was re-shot fresh at the time, while the back and back of the neck were simply oversprayed. Internally the bracing is slightly scalloped on the rear legs of the X with two tone bars, and more resembles 1946 instruments than the typical 1937 L-00, though the patterns are actually not that dissimilar. The spruce top carries a tortoise celluloid pickguard in the post 1942 shape (the instant giveaway this guitar is a hybrid) and a three-ply sound hole ring that is also more correct for 1940s practice. There is single-ply white celluloid binding around the top but no back binding.
The back and sides are finished in dark mahogany, as is the slim "V" profile neck (unchanged from 1937) with an unbound rosewood fingerboard. The headstock carries a white stenciled "Gibson" logo on the face and plain square-end first generation Kluson strip tuners with white plastic buttons. The small rosewood bridge has the reinforcing bolts with their pearl dot caps used from the 1930s on. The finish is consistently Gibson lacquer, though likely sprayed at two different times.
This model was a working-class standard of the day, a professional grade guitar at a price affordable to blues players, Hillbilly string bands, and many other itinerant musicians as well as Gibson's intended student customers. Somebody apparently loved this guitar enough to have it sent back to the factory for reconditioning after something like a decade's use. Each one of these guitars has its own character; this one with its hybrid of 1930s and 1940s features is more unique than most! It is louder and punchier than some, great-sounding both finger- and flat-picked, with a powerful ringing tone. Many of these lightly built old Gibson flat-tops have been more heavily used and often amateurishly repaired, this one is not perfect but a fascinating and likely one-of-a-kind survivor.
Overall length is 39 5/8 in. (100.6 cm.), 14 3/4 in. (37.5 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
While showing signs of use this L-00 has survived in largely original condition, at least since its reconditioning many decades ago. There are no more recent changes or alterations; the neck does not appear to have been more recently reset. The finish has its share of checking, edge wear, dings, dents and scrapes, especially on the back/lower side edge. The top has fine checking with some random marks and dents but less pick wear than many, just isolated spots on the lower soundhole rim and behind the pickguard. There is some lacquer wear-through on the back of the neck with some loss to the spine and small dinks, but not the heavy capo wear often found. The headstock shows some checking, dings and chips.
The guitar is completely solid with fewer repairs than most. Amazingly enough this L-00 has no detectable crack repairs. The top is in excellent shape, with the light arching it was built with but none of the heavier bulge distortion these very lightly-built guitars often suffer. The bridge looks to have been lowered slightly in front of the pins some time back and likely reglued long ago and has a later bone saddle. Internally the guitar is as (last) built, the small maple bridgeplate intact and unaltered. The original Kluson tuner plates have some corrosion but are still fully functional.
The small-wire frets appear correct; they show minor wear in the lower positions and if not original represent a very old refret. The nut is bone, likely installed in the 1940s. The fingerboard shows some minor wear in the lower positions. The action is very comfortable and this is a fine playing instrument, with a powerful ringing sound. This fine playing and sounding L-00 has its own special tonal character combining the responsive sweetness of the narrow-waisted 1930s guitars with some of the punch of the 1940s LS's, a unique and potent combination! Overall Very Good + Condition.
This is a somewhat unusual but great playing and sounding example of a 14-fret L-00, Gibson's most popular Depression era flat top from the 1930's up through today. While this model stood near the bottom of the company's guitar line, it is a very well-designed instrument and offered great value in sound. The FON code stamped on the neck block in this example indicates it was built in early 1937 when the list price was $30.00, without the case.
This brings up a serious oddity about this guitar that illustrates just how difficult it can sometimes be to tell the whole story on vintage Gibson instruments. While the overall features (and the clearly stamped FON) indicate a 1937 build date, the dark sunburst top finish and especially the pickguard style look more correct for the period 8-10 years later. The likely scenario is the guitar either had the top refinished and the guard replaced at the factory at that time, or was entirely re-topped. A detailed examination suggests the latter is the true story, giving this guitar a fairly unique hybrid of prewar and late-or just post WWII specs.
As noted the sunburst top is a bit darker and less "orangey" than typical of mid-1930s guitars. We think the top (and possibly side) finish was re-shot fresh at the time, while the back and back of the neck were simply oversprayed. Internally the bracing is slightly scalloped on the rear legs of the X with two tone bars, and more resembles 1946 instruments than the typical 1937 L-00, though the patterns are actually not that dissimilar. The spruce top carries a tortoise celluloid pickguard in the post 1942 shape (the instant giveaway this guitar is a hybrid) and a three-ply sound hole ring that is also more correct for 1940s practice. There is single-ply white celluloid binding around the top but no back binding.
The back and sides are finished in dark mahogany, as is the slim "V" profile neck (unchanged from 1937) with an unbound rosewood fingerboard. The headstock carries a white stenciled "Gibson" logo on the face and plain square-end first generation Kluson strip tuners with white plastic buttons. The small rosewood bridge has the reinforcing bolts with their pearl dot caps used from the 1930s on. The finish is consistently Gibson lacquer, though likely sprayed at two different times.
This model was a working-class standard of the day, a professional grade guitar at a price affordable to blues players, Hillbilly string bands, and many other itinerant musicians as well as Gibson's intended student customers. Somebody apparently loved this guitar enough to have it sent back to the factory for reconditioning after something like a decade's use. Each one of these guitars has its own character; this one with its hybrid of 1930s and 1940s features is more unique than most! It is louder and punchier than some, great-sounding both finger- and flat-picked, with a powerful ringing tone. Many of these lightly built old Gibson flat-tops have been more heavily used and often amateurishly repaired, this one is not perfect but a fascinating and likely one-of-a-kind survivor.
Overall length is 39 5/8 in. (100.6 cm.), 14 3/4 in. (37.5 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
While showing signs of use this L-00 has survived in largely original condition, at least since its reconditioning many decades ago. There are no more recent changes or alterations; the neck does not appear to have been more recently reset. The finish has its share of checking, edge wear, dings, dents and scrapes, especially on the back/lower side edge. The top has fine checking with some random marks and dents but less pick wear than many, just isolated spots on the lower soundhole rim and behind the pickguard. There is some lacquer wear-through on the back of the neck with some loss to the spine and small dinks, but not the heavy capo wear often found. The headstock shows some checking, dings and chips.
The guitar is completely solid with fewer repairs than most. Amazingly enough this L-00 has no detectable crack repairs. The top is in excellent shape, with the light arching it was built with but none of the heavier bulge distortion these very lightly-built guitars often suffer. The bridge looks to have been lowered slightly in front of the pins some time back and likely reglued long ago and has a later bone saddle. Internally the guitar is as (last) built, the small maple bridgeplate intact and unaltered. The original Kluson tuner plates have some corrosion but are still fully functional.
The small-wire frets appear correct; they show minor wear in the lower positions and if not original represent a very old refret. The nut is bone, likely installed in the 1940s. The fingerboard shows some minor wear in the lower positions. The action is very comfortable and this is a fine playing instrument, with a powerful ringing sound. This fine playing and sounding L-00 has its own special tonal character combining the responsive sweetness of the narrow-waisted 1930s guitars with some of the punch of the 1940s LS's, a unique and potent combination! Overall Very Good + Condition.