Gibson L-00 Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1935)
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Gibson L-00 Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1935), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 1477A-196, sunburst top, dark back and sides finish, mahogany back, sides and neck, spruce top, rosewood fingerboard, black hard shell case.
This is a heavily played 1935 L-00, a genuine relic in every way. It has been played and lived for 90 years now and remains an excellent playing and sounding instrument. This model has always been Gibson's most popular Depression era flat top, from the 1930's right up through today. While the L-00 stood at the bottom of the company's guitar line in the 1930s, it was a very well-designed instrument that offered a great value in sound. This example was built in late 1935 (when the list price was $30.00, without the case) and while it shows a lot of wear than most, survives in largely original and certainly era-correct condition.
The top finish is a deep sunburst with a subdued orangey center, somewhat larger than the years before but not as bright as later 1930s guitars. There is single-ply white celluloid binding around the top edge, which is ornamented with a "firestripe" tortoise celluloid pickguard and a three-ply sound hole ring. The back and sides are finished in dark mahogany, as is the "V" profile neck with an unbound rosewood fingerboard. The headstock carries a white stenciled "Gibson" logo on the face and simple strip tuners, in this case a mixed lot. The rosewood bridge is an exact repro and never had the reinforcing bolts with their pearl dot caps added a year or so.
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. Each one of these guitars has its own character and this one is just a hard-working honey; great-sounding both finger- and flat-picked, with a powerful tone deeper than some that never gets harsh. Many of these pre-war Gibson flat-tops have been heavily used and often amateurishly repaired; this one has seen its share of wear but the sound and vibe are fully intact.
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.).
This L-00 has a cool funky look and great sound, "Blues-approved" for sure. The finish is largely original, with some ancient touch ups in spots but no wholesale overfinish. The top shows typical checking and some noticeable playing wear. There are dings, dents (some fairly deep) and scrapes overall and a large area of pick wear to the wood below the fingerboard extension in front of the pickguard, and along the lower soundhole rim. The back has heavy scuffing marks; it looks to have possible been treated with steel wool at some point and the unbound edges are heavily worn. The sides have light checking and assorted dings and dents.
There is a decent amount of finish loss to the back of the neck mostly in the first position and all along the spine, with capo dings noticeable through the 5th fret area and random dings and dents beyond. The top has repaired grain splits from the fingerboard edge off the bass side to the soundhole rim, off the top edge of the pickguard and at the end just above the center seam, all sealed up but visible. There is an old grain split on the lower side running back from the waist, also sealed but visible. The back has some deep scratches but no apparent cracks.
The neck has been reset and the original bridge replaced with an excellent aged replica with a correct bone saddle. That original bridge had been reinforced with small maple dowels through the top adjacent to the X-brace wings, these are still intact internally though no longer running up through the bridge wings. There is some finish scarring around the base of the bridge.
The fingerboard has been trued and neatly reftretted with appropriate wire, some divots in the first position were filled and the ebony nut remains original. Internally the guitar is a bit dirty but the original bracing and small maple bridgeplate are intact, the treble side X-brace wing having that dowel partially running through it. The top is in excellent shape, with just light arching behind the bridge. The original tuners are half-intact; the treble side are the original unplated Grover strips while the bass side is a different period strip that appears to have been there since long ago.
The action is very comfortable and this is a fine playing and sounding instrument, a lovely example of an L-00 that has "took a likkin and kept on tikkin" as the Timex ads used to run. This is far from the cleanest example we have had but one of the best sounding, a fine fingerpicker as most are but "tuff enuf" to handle heavier flatpicking as well. A real relic for sure, "Ragged but Right". Overall Very Good Condition.
This is a heavily played 1935 L-00, a genuine relic in every way. It has been played and lived for 90 years now and remains an excellent playing and sounding instrument. This model has always been Gibson's most popular Depression era flat top, from the 1930's right up through today. While the L-00 stood at the bottom of the company's guitar line in the 1930s, it was a very well-designed instrument that offered a great value in sound. This example was built in late 1935 (when the list price was $30.00, without the case) and while it shows a lot of wear than most, survives in largely original and certainly era-correct condition.
The top finish is a deep sunburst with a subdued orangey center, somewhat larger than the years before but not as bright as later 1930s guitars. There is single-ply white celluloid binding around the top edge, which is ornamented with a "firestripe" tortoise celluloid pickguard and a three-ply sound hole ring. The back and sides are finished in dark mahogany, as is the "V" profile neck with an unbound rosewood fingerboard. The headstock carries a white stenciled "Gibson" logo on the face and simple strip tuners, in this case a mixed lot. The rosewood bridge is an exact repro and never had the reinforcing bolts with their pearl dot caps added a year or so.
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. Each one of these guitars has its own character and this one is just a hard-working honey; great-sounding both finger- and flat-picked, with a powerful tone deeper than some that never gets harsh. Many of these pre-war Gibson flat-tops have been heavily used and often amateurishly repaired; this one has seen its share of wear but the sound and vibe are fully intact.
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.).
This L-00 has a cool funky look and great sound, "Blues-approved" for sure. The finish is largely original, with some ancient touch ups in spots but no wholesale overfinish. The top shows typical checking and some noticeable playing wear. There are dings, dents (some fairly deep) and scrapes overall and a large area of pick wear to the wood below the fingerboard extension in front of the pickguard, and along the lower soundhole rim. The back has heavy scuffing marks; it looks to have possible been treated with steel wool at some point and the unbound edges are heavily worn. The sides have light checking and assorted dings and dents.
There is a decent amount of finish loss to the back of the neck mostly in the first position and all along the spine, with capo dings noticeable through the 5th fret area and random dings and dents beyond. The top has repaired grain splits from the fingerboard edge off the bass side to the soundhole rim, off the top edge of the pickguard and at the end just above the center seam, all sealed up but visible. There is an old grain split on the lower side running back from the waist, also sealed but visible. The back has some deep scratches but no apparent cracks.
The neck has been reset and the original bridge replaced with an excellent aged replica with a correct bone saddle. That original bridge had been reinforced with small maple dowels through the top adjacent to the X-brace wings, these are still intact internally though no longer running up through the bridge wings. There is some finish scarring around the base of the bridge.
The fingerboard has been trued and neatly reftretted with appropriate wire, some divots in the first position were filled and the ebony nut remains original. Internally the guitar is a bit dirty but the original bracing and small maple bridgeplate are intact, the treble side X-brace wing having that dowel partially running through it. The top is in excellent shape, with just light arching behind the bridge. The original tuners are half-intact; the treble side are the original unplated Grover strips while the bass side is a different period strip that appears to have been there since long ago.
The action is very comfortable and this is a fine playing and sounding instrument, a lovely example of an L-00 that has "took a likkin and kept on tikkin" as the Timex ads used to run. This is far from the cleanest example we have had but one of the best sounding, a fine fingerpicker as most are but "tuff enuf" to handle heavier flatpicking as well. A real relic for sure, "Ragged but Right". Overall Very Good Condition.