{"product_id":"gibson-l-00-flat-top-acoustic-guitar-1938-13355","title":"Gibson L-00 Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1938)","description":"Gibson L-00 Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1938), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # DG-3330, sunburst top, dark back and sides finish, mahogany back, sides and neck, spruce top, rosewood fingerboard, black tolex hard shell case. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is a generally well-preserved example of a sunburst L-00, Gibson's most popular Depression era flat top from the 1930's up through today. While the L-00 stood close to the bottom of the company's guitar line in the 1930s, it was very well-designed and offered a great value in sound. This example was built in 1938 (when the list price was $30.00, without the case) and survives in less worn condition than many. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe top finish is a deep sunburst with a brighter orangey center, this area quite a bit larger than the years before as is typical of later 1930s guitars. There is single-ply white celluloid binding around the top and back; the latter a recent upgrade. The top 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 fairly slim \"V\" profile neck with an unbound rosewood fingerboard. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe headstock carries a white stenciled \"Gibson\" logo on the face and mounts early Kluson strip tuners, a definite upgrade from the unplated strips a couple of years before. The original rosewood bridge does not have the reinforcing bolts with their pearl dot caps added soon after. In a specific quirk of this era, the date-coded Factory Order Number is stamped directly on the back of the headstock, \"D\" indicating 1938 and \"G\" marking this as a Gibson branded instrument. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis 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 great-sounding both finger- and flat-picked, with a powerful ringing tone that is snappy in the treble end but never gets harsh. Many of these lightly built pre-war Gibson flat-tops have been heavily used and often amateurishly repaired while this one has made it through eight decades showing comparatively minor wear.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eOverall 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.). \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis L-00 has some typical wear and repair but remains nicely original overall. The all-original finish has typical checking (heaviest on the face) but not too much actual playing wear. There are some dings, dents and scrapes overall and a swath of picking wear into but mostly not through the top finish above and behind the soundhole. The bottom soundhole rim is a bit worn through as well. The back of the neck has some wear to the edges, heaviest in the first position and chips and dinks along the spine. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe top center seam has been resealed from the bridge to the bottom edge, and there are a couple of small grain splits off the bottom of the fingerboard extension, sealed and cleated. The back has three lengthwise cracks, two along the center seam and one above it all sealed with minimal touchup. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe neck has been very neatly reset to the original bridge, which looks to have been lowered slightly some time back and possibly re-seated. The bone saddle appears to be the original re-contoured, the ebony nut looks like a replacement. Internally the guitar is all original with the delicate if somewhat crudely shaped original bracing and original small maple bridgeplate intact; there is some errant glue in spots, at least some of which is original loose work from Kalamazoo. Even the bridgepins and endpin appear original. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe 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 better-grade original tuners are intact and working; the fingerboard has been refretted with wire just a bit larger than the original style. There are a few noticeable divots in the first position, and several smaller ones higher up. The action is very comfortable and this is a fine playing and sounding instrument, a lovely example of the later '30s L-00 in a more modern HSC Overall Very Good + Condition.","brand":"Gibson","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54098346279052,"sku":"13355","price":9500.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0672\/8702\/3756\/files\/01_0ef85cb4-38ca-41a7-a8c1-b756d975c529.jpg?v=1787785830","url":"https:\/\/retrofret.com\/products\/gibson-l-00-flat-top-acoustic-guitar-1938-13355","provider":"RetroFret","version":"1.0","type":"link"}