Gibson L-50 Model Arch Top Acoustic Guitar (1940), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 76-F-38, sunburst top, dark back and sides finish, Spruce top, Maple back and sides, mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard, period black hard shell case.
This is a super well preserved example of a Gibson L-50 from 1940, a lovely but no-frills version of the company's classic carved-top guitar design. "Developed for those players wanting a grand auditorium guitar at a moderate price" Gibson's catalog description read in 1941 adding "It offers new opportunities for modern tone coloring". This is a perfect swing-era guitar offering the sound but without the glitz, with a 16" body, fully carved top and big round-profile neck. The Kluson individual metal-button tuners and trapeze tailpiece are subtly deco-inspired but the fingerboard has only plain dot inlay and the tortoise celluloid pickguard is not bound. This period L-50 also has Gibson's professional 25 1/2" scale length (which many of the company's less expensive archtops did not) and has a professional sound for a lower-line guitar. An excellent mid-priced carved guitar, probably our favorite version of the perennial L-50 and a really nice pre-war Gibson archtop suitable for a lot of musical applications.
Overall length is 40 7/8 in. (103.8 cm.), 16 1/8 in. (41 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 25 1/2 in. (648 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/4 in. (44 mm.). Very clean and all original, a super nice example of this just pre-WWII carved top Gibson. No repairs or alterations, some light play wear overall but really for a Gibson of this period this is in very fine shape. This is a very big-sounding guitar, complete with a very nice period HSC that is likely original to the guitar. Excellent Condition.
