Gibson Nick Lucas Special Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1928)
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Item #3132
Gibson Nick Lucas Special Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar, c. 1928, made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, sunburst top, dark stained back and sides finish, mahogany back, sides and neck, spruce top, black tolex hard shell case.
Here is a great-playing example of a very rare guitar, with some cosmetic issues but in structurally excellent condition. This is the original small rounded-bout 1928 style Gibson Nick Lucas Special with the extra-deep mahogany body. This model was only made for a year or so before the Gibson flat-top body was redesigned in 1929-30, and these unique guitars have never been replicated.
Nick Lucas was the first artist to have a signature guitar, and this was Gibson's first endorsed model. Lucas was a huge star in the late 1920's, and while Gibson had previously denigrated flat-top guitars as unworthy of the true artist, with the Lucas Special the company made its first professional grade flat top guitar.
This is a 12-fret guitar similar to the early period L-1 and L-0 models, but is a much higher quality instrument. While those guitars stood at the bottom of Gibson's line, priced at $50.00 and $35.00, the Lucas retailed originally for $125.00. The cosmetics are fairly fancy; the soundhole edge is bound, then there is a triple wide inlaid celluloid ring (W-B-W), and a much smaller inlaid wood ring (B-W-B) outside of that. There is triple binding top, back, and neck; the top finish is the very delicate Cremona sunburst similar to that found on period L-5's and F-5's. The pearl fingerboard inlay is a shaped pattern including a notched diamond at the 3rd fret. There is a pearl script "The Gibson" logo straight on the peghead but no other headstock inlay.
The original round "Gibson Special" Nick Lucas portrait label is intact and quite clear. The tuners are the original strip Waverlys with engraved plates and grained ivoroid buttons. The bridge is a unique to this era two-tiered affair, bottom belly shaped but with a flat flange in the back. There are six large celluloid pins and one small (tenor ukulele) pin, useful only as decoration! This is the bridge shown on the Lucas in the 1928 catalog "Q", although it's actually airbrushed on to the picture! The bridge and pins on this guitar are (amazingly!) all original and unaltered.
The top of this early Nick Lucas is built with an H-brace system like most early Gibson flat tops; the sound is loud and quite percussive, but not as deep or warm as the later X-braced guitars. It is an excellent guitar for ragtime picking and other period styles with a snappy sound and added depth due to the unusually deep body. The neck profile is the very round-backed Gibson late-20's style, not the sharp "V" of the early 1930's. The guitar plays very well and is structurally better preserved than most of these fairly fragile guitars; it is a great find in a rare guitar. A fine "player's" Nick Lucas.
Overall length is 38 in. (96.5 cm.), 13 3/4 in. (34.9 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 1/4 in. (616 mm.).
This is an original, unaltered pin bridge guitar, and has never had a tailpiece or floating bridge�structurally, it is in very nice original condition and relatively crack-free. This guitar originally had no pickguard; it looks as if a fairly large glued-on one was added at some point, then removed, causing some noticeable finish distress. This area was then overfinished, resulting in the appearance of the guitar today. We have available an original period floating pickguard which would cover much of the area in question and improve the overall look of the instrument; we can mount this to the guitar if the purchaser desires it.
There is other fairly heavy general playing wear to the guitar but no other overfinish. One large "pickguard" crack under the high E string (from the added pickguard?) but no other noticeable cracks. The guitar is refretted and the rosewood fingerboard is rebound (very artfully) on the sides to match the triplebound base of the board, which is still original.
We are big fans of the early Nick Lucas Special; these are very unique and interesting guitars. Because of the condition of the top finish, this instrument is priced considerably lower than its age and overall condition would normally dictate! Very Good + Condition.
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Here is a great-playing example of a very rare guitar, with some cosmetic issues but in structurally excellent condition. This is the original small rounded-bout 1928 style Gibson Nick Lucas Special with the extra-deep mahogany body. This model was only made for a year or so before the Gibson flat-top body was redesigned in 1929-30, and these unique guitars have never been replicated.
Nick Lucas was the first artist to have a signature guitar, and this was Gibson's first endorsed model. Lucas was a huge star in the late 1920's, and while Gibson had previously denigrated flat-top guitars as unworthy of the true artist, with the Lucas Special the company made its first professional grade flat top guitar.
This is a 12-fret guitar similar to the early period L-1 and L-0 models, but is a much higher quality instrument. While those guitars stood at the bottom of Gibson's line, priced at $50.00 and $35.00, the Lucas retailed originally for $125.00. The cosmetics are fairly fancy; the soundhole edge is bound, then there is a triple wide inlaid celluloid ring (W-B-W), and a much smaller inlaid wood ring (B-W-B) outside of that. There is triple binding top, back, and neck; the top finish is the very delicate Cremona sunburst similar to that found on period L-5's and F-5's. The pearl fingerboard inlay is a shaped pattern including a notched diamond at the 3rd fret. There is a pearl script "The Gibson" logo straight on the peghead but no other headstock inlay.
The original round "Gibson Special" Nick Lucas portrait label is intact and quite clear. The tuners are the original strip Waverlys with engraved plates and grained ivoroid buttons. The bridge is a unique to this era two-tiered affair, bottom belly shaped but with a flat flange in the back. There are six large celluloid pins and one small (tenor ukulele) pin, useful only as decoration! This is the bridge shown on the Lucas in the 1928 catalog "Q", although it's actually airbrushed on to the picture! The bridge and pins on this guitar are (amazingly!) all original and unaltered.
The top of this early Nick Lucas is built with an H-brace system like most early Gibson flat tops; the sound is loud and quite percussive, but not as deep or warm as the later X-braced guitars. It is an excellent guitar for ragtime picking and other period styles with a snappy sound and added depth due to the unusually deep body. The neck profile is the very round-backed Gibson late-20's style, not the sharp "V" of the early 1930's. The guitar plays very well and is structurally better preserved than most of these fairly fragile guitars; it is a great find in a rare guitar. A fine "player's" Nick Lucas.
Overall length is 38 in. (96.5 cm.), 13 3/4 in. (34.9 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 1/4 in. (616 mm.).
This is an original, unaltered pin bridge guitar, and has never had a tailpiece or floating bridge�structurally, it is in very nice original condition and relatively crack-free. This guitar originally had no pickguard; it looks as if a fairly large glued-on one was added at some point, then removed, causing some noticeable finish distress. This area was then overfinished, resulting in the appearance of the guitar today. We have available an original period floating pickguard which would cover much of the area in question and improve the overall look of the instrument; we can mount this to the guitar if the purchaser desires it.
There is other fairly heavy general playing wear to the guitar but no other overfinish. One large "pickguard" crack under the high E string (from the added pickguard?) but no other noticeable cracks. The guitar is refretted and the rosewood fingerboard is rebound (very artfully) on the sides to match the triplebound base of the board, which is still original.
We are big fans of the early Nick Lucas Special; these are very unique and interesting guitars. Because of the condition of the top finish, this instrument is priced considerably lower than its age and overall condition would normally dictate! Very Good + Condition.
