Gibson L-3 Arch Top Acoustic Guitar (1928)

Gibson  L-3 Arch Top Acoustic Guitar  (1928)
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Item # 10321
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Gibson L-3 Model Arch Top Acoustic Guitar (1928), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 83644, red sunburst varnish finish, birch back and sides, spruce top; mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard, original black hard shell case.

This is a really beautiful example of Gibson's original fanciest small-body archtop, the L-3. By the time this guitar was built in late 1928, Gibson had reversed their earlier diffidence about flat-top guitars, previously decreed "inferior" in the company's catalogs. The L-1 and L-2 had been re-cast as flat-tops and were the new low end of the line, leaving the $100.00 L-3 as the company's least expensive archtop guitar. It was priced under the 16" $150.00 L-4 and $275.00 L-5, but in the late 1920's $100 was still a lot of money for a guitar; a pearl trimmed, Brazilian rosewood Martin 00-42 could be had for just $10 more!

The L-3 features a daintier under-14" rounded bout body than its higher priced Gibson siblings but is a fairly fancy guitar nonetheless. The single-bound top is finished in a rich dark red sunburst, the fairly elaborate single multiply inlaid sound hole ring has a herringbone inner layer. The L-3 carries the same basic hardware as the L-4, with an adjustable ebony bridge, "wrap-under" trapeze tailpiece and raised tortoise celluloid pickguard. Another noticeable difference from the L-4 is a smaller round sound hole instead of a wide oval.

The carved spruce top is more thinly worked on this guitar compared to earlier examples, giving it a bigger, more rounded sound than most. This 1928 example has a very deep but round-backed neck, somewhat more player friendly than the equally deep but sharper "V" profile used earlier on. Never a common model, by this point the L-3 was becoming pretty much forgotten and would be phased out not long after the Depression hit in 1929-30.

This is a fairly rare instrument compared to earlier L-3s; the quantity built was likely quite small. In this period Gibson built a very large proportion of banjos and comparatively few guitars, which would quickly reverse itself after 1930 but too late to save the L-3. These smaller-bodied, round hole, carved-top guitars have a bright and barky sound with plenty of volume; this one is rounder and richer toned than any we have had before and sounds somewhat more like a "normal" guitar! This diminutive round bout archtop L-3 may seem an eccentric design today but remains a charming reminder of the last days of the Gibson company's earliest period, before the 1930s changed everything.
 
Overall length is 38 1/2 in. (97.8 cm.), 13 3/4 in. (34.9 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 1/4 in. (616 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This guitar is clean overall for a 90+ year old guitar with a beautiful unfaded top finish and only some general light wear. There is not a lot of playwear, the finish does show some checking with dings, dents and scrapes overall. The lower bout area of the top shows a couple of longer scratches and one deeper case lid ding near the edge. The headstock has a couple of larger scrapes and dings, the back of the neck is generally clean with some light denting in the lower positions.

The only major finish disturbance is some odd spots of lacquer damage on the lower side in the area above the endpin, with smaller similar areas on the treble side as well. It looks as though perhaps something left in the case reacted with the finish long ago. There may have been some typical seam re-sealing along the back/side seam above the endpin, but nothing really noticeable.

The hardware is original and complete including the elevated celluloid pickguard, tailpiece, ebony bridge (with the turn-over Hawaiian saddle carve on the underside) the attractive engraved-plate Waverly strip tuners. The original narrow frets show hardly any wear; with both a truss rod and adjustable bridge this is a very fine playing and quite good sounding example. This L-3 is about the nicest player we have had of this small-body Gibson archtop, complete with the OHSC which is also very well preserved. Excellent Condition.