Gibson Advanced Jumbo Flat Top Plectrum Guitar (1937)
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Gibson Advanced Jumbo Model Flat Top Plectrum Guitar (1937), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 112C, sunburst top, natural back and sides finish, rosewood back and sides, spruce top; mahogeny neck with rosewood fingerboard, black hard shell case.
Here's one for the books, and if you're writing the book on pre-war Gibson acoustics you'll definitely want to include it! The Advanced Jumbo is one of the Gibson company's rarest and most sought after flat tops, a deluxe model available for just a few years in the later 1930s. THIS one goes beyond rare into the unicorn category, a 4-string Plectrum guitar built on the rosewood AJ body. This is a totally custom made instrument, with a top and neck specifically built to the unusual long-scale plectrum design. We are aware of only one other example of a similar AJ Plectrum, and long-neck plectrum instruments from this period are all quite rare.
The Advanced Jumbo in general is a slope-shoulder model often considered the finest (6-string) flat top guitar in Gibson's history. Listing in 1937 at a whopping $80.00, it was a deluxe development of the initial 1934 Jumbo featuring a rosewood body instead of mahogany and fancier cosmetics, most visibly unique "arrowhead" inlay on the fingerboard and headstock. This guitar's long slim 4-string neck retains the AJ's arrowhead ornamentation and adds a banjo-style volute behind the headstock. The tuners on the small headstock are Grover "pancake" banjo machines.
This instrument dates to early 1937; stamped on the neck block is the Factory Order Number "112C" which may be an individual FON for just this special order instrument as there is no ranking digit next to it. Oddly enough the next batch "113C" was logged as a "Special Tenor". Gibson made tenor guitars to stock (mostly inexpensive TG-00 flat tops) but period Gibson catalogs note "Any regular Gibson six-string guitar can be made up in a tenor or plectrum 4-string model, on special order. Write or see your Gibson dealer for details". The most common custom examples (which are not common at all!) are L-7 archtops in tenor or plectrum configuration. In this case someone wanted Gibson's brand-new finest flat top guitar in 4-string Plectrum format, and were willing to pay for it!
The rosewood body is typical for an AJ, with a beautiful straight grain pattern on the back in particular. The pickguard is the standard format in "firestripe" celluloid while the very small rosewood bridge has two reinforcing two bolts located in the center instead of the edges, covered as usual by pearl dots. The top is X-braced and the soundhole is lower on the face than a stock AJ, and unlike some period Gibson tenors we have seen the bridgeplate is correctly located! Hopefully this unique configuration will stop anyone idly pondering fitting a 6-string neck to this extreme rarity! Whoever ordered this special instrument looks to have gotten a lot of use out of it, as there is heavy wear around the soundhole indicating it was played a lot along the way. It is certainly the best sounding 4-string plectrum guitar we have ever heard, worthy of the Hoosier Hot Shots (look 'em up!).
Overall length is 41 in. (104.1 cm.), 16 1/8 in. (41 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 7/8 in. (12.4 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 26 1/2 in. (673 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/16 in. (30 mm.).
This exceptionally rare guitar shows fairly heavy play wear to the top but remains otherwise original and well-preserved, now nearly 90 years along. Someone played this professionally, almost certainly in an ensemble context and picked it very hard. The guitar is still in structurally excellent condition showing light-moderate wear to the finish overall. The top is the exception with obvious heavy pickwear to the wood most deeply into the soundhole rim, also above and below the fingerboard and off the front edge of the pickguard. There is a deep case lid ding on the upper bass bout by the edge. The back and sides have just small dings, dents, scratches and rub wear but no heavy loss. The back of the neck is partially worn mostly through the lacquer between the 2nd and 12th fret, with a deep worn spot into the wood at the top of the heel possibly from an ill-fitted case.
There are no visible structural repairs; the top is very solid and the rosewood back and sides remain crack free. The neck has never been reset and the bridge appears to have just had the saddle slightly reshaped. The bone nut and saddle remain original. The frets appear original and have been leveled lower and flatter; the fingerboard shows tool marks from old fretwork and the center area has some light divoting. Playability is still good with a big sound for a 4-string, with depth and punch not generally found in tenor guitars. This is simply an exceptionally rare authentic original pre-war rosewood Plectrum flat-top jumbo from Gibson, something almost non-existent in any era. Very Good + Condition.
Here's one for the books, and if you're writing the book on pre-war Gibson acoustics you'll definitely want to include it! The Advanced Jumbo is one of the Gibson company's rarest and most sought after flat tops, a deluxe model available for just a few years in the later 1930s. THIS one goes beyond rare into the unicorn category, a 4-string Plectrum guitar built on the rosewood AJ body. This is a totally custom made instrument, with a top and neck specifically built to the unusual long-scale plectrum design. We are aware of only one other example of a similar AJ Plectrum, and long-neck plectrum instruments from this period are all quite rare.
The Advanced Jumbo in general is a slope-shoulder model often considered the finest (6-string) flat top guitar in Gibson's history. Listing in 1937 at a whopping $80.00, it was a deluxe development of the initial 1934 Jumbo featuring a rosewood body instead of mahogany and fancier cosmetics, most visibly unique "arrowhead" inlay on the fingerboard and headstock. This guitar's long slim 4-string neck retains the AJ's arrowhead ornamentation and adds a banjo-style volute behind the headstock. The tuners on the small headstock are Grover "pancake" banjo machines.
This instrument dates to early 1937; stamped on the neck block is the Factory Order Number "112C" which may be an individual FON for just this special order instrument as there is no ranking digit next to it. Oddly enough the next batch "113C" was logged as a "Special Tenor". Gibson made tenor guitars to stock (mostly inexpensive TG-00 flat tops) but period Gibson catalogs note "Any regular Gibson six-string guitar can be made up in a tenor or plectrum 4-string model, on special order. Write or see your Gibson dealer for details". The most common custom examples (which are not common at all!) are L-7 archtops in tenor or plectrum configuration. In this case someone wanted Gibson's brand-new finest flat top guitar in 4-string Plectrum format, and were willing to pay for it!
The rosewood body is typical for an AJ, with a beautiful straight grain pattern on the back in particular. The pickguard is the standard format in "firestripe" celluloid while the very small rosewood bridge has two reinforcing two bolts located in the center instead of the edges, covered as usual by pearl dots. The top is X-braced and the soundhole is lower on the face than a stock AJ, and unlike some period Gibson tenors we have seen the bridgeplate is correctly located! Hopefully this unique configuration will stop anyone idly pondering fitting a 6-string neck to this extreme rarity! Whoever ordered this special instrument looks to have gotten a lot of use out of it, as there is heavy wear around the soundhole indicating it was played a lot along the way. It is certainly the best sounding 4-string plectrum guitar we have ever heard, worthy of the Hoosier Hot Shots (look 'em up!).
Overall length is 41 in. (104.1 cm.), 16 1/8 in. (41 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 7/8 in. (12.4 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 26 1/2 in. (673 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/16 in. (30 mm.).
This exceptionally rare guitar shows fairly heavy play wear to the top but remains otherwise original and well-preserved, now nearly 90 years along. Someone played this professionally, almost certainly in an ensemble context and picked it very hard. The guitar is still in structurally excellent condition showing light-moderate wear to the finish overall. The top is the exception with obvious heavy pickwear to the wood most deeply into the soundhole rim, also above and below the fingerboard and off the front edge of the pickguard. There is a deep case lid ding on the upper bass bout by the edge. The back and sides have just small dings, dents, scratches and rub wear but no heavy loss. The back of the neck is partially worn mostly through the lacquer between the 2nd and 12th fret, with a deep worn spot into the wood at the top of the heel possibly from an ill-fitted case.
There are no visible structural repairs; the top is very solid and the rosewood back and sides remain crack free. The neck has never been reset and the bridge appears to have just had the saddle slightly reshaped. The bone nut and saddle remain original. The frets appear original and have been leveled lower and flatter; the fingerboard shows tool marks from old fretwork and the center area has some light divoting. Playability is still good with a big sound for a 4-string, with depth and punch not generally found in tenor guitars. This is simply an exceptionally rare authentic original pre-war rosewood Plectrum flat-top jumbo from Gibson, something almost non-existent in any era. Very Good + Condition.