Gibson L-00 Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1935)
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Item # 9699
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Gibson L-00 Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1935), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 364A-61, sunburst top, dark back and sides finish, mahogany back, sides and neck, spruce top, rosewood fingerboard, original brown chipboard case.
The L-00 has remained one of Gibson's most popular Depression era guitars, then and now. While this model was at the bottom of the flat-top line in the early/mid-1930s, it offered a great value in sound. This example was built in 1935 (when the list price was $30.00, without the case) and while it shows a decent amount of playing wear has survived in nicely original condition.
The top finish is a deep sunburst with a center larger than the years before as is typical of mid-1930s guitars. There is single-ply white celluloid binding around the top edge, which is also 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 shallow "V" profile neck with an unbound rosewood fingerboard. The headstock carries a white stenciled "Gibson" logo on the face and simple openback unplated Grover strip tuners. The original rosewood bridge does not have the reinforcing bolts with their pearl dot caps added soon after this one was made.
The L-00 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 has its own character and this one is a very smooth player that sounds great-sounding both finger- and flat-picked, with a powerful ringing tone that never gets harsh. This is a well-played but still fine example; many of these lightly built pre-war Gibson flat-tops have often been damaged, heavily worn and amateurishly repaired, while this one looks used enough to be well broken in!
Overall 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 3/4 in. (44 mm.).
This mid-'30s L-00 shows some fairly heavy play wear but remains more original and structurally better preserved than many. The finish has some of the typical checking and an extensive collection of the dings, dents, and scrapes often seen on guitars this old. The top shows some typical pickwear; one deeper spot into the wood below the back edge of the pickguard; the lower edge of the soundhole rim is down to the wood and an area is worn into but not fully through the finish below the fingerboard on the upper bout. The lower top has some noticeable scraping below the center seam for no discernable reason.
The back has fairly heavy wear, especially along the upper waist and an area of deeper random scraping on the lower quarter. The back of the neck has wear down to the wood along the spine and edges, with some deeper dings and nicks. The headstock shows nicks and dings mostly along the edges. Even with all this wear here are NO visible cracks anywhere on this lightly built instrument, which is pretty unusual this far along! Two of the small ancillary braces off the main X have small repaired splits in the inside ends, sealed up neatly but visibly.
The neck has been reset to the original uncut bridge and there is plenty of saddle. The original small maple bridgeplate is completely intact, even the bridgepins and endpin appear original. The guitar has been neatly refretted with period-correct wire, and there is just a bit of wear to the fingerboard still showing in the lower positions. The original tuners are intact and still work as well as they ever did. Overall this is not one of the cleanest L-00s we have seen, but is a truly fine player with a comfortable low action and a very responsive full-bodied sound. While a bit of a "genuine relic" this is still a real prewar gem, still amazingly accompanied by its surprisingly functional original heavy chipboard case. Very Good + Condition.
The L-00 has remained one of Gibson's most popular Depression era guitars, then and now. While this model was at the bottom of the flat-top line in the early/mid-1930s, it offered a great value in sound. This example was built in 1935 (when the list price was $30.00, without the case) and while it shows a decent amount of playing wear has survived in nicely original condition.
The top finish is a deep sunburst with a center larger than the years before as is typical of mid-1930s guitars. There is single-ply white celluloid binding around the top edge, which is also 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 shallow "V" profile neck with an unbound rosewood fingerboard. The headstock carries a white stenciled "Gibson" logo on the face and simple openback unplated Grover strip tuners. The original rosewood bridge does not have the reinforcing bolts with their pearl dot caps added soon after this one was made.
The L-00 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 has its own character and this one is a very smooth player that sounds great-sounding both finger- and flat-picked, with a powerful ringing tone that never gets harsh. This is a well-played but still fine example; many of these lightly built pre-war Gibson flat-tops have often been damaged, heavily worn and amateurishly repaired, while this one looks used enough to be well broken in!
Overall 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 3/4 in. (44 mm.).
This mid-'30s L-00 shows some fairly heavy play wear but remains more original and structurally better preserved than many. The finish has some of the typical checking and an extensive collection of the dings, dents, and scrapes often seen on guitars this old. The top shows some typical pickwear; one deeper spot into the wood below the back edge of the pickguard; the lower edge of the soundhole rim is down to the wood and an area is worn into but not fully through the finish below the fingerboard on the upper bout. The lower top has some noticeable scraping below the center seam for no discernable reason.
The back has fairly heavy wear, especially along the upper waist and an area of deeper random scraping on the lower quarter. The back of the neck has wear down to the wood along the spine and edges, with some deeper dings and nicks. The headstock shows nicks and dings mostly along the edges. Even with all this wear here are NO visible cracks anywhere on this lightly built instrument, which is pretty unusual this far along! Two of the small ancillary braces off the main X have small repaired splits in the inside ends, sealed up neatly but visibly.
The neck has been reset to the original uncut bridge and there is plenty of saddle. The original small maple bridgeplate is completely intact, even the bridgepins and endpin appear original. The guitar has been neatly refretted with period-correct wire, and there is just a bit of wear to the fingerboard still showing in the lower positions. The original tuners are intact and still work as well as they ever did. Overall this is not one of the cleanest L-00s we have seen, but is a truly fine player with a comfortable low action and a very responsive full-bodied sound. While a bit of a "genuine relic" this is still a real prewar gem, still amazingly accompanied by its surprisingly functional original heavy chipboard case. Very Good + Condition.