1934 Gibson L-00, Sunburst

By Gibson
£6,250.00

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Stunning pre-war Gibson L-00 in fantastic condition. The guitar came into us having been in the previous owner's possession since the early 60’s when it was bought from the daughter of the original owner. The guitar is in wonderful played but preserved condition. With it’s featherweight construction, strong 'V' neck profile, iconic “spotlight” Sunburst and dry, loud and articulate tone it has all the desirable attributes you could want from this dustbowl era Gibson classic.

The L-00 was introduced in the early 1930’s as Gibson’s most affordable Flat top acoustic, it’s first appearance in the catalog was in 1932 where it was advertised at $25.00 without a case. Listed as having:

“Neck, back, and rim made of Honduras Mahogany; northern Spruce sounding board - finished throughout in lustrous black ebony - hand shaped neck fitted with Truss Rod- rosewood fingerboard, pearl position marks - long wearing frets- rosewood bridge - Mona Steel strings.”

The L-00 was an instantly popular model for Gibson and production remained high until 1942 when Gibson reduced the number of available models in the Catalog due to WWII. Although still in production the L-00 was seldom produced before the model was discontinued in 1945 as Gibson looked to revise it’s range postwar.

This guitar, FON 919 is verified as a batch of L-00 produced in 1934 and has the expected traits from this period of production. The body/neck joint is at the 14th fret, the guitar features a silkscreen Gibson script logo on the face of it’s tapering headstock, the Sunburst is the smaller variant used until c.1935 with the iconic fire-striped tortoise pickguard, the body has a bound top with unbound back and uncut internal lining. Despite being an affordable model at the time, the L-00 was built to an excellent level, using what today would be in any manufacturers wish list of materials including an Adirondack spruce top, Honduran Mahogany neck, back, and sides, and Rosewood bridge and fingerboard.

The guitar is a very well preserved example; the nut, frets and bridge pins are correct, there have been no repairs and the guitar remains crack free. The reverse of the headstock is stamped ‘Made In the U.S.A’ signifying it was an export instrument. There are plugged strap button holes on the heel and between the E turners on the headstock rear. As it came in to us the guitar was strung with nylon strings and the original tuners had become non-functioning, the guitar had been played regularly but the light tension strings have helped preserve this lightweight guitar. We have replaced the tuners with an excellent set of reproduction examples and the guitar is currently strung with steel strings. The Mahogany neck has a deep V profile that measures 24.87 at the 1st fret, the nut measures 45.29 wide with a string spacing of 60.77. The action is 4mm at the 12th fret and the saddle has height for adjustment.

A stunning, vibey, characterful 30s small bodied Gibson acoustic with a beautiful sweet, balanced tone.  Comes complete with a well travelled, fitted case (as shown in the photographs) of British manufacture,  most likely the case this guitar was originally sold with.