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1934 Gibson L-5
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Serial #: 90997, white oval label.
Body size at lower bout: 16". Scale length: 24 3/4" Nut Width: 1 3/4" Neck depth, 1st/10th frets: .90/1.06
Materials: Handcarved bookmatched solid spruce top; solid flame maple back and sides; solid three piece maple neck with walnut centerstripe; solid ebony fingerboard; mother of pearl script peghead and fingerboard inlay; triple bound fingerboard, body, peghead and pickguard.
Hardware: Original gold hardware includes Grover Stat-Tite open back tuners, Pat. Pend. trapeze tailpiece, compensated adjustable ebony bridge; adjustable truss rod. Vintage correct Mirabella bound tortoise pickguard, Benedetto S-6 floating humbucking pickup with thumbwheel volume control and pickguard mounted 1/4" jack.
Notes: Making it's debut in 1922, the Gibson L-5 was created by the legendary Lloyd Loar, father of the renowned F-5 mandolin. One of the most influential instrument designers of the 20th century, Loar pioneered a number of key innovations, including very early work on the electric guitar. The Gibson L-5 is perhaps his most influential creation, and is widely regarded as the first successful commercially produced archtop guitar. Now nearing its centennial at this writing, Loar's L-5 remains the most famous jazz guitar of all time.
As befits an instrument from the top of the Gibson catalog, this lovely L-5 is graced with handsome fiddleback maple in the back, and deep rollers of tiger flame in the sides and neck. The soundboard is hand graduated of bookmatched quartersawn spruce, with abundant cross grain silk.
From the last full year of production, the guitar is exceptionally light in weight and well balanced, at a mere 5lb 2oz in total. Carefully maintained, the instrument shows no apparent cracks, with only some light age checking and a few scattered lacquer nicks, with a bit of older overspray on the neck. The voice is clear and throaty, with excellent sustain and projection, and the dry open quality of finely aged tonewood.
The fingerboard is a generous 1 3/4" at the nut, a favorite of jazz and fingerstyle players, and many modern builders. The neck profile is the traditional solid, slightly softened vee shape. With a fine professional neck set, the bridge is nice and high, with smooth low action over a fresh high precision setup. A special plus, the floating Benedetto S-6 humbucking pickup conveys the rich harmonics of the soundboard with warmth and fidelity, on or off stage.
Complete with its original black Gibson plush lined hardshell case, this rare find is a gleaming example of the world's first and most celebrated jazz guitar. One only: call now.
Setup: The frets have been precision leveled, recrowned and polished as necessary; trussrod tension and neck relief adjusted; bridge height adjusted; bridge compensation set; string slots at nut and bridge inspected and recut as necessary; bridge foot contour inspected and fit to top as necessary; bridge radius inspected and recurved as necessary; bridge wheels and tuners lubricated; fingerboard and bridge oiled; body and neck cleaned and hand polished.
This instrument is strung with medium gauge bronze strings (.013-.057). The guitar will accommodate lighter or heavier gauge strings, according to preference. String action is set at 4/64" to 5/64" at the 12th fret, with moderate relief for acoustic playing with medium strings. The action may be lowered or raised to your requirements with the adjustable bridge.
