Home / Instruments /Accessories / Ordering / Tips / Friends
archtop.com
1954 Gibson L-7CN
Price and Status: For pricing and hold status of this instrument, please check here. If this instrument does not appear on the Instruments page it has been sold. To be notified of examples of this or any other model in the future, please email your specific requests to [email protected].
Serial #: A-16266, white oval label. Body size at lower bout: 17". Scale length: 25 1/2" Nut Width: 1 11/16" Neck depth, 1st/10th frets: .81/.88
Materials: Solid carved fine grained Sitka spruce top; arched curly maple back with curly maple sides; three-piece maple neck; solid Brazilian rosewood fingerboard with split-parallelogram mother of pearl inlays.
Hardware: Original hardware includes nickel Kluson Deluxe single ring tuners and compensated adjustable Brazilian rosewood bridge. Vintage correct triple parallelogram trapeze tailpiece with aged plating, single bound tortoise pickguard.
Notes: "Light makes right." said one of our frequent flyers. And if so, this guitar is right as rain.
Gibson's popular L-7C model was produced between 1949 and 1972, and constructed with the same body size, materials, bracing, and scale length as its costly cousin, the L-5C. Blonde examples are the rarest, and sold at a premium price, typically commanding the most highly figured tonewood. Indeed, only 33 blonde L-7CN guitars were produced in 1954, barely half of the sunburst examples built that model year.
At a phenomenal 4lb 13oz, the guitar is exceptionally light in weight, almost unheard of for a full depth 17" archtop. Well maintained, the guitar shows deeply ambered honey blonde finish, with handsome curly maple figure in the back and sides, and a soundboard graduated to particularly fine tolerances. The neck profile is a classic gentle C, nicely solid in the hand, with a full width 1 11/16" fingerboard, and smooth low action over a fresh high precision setup.
With its finely carved top, the guitar has a particularly vibrant voice, with clear, open bass, sparkling natural reverb in the treble register, and powerful projection and dynamic range. It's a tone that no newly built guitar can match at any price: the resonance of tonewood aged for the better part of a century, and carefully played-in for decades.
Smoke free, and without pick or fingerboard wear, the guitar shows a small patch of thumbwear, and some older finish wear near the end of the fingerboard, now touched up with a bit of vintage style lacquer. A pair of tight hairline cracks at each soundhole have been soundly cleated and resealed, with all original binding tight to the body, and excellent neck angle, bridge height, and fine original fretwork.
A classic vintage jazzer from the Golden Age, this striking beauty is a rare find, and comes complete with its original Gibson hang tag. A fraction of the cost of a comparable L-5, it's a solid best buy in a gorgeous Gibson classic, with a voice to command the liveliest jam session. One only, call now.
Setup: 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; electronics tested and adjusted as necessary. String action is set to 4-5/64" at the 12th fret, and may be adjusted up or down to suit.
Case: Deluxe plush lined hardshell case.
