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1959 Gibson L-7C

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Serial #: A-29388, orange label

Body size at lower bout: 17". Scale length: 25.4" Nut Width: 1 11/16"

Finish: Cremona sunburst finish, nitrocellulose lacquer type.

Materials: Carved bookmatched solid spruce top; highly figured bookmatched tiger-flame maple back; three-piece maple maple neck; Brazilian rosewood fingerboard with split-parallelogram mother of pearl inlays; solid bone nut.

Hardware: Original hardware includes Kluson Deluxe tuners with single ring tulip keys; Gibson compensated adjustable rosewood bridge, nickel Gibson trapeze tailpiece with raised parallogram crossbar; adjustable truss rod. Vintage correct hand antiqued 5-py beveled pickguard.

Notes: Every time you start thinking you know what's what with Gibson guitars, the company throws you a knuckle ball. Like this pretty six-stringed mystery.

The L-7C was produced between 1949 and 1972, and is dimensionally identical to the costly L-5C. Gibson never produced this model in great quantity, and this gleaming beauty is one of only 33 examples made in its model year. An unusually handsome instrument, this L-7C is also one of the most distictive as well.

Since the model's inception around 1930, the Gibson L-7 has been held to a strict dress code: sunburst top, and dark walnut stain everywhere else. Many's the time we've lamented a gloriously figured maple back, utterly buried under the dark skirts of the L-7s gloomy back and sides. But how else to distinguish this journeyman's model from the glamorous L-5, fully burst from stem to stern?

And then this guitar shows up: L-7 inlay, L-7, hardware, L-7 label. And one of the handsomest L-5 style sunburst finishes we've seen. Top, back, sides neck, peghead: the works. Was it a custom order? Or just built late on a Friday afternoon? We'll never know, but we can be forever grateful that this splendid chevron bookmatched AAA maple back and neck didn't have to spend eternity in the dark.

Notably lightweight as well, this wisp of a guitar weighs in at a phenomenal 5lb 6oz, making it both delightful to hold, and powerfully resonant as well, with exceptional clarity and projection, courtesy of its finely graduated bookmatched spruce top. Professionally played, the guitar has been carefully tended, without cracks, or pick wear, showing only the typical thumb and light buckle wear of a well seasoned performer. The neck is straight, with a classic gently rounded profile, and the action is smooth and low over original slim Gibson fretwork. Hardware too is original, with the addition of a single tulip tuner button, and a vintage correct hand antiqued 5-py beveled pickguard. Finally, the guitar comes complete with its original deluxe brown Lifton hardshell case, with the hot pink plush lining.

A true 50's vintage Gibson jazzer with a magnificent voice, at a fraction of the cost of a comparable L-5, this unique strummer is one for the books, and sounds every bit as dramatic as she looks.

Setup: The frets have been precision leveled, recrowned and polished; 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.

Case: Original deluxe brown Lifton plushlined hardshell case.