Similar Listings

€4,635
Originally €5,560.97, now €3,614.27 (36% price drop)
€5,560.97
Originally €6,437.50, now €5,468.27 (16% price drop)
Originally €3,995, now €3,695 (8% price drop)
Originally €4,521.70, now €3,387.67 (26% price drop)
€6,598
€5,599
€6,990

Fairbanks Nick Lucas Custom, maple back & sides with Adirondack top, 2013

 A stunning work of luthier-art, hand made by the premier current builder of Gibson inspired high end guitars. There are a few excellent contemporary luthiers working in this camp of recreating the magic of pre-war and wartime Gibsons, but in my opinion, nobody comes as close to the fabled originals as Dale Fairbanks working from his Connecticut workshop. World class guitar players and vintage experts as Dakota Dave Hull, Catfish Keith or many others, they would all agree with this judgement.

I have owned several original vintage Gibson Nick Lucas guitars over the years, and more than one Fairbanks Nick Lucas style guitars, and I must say that this one turned out the best of the newer creations: a wonderfully figured maple body with Adirondack spruce – the combination that also produced the best vintage specimen of that fabled model (the others being mahogany and rosewood.)

What sets this particular guitar apart are a couple of features: Dale put on a lovely pyramid style bridge – a feature that was adopted from the earliest original versions of the Nick Lucas model from the 1920. Second: He opted for a slightly lesser body depth (the originals were often felt to be a little cumbersome to play for their extremely deep body, which could also result in a certain boxiness of sound); and third, he gave this particular instrument a rare 13fret free of the body configuration. Vintage Nick Lucas Gibson typically come either with 12- or 14fret configuration. There are a few original 13fretters, but these sported floating bridge and tailpiece, which resulted in a rather different and less appealing sound. Some of these were converted to glue-on bridge, but the different internal bracing that was needed for the original tailpiece/bridge combo meant that these conversions were difficult to achieve and tended to fall short in sonic result.

Long story short: This instruments, in my opinion, tends to offer the best of two worlds: a guitar with beautiful Nick Lucas appointments, yet greater ease of handling and playing, plus the unique 13fret construction, which many vintage aficionados feel is a perfect compromise between playing range and sound due to moving the bridge more towards the center of the top where most of the tone is being determined.

The guitar is extremely lively, responsive to a light touch, loud, and has a wonderful punchy character, with a range of overtones that are rarely heard in maple bodied guitars.

The guitar is in excellent cosmetic and perfect playing condition with nice and low action, perfect for finger style but also surprisingly strong for flat picking.

Guitars made by Dale Fairbanks are a rare sight on the used market, as their owners – including this one – tend to find it very hard to pass with these special instruments. A rare opportunity, and all the more so in Europe.

 Features:

-       Adirondack spruce top

-       Intensely figured curly maple back and sides

-       Madagascar rosewood fingerboard and bridge

-       Bone nut and saddle

-       Super thin nitro finish

-       1 and 3/4 inches width at nut

-       24 7/8 inches scale length

-       2 5/16 string spacing

-       Gold plated Grover butterbean tuners

- Gibson style Firestripe pickguard

-       Original Fairbanks hard shell case

This item is sold As-Described

This item is sold As-Described and cannot be returned unless it arrives in a condition different from how it was described or photographed. Items must be returned in original, as-shipped condition with all original packaging.Learn More.

Listed3 years ago
ConditionExcellent (Used)
Excellent items are almost entirely free from blemishes and other visual defects and have been played or used with the utmost care.Learn more
Brand
Model
  • Nick Lucas Custom
Finish
  • Honey Sunburst
Year
  • 2013
Made In
  • United States

Bernd's Acoustics

Raum Freiburg Basel, Germany
Sales:8
Joined Reverb:2019

Reverb Gives

Your purchases help youth music programs get the gear they need to make music.

Carbon-Offset Shipping

Your purchases also help protect forests, including trees traditionally used to make instruments.

Oops, looks like you forgot something. Please check the fields highlighted in red.