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About This Listing
Gibson LG-1 Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1951), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 9133-13, sunburst top, dark back and sides finish, mahogany back and sides, spruce top; mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, original brown chipboard case. This Gibson LG-1 was Gibson's lowest budget flat top in the early 1950's, but still a classy looking and good sounding guitar. The model is essentially identical to the next-in-line LG-2 but with simpler ladder-bracing under the top instead of the more elaborate X-pattern. The materials and cosmetics are otherwise exactly the same, with mahogany back and sides and a spruce top. The only way to tell the difference is to peer (or poke a finger) under the back edge of the soundhole! The top is finished in a stately sunburst, the back and sides natural mahogany and both are single bound. The mahogany neck has a plain dot-inlaid rosewood fingerboard and is topped by the standard Gibson-logo'd headstock with Kluson Deluxe tuners. While designed as a budget guitar for student players and teaching studios the LG-1 in this period is still a very nicely made instrument, especially compared to most of its competitors. The sound is usually somewhat brighter and less sophisticated than its X-braced sisters, with something like a mix of Gibson and Stella characteristics. These days some folks actually like the barkier, bluesier tone of the ladder braced models better! This is a superbly well-preserved and original 1951 guitar, one of the cleanest, best playing and sounding of these we have had complete in the original case with the original hangtag and receipt.Overall length is 39 3/4 in. (101 cm.), 14 3/8 in. (36.5 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 3/8 in. (11.1 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.). This guitar is VERY clean and nicely original, showing hardly any play wear for it's 70+ years on the planet. It is all original except for a set of exact repro tuners. The finish still shines with some typical checking, mostly along the grain lines on the top. The finish has a few minor typical dings, dents and scuffs mostly into but not through the lacquer but really this guitar looks very little used. The instrument shows a rich patina to the sunburst, darker than many later examples with a very stately look for a small budget guitar.There is an old repair to a typical sealed grain split off the lower edge of the pickguard; there are no other cracks. The neck has been very neatly reset; playability is excellent with the original bridge that has been lowered a bit with a new saddle. The original frets and the fingerboard show almost no wear. Overall this is a really sweet example of Gibson's elegant little student flat-top model from the early '50s, still accompanied by the original chipboard case which has some damage but is still fairly solid. Inside is the hang tag and purchase receipts indicating the guitar was bought in Carlisle Pennsylvania in April 1952 and paid off over the next few months. Overall Excellent + Condition.
During World War II, Gibson pared its flat-tops down to six standard models, the Gibson LG-1 acoustic guitar among them. As a student model, the LG-1 was introduced alongside the LG-2 and LG-3 to be a less expensive model that even younger players could afford. Because it was initially intended to be a lower-end guitar, the LG-1 uses ladder-style bracing and is made of a mahogany back with a spruce top.
