Wow! Here’s a 1957 Magnatone Mark V in original and vibrant 3-color sunburst finish. Designed by Paul Bigsby and built in very limited quantities at the Magnatone factory on 9749 S. Freeman Avenue in Los Angeles California. This model features a solid Honduran mahogany neck-thru body design construction with wings-much like Les Paul’s original designed ‘log’ guitar. These ones more closely resemble the famed Bigsby “Billy Byrd” model styling. Amazing piece of history right here. This guitar retains the original finish and has no cracks breaks or structural repairs. It is solid and a great playing guitar. The pickups have been changed to some form of older Gretsch-looking filtertrons. The potentiometers either date to 1957 or 1972-either way they all match. The bridge maybe an original piece. These guitars typically came with a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece-and sometimes a trapeze like this one. This guitar may have come with a Bigsby originally as there is an shadow of an imprint in the side-but there are no shadows or imprints in the top-see photos. The tailpiece that is on it now looks like an original style so I just left it-as it functions fine. There is handling wear here and there but the paint really looks remarkable for it’s age. The neck feels great with a vintage-D shaped profile and starts off slim but gets chunky as you go up the scale. The neck measures .788” deep at the first fret and 1.084” deep at the 12th fret. The nut measures 1 5/8” wide, like a stratocaster. The original tuners all function well. The iconic headstock shape and logo plates display totally awesome. Just enough patina, but they are in fact very nice for their age. The string height is set fairly low with a players relief. The guitar plays fast and effortlessly. The fingerboard itself is very clean and the frets appear close to new condition-Thanks to the original owner using flatwounds all these years! I went ahead and did a front dress and polish just to get them nice and bright and clean looking-see photos. The pick ups work perfectly and the guitar has a great vintage Gretsch filtertronesque tone. The solid block neck through design offers amazing sustain. The body was not hacked up anything for the other pick ups. You can see that the pickup cavities retain their original shapes in the photos. The controls are neck pickup volume, neck pickup tone, three-way selector, bridge pickup tone, bridge pickup volume. The guitar is extremely lightweight: it only weighs 6.68 lbs! It is very comfortable and you can play it all night long without any shoulder fatigue whatsoever. It’s a comfortable shape and has loads of sustain plugged in or not. The original hard case is in great shape for its age as well. This is quite a legendary piece of history and very collectible guitar. Obviously, it’s extremely rare but beyond that it’s quite an awesome guitar to play. I can’t imagine there are many of these left out there in the wild You know what to do. I have taken several photos to show how it looks in different lighting for your viewing. Draggin’ Guitars has been collecting, buying, selling and trading as well as repairing and restoring vintage guitars amps and effects for 30+years. Our descriptions of items are honest and forthright. In fact, we got our start in mail-order back in 1989 so you can count on our detailed descriptions. We want you to get exactly what you expect-so read thoroughly and please ask questions prior to purchase. There will be a 25% restocking fee plus the full amount of our outgoing shipping charges on any return for any reason-no exceptions. If you have any technical questions just call us on the Draggin’ Guitars hotline: 785-766-8906 Again, we welcome your call with any questions-we want your experience to be the best it can be. But don’t take my word for it-view our feedback and see for yourself.
