This is a really beautiful example of a 1930’s L-50 flat back style guitar with bound top and back, and deluxe pearl inlaid “Gibson” logo.  It has original high quality individual Grover tuners with hexagonal bushings & single slot screws, original tailpiece with single slot screws a beautiful sunburst finish, Brazilian rosewood fretboard, & deluxe pearl inlaid Gibson logo. Elevated fretboard at the body which is a huge plus on these models. This has a back crack that will need repair. Read the add closely and look at all the pictures, as it seems many on Reverb do not do this before they hit the “Buy” button.

 I just bought another 1930’s L-30, and can’t justify keeping all my projects. I’ve owned this for years, it’s a beautiful instrument, but I’m not going to get to repairing it, so it’s time for someone else to own it.

The finish on this is beautiful and hard to depict in pictures…the high-end tuners with hexagonal bushings, pearl inlaid as opposed to painted Gibson logo, and the higher position of the truss rod cover really set the headstock apart on this one from other versions with painted logos and pressed metal tuner ferrules.

The FON in difficult to read and appears to be  : 731A-11 (-11) in red pencil.  Spanns Guide associates 1935 with the A letter.

 The nut is original and reads 1.777”

Neck thickness:

1st fret:            .9945”

7th fret:            1.03”

9th fret:           1.0665”

 Neck is a V shape typical of the time period with slightly more rounding to it than some versions.Fret board shows some wear at the first 5 frets. Over the last 90 years, this may have had the frets pulled and reinserted on the first 7 frets where the fretboard shows some signs of this. The fingerboard has not been worked. My guess is, these first 7 frets were replaced, since the wear on them is minimal and does not match the wear to the fingerboard. This has a replacement new bridge that needs some sculpting on the base to fit the top curve. These guitars had lower bridges than your typical archtop, and the base needs to be sanded down a little to match the height to the original spec.

 This has one crack on the back, which on this model is flat.  The cross brace has pulled away from the back at this spot. With a lot of pressure on the back, and the sides pushed together, the back will come together, but the wood on the back at the crack is old, and not soft. This will not be an easy repair. Whoever buys this should be ready to invest some time in doing this correctly. If a buyer has considerable skills and can do this correctly, I think this is a gem worth the effort.  If you are an occasional woodworker, this may not be for you. These 1930’s Gibson’s have not hit their protentional in the collector’s market yet, and compared to some of the pressed sawdust made guitars of today, are solid wood craftsman ship of a bygone era. I’ve held onto this for years because it’s a gem just sitting there, waiting for the work. This will ship in cardboard case and be double boxed. Shipping is based on the farthest distance. It may be less if you are closer.