Gibson LG-2 Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1947), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, sunburst top, dark stained back and sides finish, mahogany back, sides and neck, spruce top, rosewood fingerboard, molded plastic hard shell case.

This just post-WWII Gibson LG-2 shows a lot of old repair work but really sings with that classic Gibson sound. This model was Gibson's most popular smaller body flat-top through the 1940s and '50s. Oddly enough it shows much less actual play wear than many of these, but has had a catalog of repair work and must have seen some hard times along the way.

The LG-2 was the middle model of a three-instrument line with the externally identical but ladder-braced LG-1 below it and the natural-finish LG-3 positioned above. Exact production figures from this 1946-7 period are lost, but in 1948-50 the LG-2 sold roughly 1000 instruments a year. The first post-war ones like this are somewhat scarcer than later examples, suggesting they were built in smaller numbers as Gibson was just getting back up to speed after doing mostly war work for 4 years.

For some reason lost in Gibson history these 1946-48 flat tops also have no serial or factory order numbers, so can only be dated by the features. This one appears to be a very early postwar example, bearing the gold script logo that disappeared by 1948 and the WWII pattern riveted-gear Kluson that were used up even before that. Other typical features include a fairly deep orangey sunburst top finish, dark mahogany back and sides, small tortoise celluloid pickguard, small rectangle bridge and single-bound top and back.

The headstock is tapered in depth, the truss-rod equipped neck has a lovely round-backed "C" profile, quite substantial feeling but a bit slimmer than many thick wartime "baseball bat" necks and quite comfortable. This is a smooth sounding and versatile guitar, easy playing and brighter with more top-end shimmer than some, a "Real relic" player's example from Gibson's early post-war period.

Overall length is 39 1/2 in. (100.3 cm.), 14 3/8 in. (36.5 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 1/2 in. (11.4 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 LG-2 has not been played as much as many but despite this has apparently had a bit of a hard life, showing a number of repairs primarily to the top but not all that much play wear. The guitar has apparently had a "California Neck Set", a technique popular 50 or so years ago but now superseded by more sophisticated methods. This involved separating the back from the heelblock and pulling the block back a bit to adjust the neck angle, then regluing the back. It worked well structurally on this guitar but left quite a bit of cosmetic evidence including touch up along the edge of the body with small cracks to the top edge of the back, touch up around the heel and a refinish to the heel itself. There is also a decent amount of glue residue around the heelblock internally. The neck has never been off the guitar and the angle is good, but this method is considered archaic today! In this case the entire back appears to have been off the guitar.

The top has several long spruce grain splits, two above the soundhole with one running almost the full length of the top, and another off the upper back edge of the soundhole area running to the bridge. Behind the bridge the top seam opened up and was resealed. A much smaller grain splits runs off the front edge of the pickguard close to the treble side waist. There is one other short grain split off the bass side edge of the fingerboard to the forward soundhole edge. All of these are solidly sealed, most some decades ago by the look of it. The longer ones were not cleated, but there are reinforcing shaped cleats added under the soundhole edges under those cracks. There has been some added over finish work to the top, mostly to the area around the soundhole as part of these repairs; this is mostly visible under blacklight as it is a bit shiny but pretty well blended in.

The back has a number of small sealed cracks and scrapes all along the bottom edge, where it looks like there have been a couple of impacts long ago; everything is sealed up solidly but visibly. The bass side has a sealed split at the turn of the upper bout, solidly cleated, with a crack off the top edge below the endpin and another along the treble side waist. The neck at least is crack free.

While the repairs resulted in topical oversprayed lacquer in several areas the bulk of the finish is the original lacquer with a well aged patina overall. There are mostly smaller dings, scrapes and scratches overall but less pick wear than many, only really notable on the soundhole rim. The back of the neck has some flaking in the lower positions and some light feelable dings but not the deep capo wear often seen.

Internally as would be expected there are signs of work, both antique and recent. The main X brace is original, the two smaller tome bar braces behind it look more recent. There has been some brace re-gluing (typical for an older Gibson) but everything is solid. The original small maple bridgeplate is intact, the bridge appears original but has been lowered quite a bit and reglued, the retaining bolts are intact with one nut replaced.

The fingerboard has some wear in the lower positions, the original small wire frets are intact, crowned down somewhat but still quite playable. The bone nut has been replaced or at least re-worked. The original WWII-era tuners retain the original buttons, the strips show noticeable corrosion but still work well. A small strap button hole has been patched on the heel. Although a bit of a "junkyard dog" in terms of its lifetime of heavy repair, this is still a great looking, nice playing and sounding instrument, a friendly smaller-bodied guitar with a lovely tone and a cool vibe. It comes in a modern molded HSC. Overall Very Good Condition.