Gibson L-1 questions

[Hawkeye53]

I have purchased a 1993 Gibson L-1 and have some questions. The headstock has a decal (not silk screen or inlay) of The Gibson in script. The word The is above the word Gibson and is written at a pronounced angle. Is this normal for this model? Did Gibson use decals on their L-1's in 93? I can't find a picture on the Internet of this model for comparison, so I'm hopful someone reading this will know the answer.

 

The sticker inside the sound box is placed off center and opposite the sound hole rather than centered. On the Sticker it indicates that the Style is VS, Gibson is L-1; can someone tell me what the VS means?

[62burst]

Welcome aboard, and congrats on getting a pretty unusual guitar. I'd go with VS = vintage sunburnst. Burst. Are you sure that headstock logo is a decal? Does it look like this one(?):

 

 

 

Cool guitar. Also: In '93 it was fairly common for Gibson to offset the decal in the hole where the noise comes out.

[Hawkeye53]

Thanks for the reply! Yes!!! Exactly like that. Is it NOT a decal? My concern is that perhaps I got a Fake Gibson. If however, the things I mentioned are normal for a 93, then I'll feel better about the authenticity. However, my next complaint is that is sounds horrible. However, that's what I get from buying without playing first. Live and learn...

[62burst]

...however, my next complaint is that is sounds horrible...

 

Have you played other small bodied Gibsons? Each of the different models have a different sound. The L-1 probably best accels at fingerstyle country blues/ragtime, but your guitar could have just one thing that needs to be corrected & it will sound much better. Changed your strings yet? You could also let a luthier have a look at it. I recently had an interesting lesson taught to me by the luthier I brought an old guitar to. It sounded so bad, I didn't even bother putting new strings on it. It went straight to him for inspection. His instant diagnosis: "this guitar has been too dry for too long". The fret ends were sticking out at the edge of the fretboard like speed bumps. My old wisecrack used to be how a dry guitar sounded great, right before it cracked. Not so, as it turns out. He explained that not just the top, but the whole guitar kind of "puffs out" when adequately hydrated, and only then will all off the grains of wood be against each other to best transmit vibration, and all aspects of the guitar's geometry will have the perfect specification to sound it's best.

 

So don't give up on yours just yet, but do play some other small bodied Gibsons & see what you hear. I heartily recommend comparing yours next to an old LG-2.

[zombywoof]

Didn't Gibson come out with 5 or 6 versions of the L-1 in 1993? They seemed to vary quite a bit. I played a maple body L-1 that I thought was a snappy, punchy all around great sounding little guitar. But I also played a 1990s Robert Johnson model and found it to be about as lifeless and dull sounding a guitar as I have ever heard.

 

As the sound, a guitar's voice is its voice. You can nuance it a bit with different strings and such but nothing will change the basic character of its sound.

[Hawkeye53]

Hi 62burst and Zombywoof,

 

Thank you very much for commenting and for being the voices of Sanity to me ;)

 

I'm quite sure at this point that I overreacted when I first unpacked and played the guitar; here's why. About six months ago I had stopped into my least favorite (but, pretty much only option in town for non-run-of-the-mill guitars. Guitar Center) and found, sitting in the corner, an L-1 Robert Johnson. It played beautifully and sounded...well...full and lush and all the things that small body guitars rarely sound like. The price was fantastic, roughly $1500.00-ish. However, the annoying salesman was so "over the top" annoying that I actually handed the guitar to him, told him what he could do with it, and walked out. Several customers followed me to the parking lot to assure me that he did that "all the time", etc. etc. Well, I didn't go back for almost a month and of course, the L-1 was gone.

 

Fast forward to the last few days. I found the guitar mentioned above and "thought" that all L-1's would be pretty much the "same". As you both pointed out, not so. I think at this point I'm going to try some new strings and perhaps a visit to a luthier. As Zombywoof point out, she's going to sound like she's going to sound.

 

Here's a couple of additional things that I noticed. The previous owner said that he had the neck refinished. It looks more like the neck was reset and perhaps not reset very well as I'm measuring some odd differences. In order to chase this a little, do either of you know where I can find some detailed specs on this guitar? Zombywoof, you mentioned several different L-1 models were made in '93, can you point me to some reading that I can do to find out more? I think this guitar is going to do fine for slide, but, I need it to be more responsive on the Bass side for Piedmont style picking which is my "go to" style for playing. Any additional reading or places to research would be great!

 

Again, thank you both!! BTW, I'll post a few pics tonight so you both can get an idea of what the guitar looks like.

[zombywoof]

Check Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars. I just went and looked and the Guide lists 5 different L-1s issued in 1993 alone.

 

When somebody asks me what kind of blues I play I cop an answer that David Bromberg once gave to that question - Middle Class Jewish Kid from New York Blues.

 

But I do know what you are saying about a guitar's low end. That is the first thing I look for in a guitar.

[Hawkeye53]

Is Gruhn's a physical book or a website?

[zombywoof]

Is Gruhn's a physical book or a website?

 

It is a book but portions of it is available online at Google Books. Not alot of detailed specs though - just the basics. But it might help you figure out exactly which one of the numerous L-1 variations you have. Here is a link which I am assuming will work.

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=M-3HoVgxFBIC&pg=PA240&lpg=PA240&dq=Gibson+L-1+gruhn's+guide+to+vintage+guitars&source=bl&ots=l6mgPoPnSb&sig=KLg7AjhSBNSSFA7K2cxziS29XlA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=79xXU6TtKM2hyAS_oILgAg&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Gibson%20L-1%20gruhn's%20guide%20to%20vintage%20guitars&f=false

[Hawkeye53]

Link works great thank you!!

 

I did find the book on Amazon too as a softcover and a Kindle. There's a used one for under $10, so I might order that. Some folks are critical of the book not having photos. Certainly would be nice, but already it's better than I have right now!

 

At a fast glance, mine doesn't match any of the descriptions, but the S/N plays out as a '93. I wonder if there is a book somewhere with photos. If so, I'd imagine that it would be huge. I didn't realize that there were so many different models made! No wonder it's such an art to keep them all straight.