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New Member - New to me L48


carl in la

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Hello Gibson Fans

 

New member, first post.

 

Have eight years playing experience and just play for fun around the house. I can play all the easy stuff and keep working on the intermediate songs such as Babe I'm going to leave you - so that is my skill level. When I got started I knew I wanted to have a guitar from all the big name acoustic manufactures and started with a Taylor, Martin, and Ovation Adamas. It's time to add a Gibson.

 

As I have several flat-tops already and Gibson flat-tops are pretty pricey - I decided to go vintage archtop. Somehow this last weekend was the right time to take the plunge so I ordered both the guitars below from Guitar Center. One of the guitars is coming from Detroit and the other from Florida. I'm in SoCal so it will be a few days for the guitars to arrive. Guitar Center has a great no-questions-asked return policy so the L48 that is in the best condition and sings a great song will be the one I keep.

 

So excited to be a member of the Gibson family - finally!!

 

Carl

 

post-72181-091463200 1431952832_thumb.jpg

 

post-72181-021258300 1431952823_thumb.jpg

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Hello Gibson Fans

 

New member, first post.

 

Have eight years playing experience and just play for fun around the house. I can play all the easy stuff and keep working on the intermediate songs such as Babe I'm going to leave you - so that is my skill level. When I got started I knew I wanted to have a guitar from all the big name acoustic manufactures and started with a Taylor, Martin, and Ovation Adamas. It's time to add a Gibson.

 

As I have several flat-tops already and Gibson flat-tops are pretty pricey - I decided to go vintage archtop. Somehow this last weekend was the right time to take the plunge so I ordered both the guitars below from Guitar Center. One of the guitars is coming from Detroit and the other from Florida. I'm in SoCal so it will be a few days for the guitars to arrive. Guitar Center has a great no-questions-asked return policy so the L48 that is in the best condition and sings a great song will be the one I keep.

 

So excited to be a member of the Gibson family - finally!!

 

Carl

 

post-72181-091463200 1431952832_thumb.jpg

 

post-72181-021258300 1431952823_thumb.jpg

 

 

Welcome to the forums, Carl! Good to have you with us! I'm liking that old Gibson; classy-looking thing you got there - congratulations!

 

Hope that you enjoy your time here; plenty of conversation with nice people, who are happy to help with all things [biggrin]

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Welcome to the forums, Carl! Good to have you with us! I'm liking that old Gibson; classy-looking thing you got there - congratulations!

 

Hope that you enjoy your time here; plenty of conversation with nice people, who are happy to help with all things [biggrin]

Good call I second it

 

4H

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Just a couple more days until these beauties arrive at my local Guitar Center.

 

Which one will be the keeper? The '40s model with the binding in the f-holes or the '61 model that was listed as 4-star condition?

 

We shall see in a couple days.

 

Carl

 

 

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Both are post-47, and my guess is the f-hole binding is a mod, maybe around the same time the TRC was replaced? If it's indeed 40s, it might have a carved spruce top (my '46 does) while the 61 should have a laminate mahogany one. The 40s one will probably have a much thicker neck.

 

They'll probably sound about the same, honestly, but the gap in their production dates should make them feel a lot different. When you play em, you'll know which one to keep!

 

keep us posted! Happy NGD!

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The trigger that made me pull the trigger is the '61 was listed by the manager with four star condition... that would be pretty awesome should it actually be four star.

 

Its Friday so perhaps tomorrow on Saturday they will arrive in LA...

 

 

 

 

Both are post-47, and my guess is the f-hole binding is a mod, maybe around the same time the TRC was replaced? If it's indeed 40s, it might have a carved spruce top (my '46 does) while the 61 should have a laminate mahogany one. The 40s one will probably have a much thicker neck.

 

They'll probably sound about the same, honestly, but the gap in their production dates should make them feel a lot different. When you play em, you'll know which one to keep!

 

keep us posted! Happy NGD!

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The 1949 L-48 arrived and it was not of the same condition as the 1961 model - so I kept the 1961 and returned the 1949.

 

And as I have the guitar at the house I managed to play it for an hour and absolutely warmed-up to that 54-year old tone... very nice.

 

So - that's it - I'm in, got a Gibson in the house.

post-72181-071566000 1432732363_thumb.jpg

post-72181-015812300 1432732404_thumb.jpg

post-72181-057863700 1432732438_thumb.jpg

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Thanks everybody for the good thoughts.

 

I shined it up over the weekend and I have new tuners arriving tomorrow.

 

It may need to go to the luthier as the first position fret is quite pitted but it will soon be ship-shape.

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...... I have new tuners arriving tomorrow.

 

Carl

 

I read your thread and the last post and wondered what new tuners you are getting and what the issue is that you are hoping to address?

 

I acquired my first Gibson archtop about this time last year, it's a 1936 black L-30 and it's a wonderful instrument.

 

My only real concern at the outset was the tuners. I felt that they were hard to adjust and sometimes very stiff with no movement in the string and then a sudden jump, one of the buttons also moved slightly on the shaft and I was afraid of twisting it off. I wondered about replacement Stew Mac vintage tuners but was reluctant to lose the originals and when I talked to a local luthier he diagnosed the problem as being the nut. He replaced that for me and put a dab of superglue on the loose button and everything now works perfectly, and remains authentic. The guitar can be tuned easily and sounds better.

 

Using the original tuners is for me one of the ways of appreciating the heritage of the instrument and thinking of all those who have tuned it before me. I'm really glad I was able to keep mine even though they are depression era budget items.

 

Congratulations on joining the vintage Gibson archtop club. I look forward to hearing more about your guitar.

 

Chris

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Appreciate the note...

 

The new tuners are Kluson WD90NPP and are a direct match...

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/aOQk6u-Ns5sf2Z-YZO-vLoJxjpxovtb3PT_0mSQphO8?feat=directlink

 

The tuners that came with the '61 model were just too far gone... three of the posts hardly turned even off the guitar, on post up-top was bent. So new ones made sense...

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4_FJZ88CHJyqnEJypNtbVIJxjpxovtb3PT_0mSQphO8?feat=directlink

 

And they are a perfect fit - thankful that new tuners are available that are a perfect fit...

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/f_GzZtpvetNQXogzG3W9P4Jxjpxovtb3PT_0mSQphO8?feat=directlink

 

Best,

 

Carl

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carl

 

I read your thread and the last post and wondered what new tuners you are getting and what the issue is that you are hoping to address?

 

I acquired my first Gibson archtop about this time last year, it's a 1936 black L-30 and it's a wonderful instrument.

 

My only real concern at the outset was the tuners. I felt that they were hard to adjust and sometimes very stiff with no movement in the string and then a sudden jump, one of the buttons also moved slightly on the shaft and I was afraid of twisting it off. I wondered about replacement Stew Mac vintage tuners but was reluctant to lose the originals and when I talked to a local luthier he diagnosed the problem as being the nut. He replaced that for me and put a dab of superglue on the loose button and everything now works perfectly, and remains authentic. The guitar can be tuned easily and sounds better.

 

Using the original tuners is for me one of the ways of appreciating the heritage of the instrument and thinking of all those who have tuned it before me. I'm really glad I was able to keep mine even though they are depression era budget items.

 

Congratulations on joining the vintage Gibson archtop club. I look forward to hearing more about your guitar.

 

Chris

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Carl

 

Sounds like quite a different situation from mine and I understand why you would need to change them. Not much use having an all original guitar that you can't tune!

 

It's neat that they are a perfect match after all this time. Way to go!

 

Chris

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I feel like tuners are one of those things that even vintage collector guys don't mind having replaced, as long as the originals stay with the instrument. Better to be able to tune the thing so it can do what it was made to do than have it inoperable yet original. The latter might only be for guys that are locking them up in display cases.

 

My L48 has grover imperials on em and looks ridiculous. I'll replace them with some klusons one of these days. Maybe soak them in coffee for a night to get a little color to them!

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  • 4 weeks later...

A bit of an update... as noted in the other post I polished the guitar and it gleems. Of course the dings and nicks are all there and with it shining, the stress cracks show and expose how stress flows across the guitar. Interesting how the finish cracks flow to the bridge.

 

I played it for the first month with the strings that came from Guitar Center.

 

The guitar has a good sound. To me, an archtop will never sound as beautiful as a flat top and that holds true with this L48. So while not comparing it to a flat top - I can report that it sounds "good." Perhaps its the age and the wood has fully (long ago) seasoned as there is some sustain and the whole guitar vibrates including the back at even light playing.

 

Those initial strings never tarnished and I assume they are coated. Never measured the dimension of the low E string but when I replaced the strings I went with D'Addario EJ16 uncoated in size 13. Nice. Like the sound with the 13's even better. Should I try 14's next?

 

If what I read is true... that the name referred to the price - presumably $48 back in the day - that sure is a lot of guitar for not a lot of money. The inflation calculator says $48 in the '40's is the same as just under $500 today. Perhaps the Godin 5th Avenue entry level archtop is perfectly priced at just above $500. Paying double that for the L48 says something about the Gibson brand.

 

A student getting a new L48 may not have understood what wonderful guitar they had. But 50-years on its clear these old guitars are tough, sound decent, look great, and are a ton of fun to play.

 

Best to all,

 

Carl

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 1949 L-48 arrived and it was not of the same condition as the 1961 model - so I kept the 1961 and returned the 1949.

 

And as I have the guitar at the house I managed to play it for an hour and absolutely warmed-up to that 54-year old tone... very nice.

 

So - that's it - I'm in, got a Gibson in the house.

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