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1948 L4


huckster

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Hi, Anyone know the material of construction on the 1948 L4? I know some variations exist on the L48 and L50 but not familiar with the L4. thanks, huckster

 

You may want to go ask this question on the Archtop Sub-Forum of the AGF. Those folks know a lot of stuff about archtops. Of course you would have to set up a member account. The AGF is an easy target to make fun of here at times (many times for good reason :)) but the people on the archtop sub-forum were very helpful and gracious to me and I have no clue about archtops.

 

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=56

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It does not appear in the 1950 catalog -- the closest year I have. This is from the 1942 catalog.

 

Y8BzKML.jpg

 

The guitar was always carved spruce top and maple back and sides.

 

The L-4 went from round hole to f-holes in the early 30s, but for a little while in about 1936 it went back to the round hole. Up until about 1936 they had dot inlays, but quite a few of the c.1936 round hole models used Nick Lucas fingerboard markers. Here is such a 1936 L-4.

 

1937L-4a_zpsgxfswhqq.jpg1937L-4b_zpsgh2ubza8.jpg

 

The one in the 1942 catalog seems like "back to the f-holes but keep the NL fingerboard." Gibson can be very strange.

 

Best,

 

-Tom

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From that original L-4 ad from 1935 or so, it looks to me like the L-4 came out when the L-7 switched to the new "advanced" 17" body that year. They already had the old 16" L-7 tooling so they just re-named the guitar to L-4 and perhaps changed a few specs.

 

That's the type of thing Gibson might still do today.

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