jefleppard Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 wow. absolutely delicious. http://cgi.ebay.com/1938-Gibson-Black-Special-4-Acoustic-Archtop-Guitar_W0QQitemZ290279817043QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar?hash=item290279817043&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A10%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Hey Historians.....did they do black bodies back then? I thought they were all natural or sunburst???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solacematt Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 That is just beautiful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidbg63 Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 If I'm not mistaken I think there were black finished runs in the archtop but only special limited runs of them were produced. Either way that guitar would look nice under the tree! I'll have to do some more investigating on the limited run finish, I also thought they were only produced normally in natural and sunburst.:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Yes, they did make black ones off and on. One can only guess why; maybe they had some monkeyed-up sunbursts or some particularly ugly wood.... Dare I even think they might have had some three piece tops? Probably not, but it's plausible and would justify an opaque finish. A few years ago there was a black 16" Gibson archtop on gbase and the seller claimed it was a "Special No. something-or-other" made for the 1940 Christmas season. It was all black, austere, and may have had non-catalogued features.... a stenciled logo with a firestripe pickguard, dot inlays with pearl logo and NO pickguard.... the possibilites are endless. Point is, it was cranked out as a short run so it didn't necessarily meet the specs of a standard model. Hard to say how many of these things are out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAMELEYE Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Played something just like this recently. Was an L-48. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballcorner Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Dear Santa - please send me that black Gibby archtop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOESTONE Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Oh, that is so pretty! I'm surprised no one bought it yet. Isn't that a great price for this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jefleppard Posted December 4, 2008 Author Share Posted December 4, 2008 Oh' date=' that is so pretty! I'm surprised no one bought it yet. Isn't that a great price for this?[/quote'] i thought so, too. and it looks to have no issues. best to contact seller on the "if it sounds to good to be true" items. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Mmmmmm. Me likey dark chock-lit! I seem to recall reading somewhere that back in the day spruce with any kind of not so straight grain was relegated to braces, kerfing and kindling wood. It was an old luthier's belief that wavering grain was not good for tone. Gibson didn't totally believe this. Therefore they covered some non-compliant grain with their signature burst while outfits like Martin were throwing away perfectly usable spruce. Could be the black ones had a blemish that a burst couldn't cover... or maybe they did use 3 piece tops in limited circumstances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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