bobouz

That L10 is very interesting! Thanks for sharing the pics.

The term "lawsuit era" gets used a lot. In the interest of accuracy, there were no Korean builders involved in Gibson's lawsuit, which took place in '77 and was brought against Ibanez. Epiphone did not link up with Samick in Korea until '83. In the '70s, Japanese companies such as Ibanez, Aria, and Takamine were really giving Gibson & Martin a run for their money with instruments that were top notch copies. After settlement of the lawsuit, Ibanez stopped cloning Gibson's designs and began developing their own, such as headstock & pickguard shapes. I began playing in the early '70s, and witnessed Japanese guitars, mandolins, and banjos flooding the market. Have to say, many of them were darn good, including a solid spruce/mahogany acoustic Ibanez I purchased not long after the lawsuit, with headstock cues similar to George Benson's signature models (also a product of the lawsuit aftermath, introduced in '78).

I own a 1990 Gibson Chet Atkins Tennessean, which was the first year of that model. Same red finish as your Country Gent, 16 frets clear of the body, 25.5" scale, 1.5" width nut, ebony fretboard with offset dots, 3 piece maple neck, silver pickguard, silver truss rod cover, no armrest (later models had a black pickguard, trc, & armrest). In many respects somewhat similar to the Country Gent, and of course this was by Chet's design. I've always been partial to skinnier necks, but for some reason this thing is a breeze to play. I also own a 335 & 339, and the Tennessean compares very favorably while being significantly different. Imho, these two Gibson CA models are real sleepers.

There's a lot of variation in Gibson's nitro over the last decade. I currently own or have owned a lot of Gibson electrics & acoustics from this period as well as some from the '90s. While all have been kept in the same environment, some have developed checking cracks while others have not. Some on the body, some on the headstock, one acoustic around the bridge, some with very straight cracks, some with the squiggly old look - there's no rhyme or reason to it. If you wait for it to occur naturally, you might get a pleasing effect, or you might not. My advice would be to have a pro do it, like Gord Miller, or trade for one that already meets your ideal vision. If you try it yourself, you'll most likely decrease the value of the instrument.