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Bob, I'm currently out of books, but will be ordering more soon. Thanks for caring about the Gals. Send me a PM and we'll work out the details. Price is $20 plus shipping. In the interest of full disclosure, a friend once sent me links to two sales on eBay. The signed copy was cheaper! 🙂

I take back my mahogany top comment! As my kids still say, when in doubt, bet against dad. The closeups reveal spruce. As for dating the guitar, it has the simple binding (earlier models had multiple purfling top and back) but the fancy rosette (later models had a simpler rosette). My estimate is late 1943/early 1944. Back and sides are stained mahogany.

Thank you, my friend! I'm honored and humbled by every purchase. Send me a private message with your mailing address if you'd like a signed, personalize bookplate sticker to stick inside on the title page (or on your car's bumper! 🙂 ) Again, I'm humbled and honored by the response to the little book that changed my life. Much upcoming news, including a premier of a clip of the upcoming documentary at AmericanaFest in Nashville, at an event joined by my favorite guitar company, Gibson. Details soon. Again, thank you.

The numbers often fade, but sometimes the women who built these guitars simply forgot to stamp numbers on the neckblock. Using a light, including black light may help. I love the mahogany topped Banners! Mine is currently on loan (to Jennifer Nettles of the band Sugarland) and I'm itching to get it back.

More or less (everything with vintage Gibsons is "more or less" 🙂 ), for about a year, beginning mid-1944.

Somehow I missed this thread! Congratulations on your Banner J-45! Fantastic guitar. Looks to have a mahogany top, which puts it in 1944. Is there a readable factory order number (FON) on the neckblock inside the guitar? Again, congratulations. (Oh, and Loar did not sign oval hole mandolins.)

Beyond sad. Somehow I missed this. Thank you for posting. Ellen was an extraordinary talent. Proof? She played with Hendrix and they talked about collaborating. Here's a little Ellen for the unitiated. Well, for all of us.

Thank you, kind sir! Talking without preparing is pretty much my only skill in life. 🙂 I'll soon have good news about our favorite guitar company embracing the Gals' story and participating in my panel at AmericanaFest!

Indeed! She's joining me for my Kalamazoo Gals extravaganza at September's AmericanaFest in Nashville in September. Details soon! Here Mamie and I are on NBC in NYC a few years ago:

Nah. All of my guitars have hide glue throughout. Targeted heating works. Well, only in the hands of a skilled luthier. 🙂 But, as you know, I have a couple of dozen vintage guitars that on occasion need work. Neither I nor my luthier (Mamie Minch, the only luthier I let touch my guitars) have had problems with removing glued-in saddles.

The early 12-fret, all-mahogany Ls were L-0s. As Dave has posted from the website that lifts without attribution from every known book on the subject, the features of the L-0s vs L-00s changed over time.

My reference is to through saddles, which, of necessity, have shallower saddle slots than do bridges with drop in saddles. A little bit of hide glue is easily loosened with a bit of heat and, again citing Mark Stutman, improves tone. But, if your guitar sounds good, it sounds good!

I am saddened to learn this. Gibson (and Martin) glued these saddles because with the saddle slots running the length of the bridge, they presented a possibility of splitting the bridge should the saddle pivot in its slot. More importantly, the glue--hide glue, which provides an astonishingly hard bond, but which also is easily softened with the application of a bit of heat--provides a wonderful bond between bridge and saddle. Google folks like Folkway Music's Mark Stutman, who testify to the sonic benefit of the glued-in, through saddle.

As others have pointed out, this is a "through saddle." Adjust it by sanding the top. Always. We vintage players (the guitars and me!) have long dealt with this situation. 1) the saddle is likely glued in and 2) sanding from the bottom will result in the "wings" of the saddle not matching the shape of the "wings" of the bridge.

I love RGD and BBF! Yes, I know of Eric Schoenberg's wonderful playing, especially with his cousin, Dave Laibman. Eric has become a good friend.

I play a wide array of stuff at gigs. Some of my faves: Windy and Warm (Loudermilk) The Water is Wide (traditional) Shuckin' Sugar (Blind Lemon) The Entertainer (Joplin) Silver Swan (Joplin)

I fly a lot with guitars. Well, flew, before the pandemic. In the 12 months preceding the pandemic, I was out of the country (US) 20 times, always with a guitar, most often with a went-to-WWII 1940s Banner SJ. During that period, I also delivered a guitar to Eric Clapton (but not before I gigged with it in London 🙂 ). I always use flight cases. I do have a couple of Caltons. I think that they are the most durable. They are also the heaviest. I've decided that at age 66, I've aged out of Calton cases. I really hate dragging them through airports, even when carrying them with shoulder straps. I have used Hiscox cases. I share Dave's reluctance about them. The are light, but that aluminum edge is scary. Plus, their latches are not very secure. I also have used Hoffee. A bit lighter than Calton, but also bit bulkier. I recently begun using Crossrock cases. I purchased one because I needed a case for another went-to-WWII Banner Gibson (an LG-2, #2 from the very first batch of Banner flattops and the earliest Banner flattop known. Anyone know where number 1 is?) First a disclaimer: the company offered me an endorsement deal, which would allow me to purchase the cases at wholesale. Because I don't need any more cases, I declined the offer. Anyway, I quite like the case. Very sturdy and very light. Bottom line for me: if I fly, I put my guitar in a flight case. But otherwise I would not spend the money on such an expensive case.

When I read through the ledgers, I wrote down the latest date I found for the per-Banner flattops. I'm on the road now, but can look up the info when I return home.

Yes, there are Banner L-00s. Most L-00s made during the war years do not have Banners, which were apparently limited to the new flattop models. But on occasion, the Gals slapped Banners on L-00s (and L-50s, and at least 1 lap steel). I document this in Kalamazoo Gals.

Very nice! Thanks for posting this.

Thanks! It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Never before and never again will anyone be able to record at 225 Parsons Street shorn of equipment and furnishings. That room had never been heard like that nor will it be again. What an honor and privilege to be able to pick a few notes there.

Yeah, a pretty ugly bridge. but easily fixable (except for the enlarged footprint). Still, a gorgeous guitar!

Slightly oversized in length and width. shape, as Dave points out is wrong, most curiously, the saddle is not angled.

Yes, only during the war years.

Yes, a Banner LG-2! Great guitar. Replaced bridge, but otherwise looks original.