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Fabulous! Thanks so much for sharing this with us.

Thank you, my friend. These days, if ever, I can not remotely offer an objective opinion about the guitars that the Gals built. Having met a dozen of them (only 1 survives. She turns 100 on January 30. Yes, I've arranged a blow-out party for her in Kalamazoo), I have emotionally connected with their work. Thanks, again.

More fun. The case arrived yesterday (I bought a flight case to ship the guitar and had the original case shipped separately). The thing is in mint condition, except for the handle falling off. Kinda weird. Very cool, though, is the case candy. The original owner apparently intended to learn to play the guitar by memorizing the notes on the fretboard: he constructed little flashcards with the note on the music staff on one side and the letter name of the note on the other. No wonder he never bothered learning to play the thing. The case also has a card from a clothing store that was in San Pedro, California in the 1940s. I've pinpointed the fellow's location and am scouring the ledgers to identify the shop where he likely purchased the guitar (which will enable to identify the shipping date). Anyone know of music/guitar shops in the San Pedro/Long Beach/Los Angeles area of the planet during WWII?

Thank you, kind sir.

Hey, Dave, if we work this correctly, maybe we can be booted at the same time! 🙂 I really like this guitar of yours. Though I love my new, minty Gibson, I also have a serious soft spot for for well loved guitars. I will restring and rerecord. Seems like a fun project. John

What years were your LG2s? I've not noticed a lack of bass in these guitars. As for strings, they're what were on the guitar when it arrived. Old and dead is all that I know about them. I'm out of new strings. I used up what I had on hand when I restrung the 4 Banners that I took to my gig at AmericanaFest in Nashville week before last. I'll put some new strings on the thing soon and re-record and post to get your response. You may be able to avoid that forum ban! 🙂

Yes. I am so grateful to have uncovered the Gals' story and beyond humbled to have played a roll in shining a light on their contributions to American cultural history.

Thanks, folks! Yesterday, when I recorded the guitar on a Saturday evening, I had to use some noise reduction to minimize traffic noise, which resulted in a muted guitar tone in the recording, imvho. Here's the guitar on a Sunday evening with no noise reduction, no EQ, no nothing except a Shure iPhone mic and an iPhone.

Wood is a porous substance. It cannot become drier than its surrounding environment. To test this, put a guitar, any guitar no matter how old or new, in a very humid environment. The wood will take on moisture and as a result the top will belly and the action will rise. Put the same guitar in a very arid environment. Moisture will move from the guitar to the surrounding environment. The wood will shrink, the top will sink, and if you give it enough time, the guitar will crack. What can happen with time is that the resins in the guitar will crystalize. Again, the wood cannot be drier than its environment, but that crystallization of resins may affect tone.

Here's a quick take of Windy and Warm:

I was also surprised to see that. I've now seen another, FON 7112 as opposed to 7111 for mine, without the internal reinforcement strip.

Pretty sure. No belly and perfect neck set. Crazy.

Hello. I'm the fellow who, with Willi Henkes (who did nearly all the work), put up the Banner Registry. That logo on your guitar appears to be hand painted after a headstock refinish. So, we don't know what the original logo looked like.

These guitars find me! Someone reached out and offered it to me. As always, I asked them to find its value from a prominent dealer. I then pay that price. Because I know more about these guitars than many do, I take great care not to take advantage of anyone offering me a guitar.

Thanks! I agree. My Banners will end up in a museum with the proviso that visitors get to play them. My went-to-WWII SJ spent a year in the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, where the administration honored my request that they take it out of its glass case for anyone to play.

Lars, Thanks! The original owner bought the guitar in 1942 just before leaving for the war. He obviously didn't take the guitar with him. That's his name on the case: Thomas S. Culley. I was able to track him via Google. After the war, he attended the University of Mississippi. I found this photo of him in the school's 1948 yearbook. I don't know why he didn't play the guitar! I love LGs! A little more focused than a J-45, a little less bassy. But not very different. I also love the body shape and size, which is based on Gibson's classical guitar body.

Today I received one of the rarest Gibsons know: a Banner LG-3. Gibson only shipped 130 of these guitars, 69 in 1942 ad 61 in 1943. This one shipped on September 25, 1942. We only have half an LG-3 in the Banner Registry. Really: http://bannergibsons.com/7113H-2LG-3JamesBurkett.html A young solider bought this guitar shortly before going to the WWII. He obviously left it in the homeland (I have 2 other Banners that soldiers took to WWII, and it shows, in astonishingly beautiful ways). This guitar is as mint as mint gets. Absolutely no fret wear. The vintage Klusons look brand new (though the buttons apparently disintegrated and were replaced). A stunning thing that completes my Banner LG collection. My LG-2, (of the very first batch of Banners, and number 2 in that batch, so the earliest Banner known) is with a friend. When it returns home, I'll record a comparison video. Anyway, some pics:

A wonderful story. Thank you for sharing it with us. I've come to love LGs. As I type this, a 1942 Banner LG-3 is winging its way to me to complete my Banner LG collection. I'll have and LG-1, LG-2, nd LG-3. Yes, I know that nobody else on the planet collects LGs. 🙂 My gain.

My first Gibson acoustic was a Norlin-era Hummingbird. I loved that guitar because it was so much cooler than my first guitar, a Korean imitation of a Japanese copy of a Martin D-28. Sheesh, the Gibson had a red sunburst. What else could an 18 year old guitar player want in 1973? Well, a decent tone and proper intonation. Plus, it's still the only acoustic guitar that I've encountered that could serve as a boat anchor. Folks here have been diplomatic, and I thank them for that. But, well, Norlin-era Gibson acoustics are horrible. Yes, other Guitar makers suffered during that same time. But no other acoustic guitar manufacturer produced guitars even close to as bad as Gibson Norlin-era acoustics. That's my opinion. To steal words from Chet Atkins (I've done my best to steal his guitar licks, but to no avail), and I think that it should be yours, too. 🙂

🙂 We shall see. The Kalamazoo Gals show at AmericanaFest is shaping up to be interesting.

Tom, Other than mistaking a vintage LG-2 for a modern LG-2 and misspelling "deity," I think that I did pretty well! 🙂 Thank you so much for posting. In honor of my error, I'd love to send you a signed copy of my book, Kalamazoo Gals, that discusses the WWII-era, Banner Gibsons and the women who made them. (Yeah, I should have known better!) Just send me a message. Again, thank you!

I'd like to roll this all the way back to the original post. Wood is porous. It can never be drier than its environment. Baking it can crystalize resins within a particular piece of wood. And the that torrifying might slow moisture transfer from the environment to a guitar. But, with a bit of delay, your torrified guitar will equalize with the relative humidity of its environment. Vintage guitars cannot be drier than the relative humidity in your guitar room. Period.

The new Gibson administration is far from perfect. Very far. Witness the threats of lawsuits against luthiers who build 3, yes, 3 Gibsonesque mandolins per year. But current Gibson is embracing the Gals. It's a beautiful moment, imvho, that I hope we all embrace.

🙂 I am very pleased to announce that Gibson has embraced the Kalamazoo Gals story. The company's head of artist relations for North America is participating in my event at AmericanaFest in Nashville in a week and a half.

Yes, Gibson got the neck right on that guitar! I loaned the original to singer Jennifer Nettles nearly 2 years ago and am having trouble getting it back. 🙂