Ebarth Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 Hi newbie here, I recently bought a guitar from my coworker. It has been in her basement for years. It belonged to her Great Uncle and she is probably close to 60 if I had to guess. When I first saw it I thought the bridge had been replaced because I haven't seen one like it before. It looked like something a luthier made to raise the saddle. Most of the pictures I found of these old L-0, L-1, And L-00 guitars had a longer bridge on them. Then I found this post; http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/14380-how-old-is-this/page__hl__1929%20l-0%20__unlockUserAgent__1. These bridges look the same to me. Anyhow, has anyone ever seen this color of mahogany stain before? I have only seen one picture online that looks like it. The FON is 9247. Am I correct in thinking it is a 1929? Here are some pics. This guitar has a neat tone and plays well even with 30+ year old strings on it. Does anyone have any idea what it might be worth? Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 Nice buy! Any RJ tunes coming? BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebarth Posted October 26, 2013 Author Share Posted October 26, 2013 Nice buy! Any RJ tunes coming? BluesKing777. I need to learn some now! This little guitar makes my other acoustic feel like it's 40 pounds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 . Welcome. What a great find. Very cool. Congrats. . B) . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TM Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 Yes that FON is listed as a batch of L0 guitars from 1929 in Joe Spann's guide.. I commented in the thread you linked to. This bridge is late and often means an X or A braced top. Which does this have? Value: Does it have an original hard case or soft case. $2200-3200. They are light! Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 Cool! That looks like the bridge in the catalog but I have actually never seen one like it on an L-0 or any Gibson. I need to start hanging around different basements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebarth Posted October 26, 2013 Author Share Posted October 26, 2013 Yes that FON is listed as a batch of L0 guitars from 1929 in Joe Spann's guide.. I commented in the thread you linked to. This bridge is late and often means an X or A braced top. Which does this have? Value: Does it have an original hard case or soft case. $2200-3200. They are light! Terry It has a hard case but it is a 1970's epiphone case. I don't know how to tell about the bracing between X or A. I can feel diagonal braces under the sound hole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedzep Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 Can you drop a little cosmetic mirror in and look around? Bet it's X'd. If the action gets high fast up the neck you may need to have it reset, but I'll assume the strings were loosened when it was stored. If not, you're lucky it's holding together at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TM Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 The X brace you can feel as it crosses just below the soundhole and the X continues on the side of the soundhole. A, H or A braced guitar will have a brace running straight from side to side. From your desciption it sounds X braced. If you have a small hand mirror put it inside and look around the different bracing patterns look like their names. Most of the small pyramid bridges have the A or X bracing. These size guitars can put out some sound. Each of the bracings patterns gives these guitars a unique sound. All are very responsive with a lot of punch. When set up they have great playing necks and a short scale. I have a similar Nick Lucas sitting out now. They have the same shape but a deeper body ans spruce top. Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TM Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 Here is a H braced top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TM Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 Here is the same pic with the A and X added. Not accurate placement, but you get an idea. Some people call the A brace a V brace, just depends on your perspective. With the X bracing there is no brace running from side to side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebarth Posted October 27, 2013 Author Share Posted October 27, 2013 Here is the same pic with the A and X added. Not accurate placement, but you get an idea. Some people call the A brace a V brace, just depends on your perspective. With the X bracing there is no brace running from side to side. It has A bracing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebarth Posted October 27, 2013 Author Share Posted October 27, 2013 Thanks everyone for the comments and info! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TM Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 Thanks for the report on the bracing. The all mahogany guitars are more scarce than the sunburst spruce tops, at least my observation through the years. I have seen few with this bridge. This was near the end of production for this body size. Gibson went to an X bracing with this bridge and plain rectangle bridge. The large size was being worked on. An all mahogany guitar went into the large size production also. It too, is scarce as is the 14 fret large body size. This was the full size, largest flat-top Gibson built at the time. The Nick Lucas has the same footprint, but deeper body. this was it. The larger 12 fret body was just being produced. Gibson zoomed through some changes in those lean years. these look like pretty old guitars today. they are loud! thanks again for sharing a nice old Gibson flat top. Terry This is a 1928 Gibson Nick Lucas Special, H braced. FON 8989 A 1929 L2, a little later than your L0. First of the large bodies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebarth Posted October 29, 2013 Author Share Posted October 29, 2013 That Nick Lucas is one beautiful guitar! Thanks for sharing. You have been very helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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