ChrisM Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 New guitar day, with 'new' being a seventy year old Gibson "Banner" LG-2 (1943) I actually got this guitar back in late July. When I first got it I asked you guys a bunch of questions about it, you may remember. I had been causally looking for an LG-2 for a while. I got it on a whim, offered a price I thought was too low for the guitar and ended up getting it. Like many old guitars the neck angle had worked its way up over time. As a result a neck reset was needed. I dropped it off to my luither friend for a neck reset and replacing the tuners (stock ones were shot and the buttons had disintegrated). While doing the work addressed some other issues and made some improvements. He planed and refretted the neck, replaced the bridge plate, made a new saddle, added new un-slotted bridge bins and did some minor touch up work to make it look all pretty. Here is some pics... The guitar plays incredibly well now, couldn't be happier. Being an all mahogany body the guitar has a great woody tone with a great balanced tone. The guitar is surprisingly loud for a small bodied guitar, really projects and cuts well. The neck is absolutely giant (think baseball bat) which is one reason I love Banner Gibsons. JT's book has made this guitar even more of a treat to play and look at. It's so neat to know some of the back story and history of these incredible instruments. An interesting point my luither brought up when discussing these Banners was that they can be kind of hit and miss. I know we like to think they are all amazing but he told me from his experience and his customers experience is that they can vary quite greatly. To me this makes sense as a lot of the people building these guitars were very new to their jobs and didn't have much experience. Between experience and constantly varying materials I can see where this variance could come from. Anyways some food for thought... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Spectacular guitar! It looks to me like a non-original bridge, but it truly is gorgeous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisM Posted December 17, 2013 Author Share Posted December 17, 2013 Thanks Yes sorry forgot to mention that, bridge is not original. It did get buffed up and polished while at the shop. The fresh bridge pins match better that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duluthdan Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 I like it! Hog top too, Inarresting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 That looks almost like a brand new guitar, fantastic. My 43' LG-2 so far looks like to have a perfect angle and reset is not on cards, hope it will stay that way. Great work by your luthier mate ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 A beautiful thing! Thanks for sharing it with us. That mahogany top makes it the equivalent of my Banner LG-1, but with a different fnish. Very cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisM Posted December 17, 2013 Author Share Posted December 17, 2013 Thanks guys Forgot to mention this LG-2 is FON 2217-47. From my research this guitar exhibits the same features of other LG-2s of that time/FON. Interesting thing to note is it must have been one of the gals early days on the job when she cut the dovetail. The picture below is the first time the neck has ever come off. Notice the maple shim add to the rough handcut dovetail joint. The young lady must have over cut the joint and instead of scrapping the guitar, which as we know would never happen in that time, she simply added a maple shim. Another thing making us think that this gal may have been new to the job is evident in the amount of glue she used. There was a ton of hide glue in that joint. Apparently it was a real pain to get the neck off. While we are talking about the neck here is a picture clearly showing the faux maple "truss rod". Clearly this guitar was built during the War Time Measures Act was in affect and Gibson couldn't score the metal needed for a normal truss rod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Thanks guys Forgot to mention this LG-2 is FON 2217-47. From my research this guitar exhibits the same features of other LG-2s of that time/FON. Interesting thing to note is it must have been one of the gals early days on the job when she cut the dovetail. The picture below is the first time the neck has ever come off. Notice the maple shim add to the rough handcut dovetail joint. The young lady must have over cut the joint and instead of scrapping the guitar, which as we know would never happen in that time, she simply added a maple shim. Another thing making us think that this gal may have been new to the job is evident in the amount of glue she used. There was a ton of hide glue in that joint. Apparently it was a real pain to get the neck off. While we are talking about the neck here is a picture clearly showing the faux maple "truss rod". Clearly this guitar was built during the War Time Measures Act was in affect and Gibson couldn't score the metal needed for a normal truss rod. I love it! I'd really like to use these pics in the (eventual) second edition of my book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Great guitar, and great pics, Chris. The maple V in the neck reminds me of a pre-trussrod Gibson A mandolin I used to own. The peghead had been broken off, exposing a V shaped maple reinforcement bar. After a new peghead with a long taper into the neck, she was good to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisM Posted December 17, 2013 Author Share Posted December 17, 2013 I love it! I'd really like to use these pics in the (eventual) second edition of my book. That would be very neat! Your book was a big inspiration in buying this guitar and having it fixed up. Only negative thing I can say about the book is I wish it was another couple hundred pages! Couldn't put it down once I started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 That would be very neat! Your book was a big inspiration in buying this guitar and having it fixed up. Only negative thing I can say about the book is I wish it was another couple hundred pages! Couldn't put it down once I started. Chris, There are 3 guitars I'd like to add to the book: 1. Your LG-2. 2. Zomby's J-50. 3. My went-to-the-war SJ. These instruments really help to tell the story. As folks who've read the book know, it's much more about the story and people behind the guitars than the guitars themselves. But these 3 guitars together with my minty SJ that I featured in the book tell the story all by themselves. Researching and writing the book led me to view the Banner guitars as repositories of cultural history. I discovered all 3 of these after the book was published. They really need to be in the next edition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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