Help identifying a very old gibson

[Guest O.salomon]

Hi,

I just bought this guitar for a bargain, but I have no idea what's the model\year\serial number.

It's something similar to es125, but looks like a modified acoustic,

Any thoughts??

 

[JimR56]

It is indeed a modified acoustic. The humbucking pickup is wrong for the era, and even if it had originally had an older P90 single coil pickup, the volume/tone knob placement gives it away as being non-factory work (the knobs would have been on the opposite side of the treble f-hole).

 

Have you shined a light inside the body and looked for any stamped numbers? (model or serial)

[Guest O.salomon]

thanks, found it!

its U2522 34, from gibson acoustic serialization I understand it's from 1957 (?), but it says nothing about the model. L-50 maybe?

[ksdaddy]

L-48. Changed tuners too.

[Guest O.salomon]

thanks, what's the difference between the l-48 and the l-50?

[ksdaddy]

The L50 went through many changes over the years since it was introduced (1935 I think). By the late 40s it had pretty much reached it's final form that it kept until it was discontinued in 1970...a 16" sunburst archtop with trapezoid inlays and neck binding. There was a time, let's say from about 1937 to the late 40s, when it had dot inlays and no neck binding. The L-48 seems to have replaced 'that' version of the L50.

 

Sometimes on more inexpensive Gibsons there can be changes that don't make the 'spec sheet'. I've seen L-48s with spruce tops or mahogany tops. I'm sure hardware has the potential to change over the years too.

 

Every once in a while a black L-50 or L-48 will appear but most were sunburst. I've never seen a blonde one.

[Guest O.salomon]

thanks!

any idea what's the woods on the 57 l-48?

[JimR56]

By 1957, the body is most likely made entirely of laminated mahogany. If the back has a different appearance than the top, there's a chance that the back is laminated maple. Mahogany neck. Rosewood for the fretboard and bridge.