L2 Gold Sparkle

[JuanCarlosVejar]

Folks ,

Check it out:

 

JC

[slimt]

Interesting info on the L2   These little guitars have alot of volume.   The Sparkle 12 fret sounds nice.    The Brazilians are hard on the ears.   
 

 

[62burst]

I'll consider myself to have just gotten schooled.

Yes, Slim, that was some very good info coming from a respected source. I've always loved Mark's high-res photography of the guitars he's had through his shop, and his L-2 Sparkle Argentine' burst  is no different: https://folkwaymusic.com/vintage-instruments/item/id.3871

Thanks for passing that along, Juan Carlos.

 

[ratherbwalkn]

Thanks for the education!

[michaelsegui]

One of the benefits of working at Folkway on Saturdays is getting to play all these guitars (including many that never go on the shop floor)

[tpbiii]

I have had a 1931 L-2 for quite a long time.  This one was found disassembled in a box and covered with a thick goo finish.  It was all original except for the finish, and I had it refinished by Randy Wood -- something I rarely did, but for this one it was required.

My late wife and I had two "home" genres -- the folk revival first in the 60s and bluegrass later after about 1970.  We had a circle of friends in both genres, and even though for the last 40 years we mostly did bluegrass, we also hung out with folk revival friends, and occasional folk circles and even shows -- particularly when were away from "bluegrass country."

When we decided to make vintage instruments a retirement investment, we acquired instruments appropriate to both pursuits.  My wife had a lovely gentile finger style she developed in the 60s, and a fine "folk" voice.  For this she loved responsive, lightly strung 12 fret guitars.  For shows she had several late 60s "S" Martins, and she had quite a few 1920-1932 0 and 00 Martins she loved, as well as a 1930 Larson -- all from right around 1930.  The L-2 was the only Gibson that was on her short goto list.  I have a lot of small 20s and 30s Gibson, but this a dramatic outlier.  Most of the others seem to be perfect for blues -- but this one is very sweet.  Dare I say Martin-ish.

We loved to have accomplished musicians and vintage guitar enthusiasts come visit us and our guitars -- many were bluegrass pickers of course, but others were old folkies.  This was/is my social life.  They too seemed to love smaller Martins -- but often the one that was picked as the best guitar they had ever played was the 1931 L-2.

Here is a video of it being played by a folk music guy -- my late wife even sang a little harmony from the 60s.

Let's pick,

-Tom

 

Edited April 27, 2020 by tpbiii

[Jinder]

On 4/27/2020 at 8:16 AM, tpbiii said:

I have had a 1931 L-2 for quite a long time.  This one was found disassembled in a box and covered with a thick goo finish.  It was all original except for the finish, and I had it refinished by Randy Wood -- something I rarely did, but for this one it was required.

My late wife and I had two "home" genres -- the folk revival first in the 60s and bluegrass later after about 1970.  We had a circle of friends in both genres, and even though for the last 40 years we mostly did bluegrass, we also hung out with folk revival friends, and occasional folk circles and even shows -- particularly when were away from "bluegrass country."

When we decided to make vintage instruments a retirement investment, we acquired instruments appropriate to both pursuits.  My wife had a lovely gentile finger style she developed in the 60s, and a fine "folk" voice.  For this she loved responsive, lightly strung 12 fret guitars.  For shows she had several late 60s "S" Martins, and she had quite a few 1920-1932 0 and 00 Martins she loved, as well as a 1930 Larson -- all from right around 1930.  The L-2 was the only Gibson that was on her short goto list.  I have a lot of small 20s and 30s Gibson, but this a dramatic outlier.  Most of the others seem to be perfect for blues -- but this one is very sweet.  Dare I say Martin-ish.

We loved to have accomplished musicians and vintage guitar enthusiasts come visit us and our guitars -- many were bluegrass pickers of course, but others were old folkies.  This was/is my social life.  They too seemed to love smaller Martins -- but often the one that was picked as the best guitar they had ever played was the 1931 L-2.

Here is a video of it being played by a folk music guy -- my late wife even sang a little harmony from the 60s.

Let's pick,

-Tom

 

Tom, your refinished L2 is possibly the most beautiful small bodied guitar I've ever heard...love that articulate and chiming top end. Lovely harmony work there from Aina Jo, too. Few things beat the tone of guitars and voices which have sung through life.