Old Archtop

[Trey333]

Hello, all!

This is a guitar owned by my girlfriend's father.  From what I have been able to research, I think it may be from 1948, but I am reluctant to even say that. Any input on year or model is greatly appreciated! If I need to get better pics I can ask him. 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

[JimR56]

Hi Trey, that's a great looking guitar.  From what I can see in your photos, it looks like one of the cleanest examples of this model that I've ever seen.  I've never owned one, or even seen one in person, but based on research I think it's what's known as a "Wartime Special".  WWII, that is.  The black finish and the red pencil suffix on the factory order number both point to this.  The white Gibson "script" headstock logo also indicates an earlier date than what you thought.  By 1948, Gibson had transitioned to their more modern logo.

Anyway, dating these things precisely has proven to be somewhat tricky, as company records for the war years are difficult to sort out.  We have analyzed similar guitars on this forum in the past, so I would recommend browsing through these discussions:

https://forum.gibson.com/topic/155262-very-old-acoustic-i-think-please-help/

https://forum.gibson.com/topic/155031-need-help-identifying-ww2-gibson-from-my-grandpa/

More general info about dating old Gibsons can be found here:  http://www.guitarhq.com/gibson.html#serial

Also, here's a link to a google books page where various black Gibson special models are listed by type and date: https://books.google.com/books?id=sgeZ_cISRpAC&pg=PA143&lpg=PA143&dq=gibson+%22wartime+special%22&source=bl&ots=nBtR05Tz61&sig=ACfU3U3wgxKjdVlfyqHWTuhbYkyZzDa7EQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiayuHqt9nlAhVUnp4KHXamAYkQ6AEwEHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=gibson%20%22wartime%20special%22&f=false