zombywoof Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 After having to move guitars from the room where they were stashed so we could install new carpeting and a Murphy Bed , I found myself facing the fact I was living my own version of The Trouble with Tribbles. And thus I embarked on a noble quest to lighten the load. Today was Step 1. After an entire afternoon of going back and forth a deal was stuck. Five guitars out and one guitar plus some cash in. So what was the sole guitar delivered into my hands asks you. Well, says I, as this is a Gibson Forum it is safe to assume that is the moniker adorning the headstock. So, I am now the owner of a 1920 Gibson L3. Mind you we are still getting acquainted but so far me like. This thing has a lot of voice for such a small package. 13 frets to the body and a big honking V neck. All original including its Geib & Schaefer case. Even had some case candy in it. The photo of the guitar is courtesy of the guy I got it from. She is a looker, ain't she? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 Nice ZW!! That is a wild tailpiece. The neck looks huge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedzep Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 Inspiring trade move. It's got me thinking. More details please! What went out the door? Guess you have no more worries about bridge lifting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 Nice trade move - I also would like to know what went....in case it is a Gibson? I suspect not.... BluesKing777. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted June 10, 2020 Author Share Posted June 10, 2020 (edited) 43 minutes ago, jedzep said: Inspiring trade move. It's got me thinking. More details please! What went out the door? Guess you have no more worries about bridge lifting. Oh you do not want to know. It s not for the faint hearted. What departed was two Kays. a NYC Epiphone archtop, and yes two Gibsons - my '35 Capital archtop and that WM-00 I picked up a while back. I knew I was going to get spanked but I also wanted to move a bunch of guitars which meant dealing with somebody in the business. I really did not want to part with one of the Kays and the WM-00 but that it was it took to cement the deal. And has been said you know you have a deal when nobody is overjoyed with it. I will probably be dealing with the same guy in another deal in a couple of weeks. Just waiting on him to get a guitar back from the shop. Edited June 10, 2020 by zombywoof Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted June 10, 2020 Author Share Posted June 10, 2020 55 minutes ago, j45nick said: Nice ZW!! That is a wild tailpiece. The neck looks huge. The tortoise celluloid covering the crossbar is pretty cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 Nice L3. Finding those complete like that is not easy. Very cool. Congrats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuestionMark Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 She is indeed a looker! Congratulations. Beautiful guitar! May I ask which NY Epiphone archtop model did you use in the horse trade? QM aka "Jazzman" Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave F Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 Great looking guitar! I feel for you, I'm going through the same process. Here's the recently departed. I've only taken in four '40's Banner J45 '53 ES 150 '94 Centennial 1934 Jumbo RI '04 Dwight Yoakam Honky Tonk Duece '07 CJ165 RW '10 Jackson Browne '11 Kristofferson SJ '12 J200 Custom RW '13 LG-2 Banner RI (All Hog) Vintage AJ 1999 1955 ES150 Vintage 1966 Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentleman Kalamazoo KG-31 1938 Martin OMPA1 Plus Martin 12 string Martin Elvis Presley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted June 10, 2020 Author Share Posted June 10, 2020 1 hour ago, QuestionMark said: She is indeed a looker! Congratulations. Beautiful guitar! May I ask which NY Epiphone archtop model did you use in the horse trade? QM aka "Jazzman" Jeff It was the '53 Triumph Regent. The '55/56 FT-79 flattop ain't going nowhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted June 10, 2020 Author Share Posted June 10, 2020 1 hour ago, Dave F said: Great looking guitar! I feel for you, I'm going through the same process. Here's the recently departed. I've only taken in four '40's Banner J45 '53 ES 150 '94 Centennial 1934 Jumbo RI '04 Dwight Yoakam Honky Tonk Duece '07 CJ165 RW '10 Jackson Browne '11 Kristofferson SJ '12 J200 Custom RW '13 LG-2 Banner RI (All Hog) Vintage AJ 1999 1955 ES150 Vintage 1966 Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentleman Kalamazoo KG-31 1938 Martin OMPA1 Plus Martin 12 string Martin Elvis Presley You put me to shame Brother. But the fact that you could part with a Jackson Browne makes me feel better about letting the WM-00 go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 Is the headstock design a MOP inlay? Haven’t seen that design before. And of course, congrats & enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted June 10, 2020 Author Share Posted June 10, 2020 5 hours ago, bobouz said: Is the headstock design a MOP inlay? Haven’t seen that design before. And of course, congrats & enjoy! it is inlay. The doodad disappeared in 1924 when the truss rod was added to the model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted June 10, 2020 Author Share Posted June 10, 2020 12 hours ago, j45nick said: Nice ZW!! That is a wild tailpiece. The neck looks huge. The neck clocks in at around 1.00" deep at the first fret and 1.5" at the 9th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoSoxBiker Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 Congrats! Looks like you scored a beauty. Selling gear outright can be time consuming task, with a "you snooze - you lose" situation lurking overhead the whole time. I do not blame you one bit for taking the path you took. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuestionMark Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 Good to learn you kept the 55/56 F79. Mine is a keeper in my collection, too. QM aka “Jazzman” Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted June 10, 2020 Author Share Posted June 10, 2020 1 hour ago, QuestionMark said: Good to learn you kept the 55/56 F79. Mine is a keeper in my collection, too. QM aka “Jazzman” Jeff It took me a long time to warm up to the Epi FT-79. I only bought it because it was dirt cheap. It is one f those guitars that does not do anything terribly well but sounds so good trying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 8 hours ago, zombywoof said: it is inlay. The doodad disappeared in 1924 when the truss rod was added to the model. Interesting: The earliest Gibson mandolin I’ve seen with a truss rod (per FON) was a late 1921 example. My ‘A’ model is an early 1922 with truss rod, and ‘22 is the year that is often documented as Gibson’s introduction of the truss rod. I’d always assumed that Gibson most likely had made the switch to truss rods at the same time across all product lines - but if you’ve seen documentation that it didn’t appear on the L-3 until 1924, I’ll have to recalibrate that assumption! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 1 hour ago, bobouz said: Interesting: The earliest Gibson mandolin I’ve seen with a truss rod (per FON) was a late 1921 example. My ‘A’ model is an early 1922 with truss rod, and ‘22 is the year that is often documented as Gibson’s introduction of the truss rod. I’d always assumed that Gibson most likely had made the switch to truss rods at the same time across all product lines - but if you’ve seen documentation that it didn’t appear on the L-3 until 1924, I’ll have to recalibrate that assumption! snake head L3s were early 22. I sold one 15 plus years ago at Dallas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuestionMark Posted June 11, 2020 Share Posted June 11, 2020 11 hours ago, zombywoof said: It took me a long time to warm up to the Epi FT-79. I only bought it because it was dirt cheap. It is one f those guitars that does not do anything terribly well but sounds so good trying. Well said! I bought mine at a vintage guitar show a number of years back for $400. Vintage Guitar’s Price Guide lists it in the $2000-3000 range. Years later I reminded the seller I had bought it from him years back dirt cheap and his reply was that the guitar had issues but he’s glad it found a good home with me. I never have been able to figure out the issues he was talking about, but as you say it doesn’t do anything terribly well, but it does sound so good trying. And, so it remains a keeper. Plus, it’s always a good story about how it’s the predecessor to the Kalamazoo made F79 Texan. I like to think of it as a pre-Texan. Supposedly, Jimi Hendrix’ 6 string acoustic guitar was a 55/56 F79, also. (Not to be confused with his 12 string guitar that is in a YT video.). His F79, though, sold for something like $50,000 years ago because it was his. QM aka “Jazzman” Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted June 11, 2020 Share Posted June 11, 2020 11 hours ago, slimt said: snake head L3s were early 22. I sold one 15 plus years ago at Dallas. Thanks Slim. I also confirmed how the truss rod rollout occurred by checking Gruhn's guide. He states that by late 1922: "Truss rod introduced on all models except Jr. (some early flat tops and some examples made during World War II have no truss rod)." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cabarone Posted June 11, 2020 Share Posted June 11, 2020 Congratulations buddy...I was sweating for a second afraid you'd let go of that B45... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted June 11, 2020 Author Share Posted June 11, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, bobouz said: Thanks Slim. I also confirmed how the truss rod rollout occurred by checking Gruhn's guide. He states that by late 1922: "Truss rod introduced on all models except Jr. (some early flat tops and some examples made during World War II have no truss rod)." Based on what I saw looking around online, I ran across 1923 L3s both with and without truss rods. Here is a 1923 L3 I found in the Folkway archive of sold guitars. If there is a TRC screw there I cannot see it. But I did run across at least one which had a truss rod. So it would appear that prior to 1924 the installation of truss rods was not consistent at least in this model. Gibson being Gibson, in 1923 they could just have been using up their existing stock of necks. Edited June 11, 2020 by zombywoof Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted June 11, 2020 Author Share Posted June 11, 2020 2 hours ago, Cabarone said: Congratulations buddy...I was sweating for a second afraid you'd let go of that B45... I only own three guitars which I consider "keepers" - the '42 J50, '32 L1 and the '61 B45-12. Everything else is expendable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cabarone Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 I just now got on my home PC and saw the picture for the first time (the computers at work block a lot of content)...wow...just...wow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.