CJB Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 Hello everyone! I've got another question for y'all. A friend recently dropped by with an old converted HG-00. I don't know much about these except they're a converted Hawaiian L-00 like guitar. I have looked around the forums but wanted to get some current thinking on these guitars? It's a black finish with firestripe pick guard (so sexy) and the wide neck is surprisingly comfortable. Basically, the same profile as my '38 L-00 but the V is a tiny bit asymmetrical. I once had a 0017A that the neck was just way too much for me and I expected this one to be similar but it's not. Anyway, what can y'all tell me about these? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJB Posted June 5, 2021 Author Share Posted June 5, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuestionMark Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 From what I understand these were originally set up Hawaiian style, with the strings raised off the neck like a square neck dobro…but many of the guitars ended up being converted to standard guitars. The HG stands for Hawaiian Guitar if I’m not mistaken. I’ve only heard great things about these guitars if they are in their original state or if they were converted. I believe they fetch a high price value among vintage guitar collectors. BTW, I couldn’t pull up any of the photos on my iPhone. QM aka “Jazzman” Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 (edited) The HG-00 is a great guitar. They have more volume and a slower decay than the Advanced L body guitars. But what did your fiend have converted? Pretty much all you ever had to do with these guitars is lower the saddle and you were good to go. Edited June 5, 2021 by zombywoof Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJB Posted June 5, 2021 Author Share Posted June 5, 2021 23 minutes ago, QuestionMark said: From what I understand these were originally set up Hawaiian style, with the strings raised off the neck like a square neck dobro…but many of the guitars ended up being converted to standard guitars. The HG stands for Hawaiian Guitar if I’m not mistaken. I’ve only heard great things about these guitars if they are in their original state or if they were converted. I believe they fetch a high price value among vintage guitar collectors. BTW, I couldn’t pull up any of the photos on my iPhone. QM aka “Jazzman” Jeff Thanks Jeff! For some reason I can't see the pics on my iphone but I can see them responding from a laptop. 5 minutes ago, zombywoof said: The HG-00 is a great guitar. They have more volume and a slower decay than the Advanced L body guitars. But what did your fiend have converted? Pretty much all you ever had to do with these guitars is lower the saddle and you were good to go. I enjoyed playing it. We traded guitars for the weekend so he's got my L-00. This thing really has some kick to it but the 12 fret bridge position gives it a really rich almost creamy sweetness. I looked inside and the braces look just a little bit more stout than my L-00 and the top seems thicker. Nothing inside looks altered so I guess the conversion was only the nut and the bridge was replaced too. That seems fairly common on those old girls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 If Im not mistakin. These have Bar frets as well. Martin had a H model as well (bar frets) The tangs are wider. So fretting one of those requires filling the slots so the frets stay in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJB Posted June 5, 2021 Author Share Posted June 5, 2021 (edited) As far as I know, no Gibson guitars were made with bar frets. Martin did til middle ‘34 for non Hawaiian guitars. I think I remember that the Hawaiian models had bar frets into the early 40’s? Edited June 5, 2021 by CJB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 (edited) 3 hours ago, CJB said: I enjoyed playing it. We traded guitars for the weekend so he's got my L-00. This thing really has some kick to it but the 12 fret bridge position gives it a really rich almost creamy sweetness. I looked inside and the braces look just a little bit more stout than my L-00 and the top seems thicker. Nothing inside looks altered so I guess the conversion was only the nut and the bridge was replaced too. That seems fairly common on those old girls. I own a 1932 L1 . It is one of the last 12 fretters. While the Gibson Avanced L body guitars such as your L-00 started to be built heavier after 1933 the HG-00 as a slack key guitar had a heftier build to be able to handle the string tension. All in all though, they were still very lightly built for a lap guitar. I think though Gibson really hit it out of the ballpark with the Smeck and the HG-00. Edited June 5, 2021 by zombywoof Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJB Posted June 6, 2021 Author Share Posted June 6, 2021 Another question, how does a Hg-00 compare to why a 12 fret L-00 or an all Mahogany L-0? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
62burst Posted June 6, 2021 Share Posted June 6, 2021 Did you happen to come acoss CFH's "guitar hq" labor-of-love site? So much information there. Scroll down to the "L-00 Flattop" section. . . you might get some more information there. Like: http://www.guitarhq.com/gibson6.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJB Posted June 6, 2021 Author Share Posted June 6, 2021 32 minutes ago, 62burst said: Did you happen to come acoss CFH's "guitar hq" labor-of-love site? So much information there. Scroll down to the "L-00 Flattop" section. . . you might get some more information there. Like: That's great, thank you! I had not looked there yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted June 6, 2021 Share Posted June 6, 2021 3 hours ago, CJB said: That's great, thank you! I had not looked there yet. While that site is convenient it is pretty much a reprint of what others have published. So errors can be repeated. Back in the day, as example, the site stated the J50 was introduced in 1947 which is what appeared in the 1st edition of the Fabulous Flattops book. For my money the best source on pre-War Gibsons is the UMGF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpbiii Posted June 11, 2021 Share Posted June 11, 2021 I have a 39. Here is a video demo and a comparison the four other 12-fret 1930s guitars -- Martins 34 00-40H and 30 00-18H AND Gibson 31 L-2, 34 HG-C and 39 HG-00. Best, -Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJB Posted June 11, 2021 Author Share Posted June 11, 2021 That’s fantastic, Tom! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lifewithasong Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 (edited) Hi Guys! I have a customer who brought in one of these (we believe it's an HG-00 from between '38 and '40), and it has the back binding, the wide (1 15/16") nut and full, "soft-V" neck with truss rod. It was apparently neglected in a garage for a long time, and I've been bringing it back to health over the past few weeks. While there are no markings on the back of the headstock, inside the body on the heel block is a lightly stamped 831 F, and then underneath this there is a handwritten 3 8 in red (1938?). Could any of you offer any clues for narrowing down the year for sure with this one? We'd appreciate it! Greg Edited January 27 by lifewithasong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
62burst Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 8 hours ago, lifewithasong said: While there are no markings on the back of the headstock, inside the body on the heel block is a lightly stamped 831 F, and then underneath this there is a handwritten 3 8 in red (1938?). Could any of you offer any clues for narrowing down the year for sure with this one? This might help: 1935 1A to 1520A 1936 1B to 1100B 1937 1C to 1400C 1938 1D to 1000D 1939 1E to 980E 1940 - 1945 1 to 7900 (some with letter, some without) From 1935 to 1942, the FON included a letter suffix. The consistency around this stopped during WWII and resumed in the early 1950s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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