War time L-50

[nburf]

Hello, 

Long time lurker first time poster. I've recently become the owner of a ww2 era gibson l-50 and wondered if you guys and gals could help me pin point a year. FON seen through the f-hole is 2863 or possibly 2838, a previous luthier has scribbled - 3 on the end of it in ball point. From looking at some war time fon registers online it looks to be about 1943/44, but the logo looks earlier? Bridge is a replacement I believe. There's been some top drop in the past but the braces have been secured tight and crack free and it plays clean and straight with low action. 

Great guitar, sounds fantastic and definitely has been awesome value for money with the solid back and sides on a 16". 

I've linked some images. 

https://imgur.com/a/K3PXfDv

 

[JimR56]

Welcome.  What "war time fon registers" are you referring to?  Just curious.  Some online sources seem useful, and others not so much.  I've always relied heavily on this one (http://www.guitarhq.com/gibson.html#serial), but no source is perfect- especially considering Gibson's inconsistent history with numbers and dating.   Based on the site I've linked, the fon's you posted would seem to suggest 1938 to 1940, which in my opinion would tend to jibe with the style of the logo on your guitar.  And I would actually suggest that it looks to be on the earlier side of that (I once owned a 1940 ES250, and the script logo was of the later, slightly thicker type than the style of your L50 logo (some info about logos here:  https://www.allgoodguitars.com/2020/01/23/gibson-headstock-logo-in-pictures/).  The tailpiece featuring a wooden cross piece would suggest that it dates to the early 1940's, but that could have been changed during the war.  

[nburf]

Thanks for the reply! 

I did go through that register and this one: 

http://www.bannergibsons.com/registry.html

I guess I got a bit confused by the one you linked and based my assessment on the following lines:

1943    Range generally 9xx to 22xx, depending on the model.
1944    Range generally 22xx to 29XX, depending on the model, some with no FON.

But like you said the FON also fits with:

1600-xx to 2999-xx      1938 to 1940

Maybe I'll never get closer than knowing it was probably during the war due to the wood tailpiece. Maybe it was old stock or a mashup hence the logo? The neck heel is also kinda interesting, looks more like a 30's heel than a later flat wide one to me. 

[jt]

Hello. I'm the fellow who, with Willi Henkes (who did nearly all the work), put up the Banner Registry.

That logo on your guitar appears to be hand painted after a headstock refinish. So, we don't know what the original logo looked like.

[AvirJiffy]

On 9/25/2021 at 3:24 AM, nburf said:

Hello, 

Long time lurker first time poster. I've recently become the owner of a ww2 era gibson l-50 and wondered if you guys and gals could help me pin point a year. FON seen through the f-hole is 2863 or possibly 2838, a previous luthier has scribbled - 3 on the end of it in ball point. From looking at some war time fon registers online it looks to be about 1943/44, but the logo looks earlier? Bridge is a replacement I believe. There's been some top drop in the past but the braces have been secured tight and crack free and it plays clean and straight with low action. 

Great guitar, sounds fantastic and definitely has been awesome value for money with the solid back and sides on a 16". 

I've linked some images. 

https://imgur.com/a/K3PXfDv

 

🤑

[cunningham26]

On 10/2/2021 at 8:03 AM, jt said:

Hello. I'm the fellow who, with Willi Henkes (who did nearly all the work), put up the Banner Registry.

That logo on your guitar appears to be hand painted after a headstock refinish. So, we don't know what the original logo looked like.

JT since this got a random bump, per our back and forth in another thread, could it be that this is a war-era archtop not made by the gals? or is it assumed that all guitars coming out in those years were made by them?

[jt]

On 4/27/2023 at 8:20 AM, cunningham26 said:

JT since this got a random bump, per our back and forth in another thread, could it be that this is a war-era archtop not made by the gals? or is it assumed that all guitars coming out in those years were made by them?

Cunningham,

It's possible.

My best understanding is that the Gals did not participate in making carved archtops, except to do the final sanding. But WWII Gibson is a jigsaw puzzle and I only have 1/3 of the pieces.

It's a shame that someone refinished the headstock.

[AvirJiffy]

On 9/26/2021 at 10:29 AM, nburf said:

Thanks for the reply! 

I did go through that register and this one: 

http://www.bannergibsons.com/registry.html

I guess I got a bit confused by the one you linked and based my assessment on the following lines:

1943    Range generally 9xx to 22xx, depending on the model.
1944    Range generally 22xx to 29XX, depending on the model, some with no FON.

But like you said the FON also fits with:

1600-xx to 2999-xx      1938 to 1940

Maybe I'll never get closer than knowing it was probably during the war due to the wood tailpiece. Maybe it was old stock or a mashup hence the logo? The neck heel is also kinda interesting, looks more like a 30's heel than a later flat wide one to me. 
Based on your description, the year of manufacture of your Gibson L-50 guitar can be determined by its FON number. The FON you mentioned might point to 1943/44. However, you also mentioned that the logo on your guitar looks older, which may indicate an earlier release year. By the way, I read a lot about civil war, I use https://studydriver.com/civil-war/ for this. So I'm also interested in things from that time. If you want to more accurately determine the year of manufacture of your guitar, it is best to contact a guitar specialist or collector. He will be able to more accurately determine the year of manufacture for all the characteristics of your guitar.

interesting 🤨

Edited May 1, 2023 by AvirJiffy