Help identifying older gibson

[tmarion]

I'd appreciate any info on this guitar.  It appears to have a replaced bridge and pickguard. 

 Also any advice for things I should  or should not do before stringing it up. 

 

Edited January 24, 2022 by tmarion

[jedzep]

Looks like a poorly refinished (stripped and sanded) 30's-40's era L00 or L0, with a correct style but misaligned pick guard and a 70's era Guild bridge.  Looks like they couldn't save the original sound hole ring, so they installed something else, but I can't see the pic well enough to know.   I imagine the tuners were changed too, judging by how long the posts look sticking up out of the head stock.  

If the bridge is firmly attached there's probably little harm in putting a set of light strings on, which would tell you how badly the neck might be out of alignment, but I can't see a saddle on the bridge, assuming you have it but didn't attach.  There's much more to assess, but one photo doesn't help a lot.  You can restore the neck geometry if needed, replace the bridge and remove the guard to sand the top.  If the bridge plate, inside the guitar beneath the bridge, and the interior braces are tight, you should be able to get some sound out of it, but a vintage trained luthier should look it over.

I had a correct bridge made for mine, which had sadly been stripped in a college luthier class years ago. 

These are lovely little Gibsons.  Here's my orig '35 and my restored '36.  Also, the '35 with my sold '31 L0.  I love this lightweight model.

Edited January 24, 2022 by jedzep

[tmarion]

Thanks for the insight