46/47 LG-2, I believe

[AnneS]

Pics to come later today, but fun story:

My TX friend and her 93-yo dad—who made his living as a church music director and who plays piano and guitar only by ear—are visiting this week. I’d been told awhile ago that he had an old Gibson in storage, so I urged them to bring it along for a look-see (after trying and failing  to at least get pictures), and they did.

He said he bought it used in 1957 for $25, although, when playing with his various bands, he just used a big ol’ Yamaha and only ever played the Gibson for himself.

Size, x-brace, center strip=LG-2, and the script logo w/o banner makes me think 1946, maybe ‘47?

In the 70s (he thinks), he had a guy “work” on it, but original pieces are still with the guitar-crumbled tuner buttons, fret wire, saddle and bridge plate, and some other bits I haven’t looked at yet. The saddle and bridge plate look in fine shape, though, so I don’t know why they were replaced. Were these screwed on, originally? Clearly, the holes are there, so maybe those pearl dots on early LG2 bridges actually covered screw heads? 

It has some god-awful-looking  tuners on it now, but somehow, even with 10yo strings, he said it was pretty much in tune when they got it out of climate-controlled storage last week. 

He thought the crazing was cracks in the wood and apparently has always worried about that. Also, he wanted me to know how careful HE’S always been with it and that all the many dings and scratches were on it when he got it. He told me he was confounded by the all the weird scratches on the back. And after I explained and demonstrated buckle/shirt-button rash, his eyes lit up, picturing the life the guitar lived in the decade before it came to his loving hands. It musta been played hard, which delights him to think of.

Anyway, we’ll take it down to my local shop for new strings this week and a once-over. And I’ll try to post some pics today, including of the FON if I can find it on, I assume, the neck block. (He said it used to have a label but doesn’t remember what happened to it.)  

Oh, almost forgot—it sounds purely beautiful, even with 10yo strings…

I’ll keep you posted, and please chime in if any of my conclusions, above, are off.

[jedzep]

The dots did cover screw-downs, but I could never figure out why Gibson defiled the tops.  Can you see holes from inside, or possibly the bolts and nuts still intact?

[jedzep]

Great little guitar, sure you know.  Hopefully, your guy/girl knows the ins and outs of restoring high value vintage Gibs.

[zombywoof]

Considering what a brand a spanking new LG2 cost in the late-1950s, $50 would have been about what a used one sold for at the time.   Because Gibson did not change specs at the stroke of midnight on January 1, the etiquette here is to refer to those without FONS (which is not uncommon) as 46/47.  Generally, if the guitar has a script logo and a 1 3/4" nut though it is safe to assume it is a '46.   I owned a '46 LG2 and had a borrowed '47 in the house at the same time.  I preferred the wider nut on the older guitar but the sound of the later one.  

Coincidentally, somebody I know is supposedly in the near future going to bring over an LG1 that his grandfather had bought new to see what I can tell him about it.

Edited May 29, 2022 by zombywoof

[AnneS]

Snapped some pics but could only upload to Dropbox, and I don’t know if (or how) I can make them appear here.

Try this link…

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ftdyo1r9qcorrwa/AADEHV9OelW3KNJMVaGBLbz0a?dl=0

I do not see a FON (though my eyes tried hard), so thanks for the info, ZW, that it was common not to have one.

Edited May 29, 2022 by AnneS

[jedzep]

That works.  Now I miss mine again.

[Dave F]

 

 

 

[jedzep]

Isn't that the lowest saddle height y'all have ever seen?

[Dave F]

36 minutes ago, jedzep said:

Isn't that the lowest saddle height y'all have ever seen?

I've got a '52 J45 in about the same shape. Debating if I want to get the neck reset or sale it. 

[QuestionMark]

Beautiful guitar!

 

QM aka “Jazzman” Jeff

[philfish]

Maybe the new bridge is thinner, to help with the action, and avoid neck set at the time it was installed.

Looks like it's time for a reset now, good that he left the original bridge with it, the newer bridge looks like some nice work.

With a reset the old bridge may bring the string height at the bridge to spec 

[AnneS]

Dave, thanks for pulling the pics in!

You can’t help but think a reset will be required at some point, but for now, it’s playing true up the neck and I tried hard but failed to make it buzz. 
He’s not looking to move it along, but when it passes to his daughter, my friend and I will have a little chat…

Good point about the option of putting the old bridge back on after the reset—didn’t think of that.

A fun slice of Sunday, for sure—thanks, all!

[zombywoof]

It would be cool to go back to the original bridge.  As was recently discussed here those bridges were thicker on the bass side which is a feature you do not always see on repros.  While I cannot make it out from the photo of the bag of tuner parts, the originals would have had riveted cogs.  There might be a manufacturer's stamp on the underside but I do not recall when it was moved there (the stamp was originally on the top side) or if it was still present on the tuners which were supplied in 1946.  

[Dave F]

I have a nice clean set of the peened ones but not positive of the years. I've been thinking '43-'45. I think the waffled peen started in '45 and post war models

 

[AnneS]

Fast-forwarding…

My friend’s father passed last month, and the family is holding a service tomorrow. Today, my friend asked if I would be guardian of this guitar, with the caveat that it return to either of her kids (whom I’ve known since they were in diapers) should they ever want it. 

My friend knows that I will care for it, play it, and that I will always understand—more than she herself admittedly can—what it meant to him. She says he would have wanted this…

I tried to say how it is for those of us who get to hold and play one of these great, old guitars—how fanatically curious we are about ‘the stories it could tell,’ how we hear in the wood its cumulation of music and feeling, how mysteriously alive it can feel in our hands. Usually, we can only imagine the lives it has lived…but I, with this one, won’t be in the dark.

My friend understands that a part of her dad will live on in this guitar, and she knows that I know this, too. In this she gives a great gift—to the memory of her dad and to me—and it’s quite, quite the honor…

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/t3j2i8tsvl9u4uzg1a1r9/Gene-Lawrence.MOV?rlkey=av0xk5fapeus60f0husvxu21o&dl=0

[philfish]

"Nine feet tall and six feet wide"

That guitar must be full of songs, Wow

 

[62burst]

Wowed here, as well. He bought it used in '57. . . 67 years of bonding with that guitar- and it shows. And it offers up a glimpse of where we can only hope make it to someday.

The guitar will be in good hands, Anne- thanks for sharing.

[PrairieDog]

What a tremendous gesture to trust you with.  She knew it would be in the right hands… May that guitar continue to be warm blanket to your friendship.  

[jt]

A lovely 1946 LG-2! Thank you for sharing it with us.

It's fabulous that your friend and her father (and his luthier) saved the original bridge, bridge plate, and tuners. I hope the guitar will be restored to its original glory someday using those parts.

Thanks, again.