Old Gibson L-50 Archtop Pics and some Questions

[acousticworship]

Hey all,

 

I inherited an old (50's maybe?) Gibson L-50 Archtop. The top appears to have been sanded down and refinished (darn it), and it has a previously repaired crack in the top that has come loose and needs to be repaired again. I'm trying to find a local luthier that might be able to repair it.

 

I can barely make out the L-50 stamped inside thorugh one of the F-holes. Any idea where the serial number might be hiding?

 

So, I really need to find a case for this, as my 4-year-old son is very interested in it, and is also very destructive! Any idea what kind of case might work?

 

The tuners and bridge have been replaced as well, so it actually stays in tune pretty well. The bridge looks like a Tune-o-matic, don't know whether this is what came on it stock? It sounds good, nice and bluesy. There's plenty of life in the frets, but they could use a good leveling and dressing. I'm thinking of putting some sort of pickup on it once I get it fixed up. Anyone making a Dearmond copy for a resonable price?

 

Anyway, I know this was a lower end guitar and in its condition isn't worth much, but it is pretty cool and different in tone than anything else I own.

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

[Hoss]

You could get hold of Joe at 'archtop.com'. I know that he had a special order of cases made for archtops. Joe's a good guy and resource for all things archtop--if he didn't have a case he probably knows where you might find one.

Good luck!

[acousticworship]

Thanks for that info, Hoss. I'll get a hold of him.

[rustystrings]

Check to see if a standard dreadnaught case will fit; barring that, I suspect the case for a J-185 would work well, also. My old L-4, which was about the same size, actually fit into some sort of old Gibson electric case I picked up cheap. These guitars are shallower than a dreadnaught, so don't be afraid to try a bunch of cases.

 

The quickest way to help this guitar sound good, I would argue, would be to fit it with a proper wood-topped archtop bridge, rather than the tune-a-matic, which was NOT stock.

 

The L-50 is a good guitar - with the right bridge and good strings, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. It's definitely NOT a flattop sound, but it grows on you.

 

Russ, who misses his archtops

[rustystrings]

Oh, yeah - it might have been a lower-end guitar, but Gibson's lower end guitars in the old days were still pretty wonderful instruments. I've played lots of old LGs and ES-125 variants through the years, and they were consistently really nice playing, good-sounding instruments.

[acousticworship]

Thanks Russ, I'll check some of my cases and see what will fit. I didn't figure the Tune-a-matic was what came on it. I'm sure it's sucking some tone. The strings are ancient and corroded, I just haven't changed them because I getting ready to take it somewhere to have the crack repaired and get a good setup and a proper bridge. Still, the old girl doesn't sound half bad, especially finger-picked and some blues riffs. Definitely not as strong a strummer as my J-45.