iamadrummerreally Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Hi I am new to this forum (first post) and having read the wealth of knowledge that has been historically posted on this site I thought I would ask a question. I own a Gibson L-130 acoustic guitar serial number 91109017. It looks like every other L-130 I have ever seen only it has a plain black and white rosette around the sound hole rather than the abalone one I see on every other guitar. It also has a 1cm strip of wooden inlay on the top of the guitar running from the bottom (in line with the rear strap button all the way up to the centre of the rear of the bridge. I contacted Gibson and sent photos, they said it looks like a trade show model.....CAN ANYONE SHED ANY LIGHT ON WHAT I OWN PLEASE? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triumph1050 Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Interesting....looks nice. And no sorry...I can't offer any assistance. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squire Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 I contacted Gibson and sent photos, they said it looks like a trade show model.....CAN ANYONE SHED ANY LIGHT ON WHAT I OWN PLEASE? I don't understand what they mean by a "trade show model" and why that would differ from any other L-130. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Possibly built for a show like NAMM, before production was ramped up and the plain inlay was easier to do than the abalone. At these shows, manufactures like Gibson, show off their upcoming and popular models to dealers and bulk buyers. At least Gibson has reponded that it's one of theirs. If you want the abalone, sell the one you have and buy another - if you can find one. NAMM 2011 just finished - http://www.namm.org/thenammshow/2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogeye Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 In looking thru some old literature from '99 it appears that the L-130 has a AA sitka spruce top and solid Bubinga back and sides. This was probably an early version that they made. The spec. calls for the Custom Line rosette. Yours does not have the CL line rosette. Gibson does this sort of thing on a regular basis. Some think that they do it to drive the historians crazy. I can assure you that this guitar was not made for a trade show. The top does not have an inlaid strip in it. The top is AA sitka and what you are seeing is a book-matched solid Sitka top. One edge of the wood has a strip of sapwood running along the the edge . This is the dark area of the top you are seeing. When they book-match it the two edges come together and it looks like a wider area than it really is. This in no way will effect the quality or sound of the guitar. It's just an interesting artifact in the wood. It's not as cosmetically pleasing to some folks so it would never be displayed at a trade show. You have a wonderful guitar and should be very proud of it. There are probably very few of them like it and you should consider it special. I have played a couple of them and find the Bubinga to be a bit heavy but they produce a wonderful bright sound. The Bubinga seems to be crisper than mahogany and it has a lot of characteristics of Rosewood I get most of my info from Gibson/Montana customer service. I would encourage anyone with technical questions to call Montana. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 ... I can assure you that this guitar was not made for a trade show. ... So the contact the OP made at Gibson doesn't know what they're talking about ? . . Disturbing, to say the least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rar Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 So the contact the OP made at Gibson doesn't know what they're talking about ? If the contact was at CS in Nashville, that's to be expected. Those guys do the best they can with the info they have, but they're not exactly in the loop. The odds are a lot better with CS in Bozeman, but there are no guarantees even then. The whole trade show story was obviously just speculation, anyway. Somebody looked at the photos, thought "I bet I know why it's like that!", and passed the theory along. Hogeye pointed out the flaw in the theory. What is there to be disturbed about? There are, approximately, twenty three zillion possible reasons for that non-standard rosette. Bozeman builds many slight variants of standard models every single day. Most of 'em, on purpose. :) It's pretty unlikely that anyone would know why this particular one was built over ten years after the fact. It might be nice if they kept records of this kind of stuff, but ... Hey, it's Gibson! -- Bob R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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