❌SOLD❌ 1939 Gibson L-7 Archtop Guitar Natural

From its invention by Orivlle Gibson near the turn of the 20th century to the 1950s, the archtop guitar rose to prominence as what a professional guitarist needed. The archtop design, taken from traditional violin principles, provides volume and projection not always available from flat-top instruments and before amplification became common, this was essential. Gibson and Epiphone were the top of the professional – grade archtop instrument builders.

It’s fairly common to associate archtop guitars with jazz music but many blues and country – western musicians played them too. Mother Maybelle Carter used a Gibson L-5 for many years. And of course, in the 1950’s, most of the early rock players used electrified archtops.

Here is a 1939 Gibson L-7 N acoustic archtop guitar, the N denoting Natural finish instead of sunburst. The body is a full 17 inches across, with carved maple back, maple sides and a carved spruce top. The neck is mahogany with a rosewood fingerboard that sports the ‘picture frame’ inlay set.

The tailpiece is not original and the pickguard is long gone. There are some holes in the top from pickup mounts over the years, but the guitar is in overall good condition and plays well. A case is not included but we can supply an appropriate case.