❌SOLD❌ Gibson L-0 Steel String Guitar, 1927

We’ll start off the day with an interesting Gibson L-0 guitar.  This lovely instrument dates to 1927 and was originally sold through T.E. Bevan and Co. Ltd at Grosvenor House in Calcutta. This is testified to by the dealer’s soundhole label and plate on the back of the head. The original purchaser was in the British Army in India as the movement for Independence – achieved in 1947 – was growing in strength.

The Gibson L-0 debuted in 1926 as a 13.5 inch wide, 24.25 inch scale, 12-fret neck flat top guitar with Mahogany for the top neck, Maple or Birch for the back and sides and an Ebonized (dyed black) Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard and a bridge with an extra pin past the . By 1927, it was all Mahogany, in 1929 the extra pin on the bridge disappeared and in 1931 the body grew to 14.75 inches wide and the scale length to the now-standard 24.75 inches.

At this time, the now-standard steel string X bracing was not common, ‘Ladder Bracing’ was not yet in vogue, and on this guitar, a short-lived system referred to as ‘H Bracing’ appears. This consists of a pair of long braces similar to the tone bars found on arched-top instrument tops with one transverse brace with varying orientations. Some of the transverse braces are angled, others run nearly straight across.

Production of the Gibson L-0 ended in 1933 and restarted in 193, The model was discontinued in 1942, a victim of wartime material shortages.

This Gibson L-0 dates to 1927, or possibly 1928 based on construction features. Visible through the sound hole, stamped on the neck block, are a four digit FON – Factory Order Number. It was built at the Gibson plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan. This guitar is in good working order and has very recently been serviced by The Twelfth Fret Repair Shop.

Included in the service were the neck reset that every steel string guitar of a certain age will require, re-gluing of a number of top braces and the original bridge plate. 

This guitar is now set up with Silk and Steel strings. Low tension strings like these, or an extra light set of acoustic strings are highly recommended as the H bracing on this model is light.

With all this, this Gibson L-0 plays very well and delivers a warm, rich tone.

The original case for this wonderful guitar is long gone, and we are providing a new hard shell case by Everest with it.