Brand: Gibson
Instrument Categories: Acoustic Steel String, Archtop, Guitars, SOLD
Up into the 1950’s, giant archtop guitars roamed the world’s stages and the Gibson L-7 was one of the most commonly seen. An aesthetically stripped-down version of the L-5, this was a ‘working mans’ quality guitar.
Like its more expensive sibling, the Gibson L-7 used a carved Spruce top, carved Maple back, with a Maple neck and Mahogany neck. The L-7 used Rosewood for the fingerboard and bridge. At the time this 1947 L-7 was built and into the 1950’s, ‘Rosewood’ meant ‘Brazilian Rosewood’. At this point, the inlays were the double-parallelogram design, still found on many models. The body is a full 17 inches across – it is a big guitar – but the scale length is standard Gibson 24.75 inches.
Here we’re looking at a very nice example dating to 1947, just post-WW2. It was built at the historic Kalamazoo plant, the year before a cutaway was offered, and is a fully acoustic model – it does not appear to have ever had any kind of pickup. This guitar was professionally refinished some time ago, with care taken to preserve contours and corners and the headstock’s Gibson script and crown inlays. The bridge and tailpiece are original, but the tuners are vintage reproductions. Unfortunately the pickguard is not included. It has no top cracks, though there is a small seam separation on the back at the tailblock.
This guitar plays well and has a crisp, full sound. It’s suggests not only jazz but traditional acoustic Country – after all, Maybelle Carter used an L-5. As originally intended for the model – this can still be a working musician’s guitar.
A TKL hard shell case is included.
- Model: L-7
- Year: 1947
- Finish Sunburst
- Class: Vintage
- Serial Number: A 1039
- Country of Origin: USA
- Condition: Brand New
- Date Posted: 17/09/2018
- This instrument has been sold
- Consignment Item
- Required CITES documentation
- Including Hard case
- Instrument Weight: 5.8lbs 2.64kg
- Scale Length: 24.75in 638.6mm
- Nut Width: 1.73in 44mm
