Gibson L-12 Sunburst (1939)

1939 Gibson L-12 acoustic archtop just into the shop on consignment!

This Pre-War era Gibson shares lineage with the L-5 and is one of the premier acoustic archtops that Gibson was offering at the time. It was owned by local professional musician Joe Aprea as noted on the custom-made truss rod cover. This particular L-12 was built in the early part of 1939 and still exhibits the desirable X-bracing that was abandoned shortly thereafter in favor of parallel bracing.

There's no lack of volume in a 17" archtop, but the X-bracing definitely brings more liveliness and dynamic response to the table, making it excel both as a rhythm and lead instrument. The neck is a very comfortable rounded C profile with a moderate taper, and with a great refret done in-house, playability is as good as it's ever been! The original tuners were replaced with quality Waverly open back tuners at some point, and the original celluloid pickguard was replaced long ago with a slightly different style 3-ply pickguard and mounting bracket. There are also two small holes on the back of the headstock that were likely used to mount an old style strap hook to the guitar (the absence of a strap button on the heel suggests it), but there are no structural deficiencies there as a result. It's got the original and rare Custom L-12 gold-plated tailpiece as well!