1942(?) Gibson L-50 archtop project
The player who brought this guitar into the shop tells me, “I bought it from a guy who said he bought it second hand back in the 1940’s. I’m told a lady sat on it at some time in the past.”
And from there, the mystery unfolds. Measuring the box tells us it’s most likely the model L-50 made after 1934, models before that time had an oval sound hole, where ours features f-holes. Gibson wasn’t using serial numbers consistently at this time, but they did use a system called Factory Order Numbers, which were stamped on the back plate visible through the treble-side f-hole. Our FON is likely 2138. I say “likely” because the “21” is stamped, but the “38” is hand written in red ink. “Spann’s Guide to Gibson 1902 – 1941” shows that FON 2132 was for the L-50, and that FON 2139 was for the Southerner Jumbo, with no evidence for the numbers between.
During the wartime production era, Gibson added the banner “Only a Gibson is Good Enough” to the headstock of many – but not all – of the instruments produced. Ours lacks this banner. But, wartime steel rationing measures required the factory to omit the steel truss rods Gibson had been using to counter the string tension in the necks since the 1930s. Ours has no steel truss rod.
The L-50 was Gibson’s entry level arch top guitar. It features a carved maple back and maple sides, with a spruce top that was pressed into shape and glued to the bracing system in order to hold its form.
Our version has seen a lot; I wish it could tell us more of the stories. At some point, there was a Polysonic Pickup installed, which still works 70+ years later. The body had several cracks, and then there was the damage from someone mistaking a guitar for a chair! Since the side sheets had become separated from the heel block, I chose to remove the back plate in order to make repairs. See the photos below.
After mending some cracks, gluing it back together and stabilizing the architecture, we have once again a fully functioning guitar, warts and all.
