G.L. Stiles Custom Sunburst

Summary: G.L. Stiles is a mythical name among the small number of craftsmen building custom solid body electric guitars in the early days. Gilbert Lee Stiles was constructing these guitars one at a time out of his Florida shop in the 60s, as well as repairing instruments for some of the greats, including Tom Petty. He had a unique aesthetic vision and manufactured most of the components himself, including the pickups-which sound phenomenal and have a nice open acoustic characteristic. There’s a special personal quality to his guitars, hand sanded, hand cut and lacquered for each customer, which really stand the test of time. This particular G.L. Stiles is a true beauty, road warrior and importantly a great player. It has recently been professionally re-fretted and fit with a new bone nut. The action is low and the whole body resonates and sustains like bell with each note. This is a very special instrument and needs to be played and held in one’s own hands to fully understand the true glory and history packed into its ancient grain. It ships in an old suitcase style hard-shell case with a soft white wool interior, we suspect it may be the original case- it is old, hand-made and high quality.

Body: This vintage rarity has a one piece body, likely old growth mahogany, with a nice natural red/black burst.

Neck: The neck carve on this guitar is spectacular and feels almost modern with its slightly wide, flat rounded C shape. The unbound rosewood fretboard is gorgeous and dark, has 23 frets, white dot position markers, 25 ½” scale length, 1.675” nut width and an elegant recessed scroll headstock design.

Pickups/Hardware: Both pickups are wound by G.L. and are original to the guitar. They sound brilliant, the middle position sounds a bit like a Gretsch filtertron, while the bridge position can get a tele-like tone. The neck position has a treble roll-off sound which is very usable for a nice thick jazz sound, rhythm playing or for a cool vocal horn like tone. It has a volume, tone and 3 way toggle. The Bigsby works great and the guitar stays is tune very well. The original Kluson Deluxe tuning keys work beautifully and offer great tuning stability.

Cosmetics: Nothing like a well-played in guitar that shows lots of wear from years of honest playing but was obviously cared for and loved deeply by its owner. The front of the body has pick scratching above the pickguard, the edges have a lot of chips and minor dents, there is a lot of buckle rash on the back, finish checking all over, some finish chipped off around the inside of the horns, wear around the edges of the headstock, lots of small chips and nicks on the back of the neck and headstock and little finger grooving on the fingerboard. All wear consistent with an honestly played but cared for vintage guitar and they do not affect the playability in a negative way. This guitar feels and looks so authentically historic. The fretboard markers are deteriorating a bit.

Playability: Our in house luthier has just inspected, set up and restrung this guitar with a new set of 10s and it is playing beautifully with low action and a straight neck. The new frets are in great shape with no gouges or dents in them. This guitar resonates and sustains very nicely, it plays effortlessly and is just a blast to sit down and write songs on.

Modifications: The frets have been replaced, one of the string trees has been replaced with a washer for increased break angle for the high E and B strings but the original string tree is in the case. The output jack has also been replaced and is included in the case.

Weight: 7 lbs, 6 oz.

Case: It ships in an old suitcase style hard-shell case with a soft white wool interior, we suspect it may be the original case- it is old, hand-made and high quality. We will ship it professionally packed and fully insured!