~1937 Gibson Henry L. Mason CWTG-2

1930s Gibson-made Henry L. Mason tenor guitar

Recently recovered from a home where it resided in a closet for decades, virtually ignored for much of that time. The Henry L. Mason brand was one of the "other brands" manufactured by Gibson for sale by various catalog houses, retailers and wholesalers (see Paul Fox's excellent book on the subject for more info on all these brands). The Henry L Mason brand was built by Gibson for Coast Wholesale, a California musical instrument distributor (hence the "CW" in the model name, referring to the distributor). The Mason instruments were basically the same as Gibson's "Cromwell" line in terms of design and construction, though those familiar with Gibson guitars will recognize this body as the classic Gibson L-00 profile, though it is ladder braced rather than X braced as was the case with all of the Gibson off-brand lines. While it was unused in recent decades, this guitar got lots of use early on...loved a lot, and it shows in the form of a lot of finish wear, nicks and dings. But the only replaced parts on the guitar are the tuners, which are 1930s era Klusons with plastic buttons that I restored to the guitar when I purchased it, everything else is original. All of the bracing and the bridge plate is solid and in good shape, and the neck angle is good so playability is very good. The original bridge is full height and the saddle is quite tall allowing for the action (which is easy already) to be lowered if desired. The neck is straight, frets are in good shape. There are 4 hairline back cracks that have been glued and reinforced. Top and sides crack free. Sounds great. Comes with a modern and well-fitting hard shell case. Price plus shipping, NYS buyers add 8% sales tax. $950