~1936 Gibson L-00 Sunburst, Relic Finish, Great Stage Guitar, Needs Restoration

Classic 1930’s Gibson L-00 with tortoise guard, original tuners, nut & bridge. More Vibe and Mojo than Woodie Guthrie’s old shoes. If Gibson could make a “relic” reissue of this quality, this would be an $11,000 Custom Shop Authentic Brazilian Rosewood Board Select Limited Edition Collectors Choice Artist Model. Save thousands and “Buy Authentic”!

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This has had no restoration work done to it, and like all virgin L-00’s, will need an overhaul before it is playable to today’s standards. String action is high, and a neck reset it needed, among other age-related repairs. An attempted repair was made to the side at the back on the bass side of neck, but this should be reversible.

Lightly built 1930’s Gibson flattops that are almost 90 years old all need work – plain and simple, and this will make a fine ”relic” style stage guitar when restored.

This has the best shaped L-00 neck I have ever played. It has a slight V, but feels round. It is really full feeling, and the wood feels exceptionally solid.

Structure wise, the guitar has had no repairs, so cracks are at their optimum for being repaired.
Inside shots show the inside is nice and clean. No Braces are loose.

Top has good arch from bridge to tail, from sound hole to bridge, and good flatness from body edge to sound hole start. No caving to the top. Saddle looks full height, and bridge looks untouched, with a sharp 90-degree front edge.

More details below for the serious, Bank Wire Transfer Only.

1st Fret: .992
7th: 1.109
9th 1.19

1.770 nut width

Some glue around the neck joint, which looks like Elmer’s. It does not appear a neck reset was attempted, look closely where the back joins the heel, it appears this also received glue. This should clean up nicely with a neck reset. Tail strap button is not original and is metal. A few drops of white appear on the back as if bleach or some such thing.

Single slot truss rod, tuner screws, & truss rod cover screws. One tuner shaft bent, prongs pulled back. Two tuner posts are different, see picture of headstock.

Typical crack from pickguard to the bridge, which is the only place I can feel the wood really separated from underneath the top. The long top separation can barely be felt on the inside. It is through on one portion, but the wood has not pulled apart. The fine stress line below the bass side of the bridge is not through the wood. On the back, the fine line cracks appear to be mainly stress cracks. I can feel the crack through on the longest two, but the separation is minute. These are not severe splits to the wood, but they are there.

Fretboard shows rutting, 1st to 4th fret. Original frets have pitting frets 1-7. Frets 14 to end look untouched.

Headstock is very dirty but has no issues. 2 tuner shafts are different.

FON:

The first character of the FON is illegible, followed by 47.
The first character looks like a rectangle with cut corners, like a O. Per Spanns Guide, FON prefixes were not used until 1940. Per another source, the L-00 had back binding during 1937, so the FON dating is a mystery on this one. The type of tuners used may be the best way to date this one.

Bank Wire Transfer Only.