1950 Gibson LG-3 00-size Flattop Guitar

Ah, lovely old Gibsons. This one reminds me a lot of my B-25 (they're essentially the same guitar) but with a bit more sparkle and top-end chime. It plays spot-on, feels great, sits in the lap just so... and gives you those sweet focused mids that a J-45 doesn't quite nail despite a very similar overall design.

This is a customer's guitar and it received a fret level/dress, set of new (vintage) tuner buttons, a bridge reglue, new compensated bone saddle, and of course a bit of cleaning and setup. It's mostly original and was sold to the new owner as a 1949 or 1950 model. There's no serial number but I definitely concur.

The guitar doesn't have any cracks except for a long-since-repaired side puncture wound. The finish appears to mostly be original except for some "overspray" varnish applied here and there to hide pickwear a long time ago.

Like other LG-3s, this one is finished in "natural" on the spruce top with dark-stained solid mahogany back, sides, and neck.

Rosewood, radiused board. The neck is a lot like my 60s B-25 but has slightly more meat in the first three fret positions.

I love those old simple one-ring Gibson rosettes. The teardrop pickguard doesn't hurt, either.

This came in with a falling-off bridge that'd had its front edge altered a bit and the saddle slot quite mucked-about. After removing it, I reglued this bridge also using the original bolts (under the fresh pearl dots) and reprofiled it a bit to get the color even and a more snug saddle fit.

This guitar shows plenty of "life wear" that just adds to its charm and makes you want to pick it up.

The original tuners are in good health but when this came in the buttons were shrunk and a couple sheared right off just tuning up. I popped them off and replaced the buttons with some vintage 60s ones off of a defunct Harmony. They were the right color, shape, and look and they went on like a charm with a bit of propane torch help.

The neck set is good to go.

Here's that old "puncture wound" repair. It's actually backed by a big patch on the back so it's going nowhere. Ugly as heck... but who cares? It works. It's better than an extra "sound port!"

I popped a new ebony endpin on as well.