c.1956 Gibson LG-1 00-size Guitar

September 10, 2014

c.1956 Gibson LG-1 00-size Guitar

Ah, the Elvis guitar (or, rather, the guitar he used in movies). This one is owned by a local old timer and it was in for a fret level/dress, new bone saddle (as well as some saddle slot repair and whatnot), cleaning, and setup. This was scheduled for next week but the owner's birthday is this weekend so I pushed it up in the light repairs index of guitar-fest that's hanging out in the workshop queue right now.

The truss on this one is unfortunately maxed out so to keep the neck straight under tension I've got it strung with extra lights (46w-10) which are actually remarkably loud and cutting on this fellow... but then again the ladder bracing and 50s Gibson build helps with that, too.

Being a 50s LG-1 it has the bigger pickguard style but still retains the rosewood "straight" bridge leftover from the 30s and 40s Gibs. Top is solid spruce with ladder bracing while the back, sides and neck are mahogany. Board and bridge are both rosewood.

1 11/16" nut width.

This has some serious board wear in the first 5 fret positions... and the first 3 frets were replaced at some point (poorly). I had to go at them a bit to fit them better with the original frets. The neck profile is that bigger 50s Gibson feel which I like a lot... fits like a glove.

Amazingly, the guitar is crack free.

The original saddle slot was quite chewed up and you can notice a bit of "bulge" forward of the saddle. This was caused by a junky plastic saddle install some time back that leaned and warped the whole front of the bridge. I made a new bone compensated saddle to replace it, adjusted the slot, and then also seated the saddle with glue and rosewood dust to make sure that it would be set firmly. A good knock or two with some rocking will get it outta there but the glue certainly helps keep this saddle upright in the compromised slot.