1959 Gibson LG-0 Flattop Guitar

This might be the best-condition LG-0 I've come across yet. It has some scratches here and there but is all-original, free of cracks, and sounds the business, too. Most old LG-0s I've had the pleasure to work on have been around the block and around, around, around, and around it a few more times. This one was obviously well cared-for (with its original, still-in-decent-shape chip case to prove it).

A consignor sent this to me for resale and while it was, playability-wise, more or less on target, I did need to reset the fretboard extension (it'd gotten that "Gibson ski jump"), level/dress the frets, and set it up just slightly. It's now playing beautifully with 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE action at the 12th fret, strung with 12s, and has that growly/gurgly ladder-braced bluesy/folksy tone going on.

I've noticed a surge in popularity for these guitars -- a Shovels & Rope "endorsement" may be helping -- as alternatives to the "normal" 00-sized guitar sound. A friend of mine in town is super-enthusiastic about her Epiphone-branded 60s variant of the model and, for sure, they have a sound that fits old styles of music quite well. My own preference is often tilted towards these mahogany-topped LG-0s over the spruce-topped LG-1s (which share the same ladder bracing) as I like the creamier top-end of the mahogany.

Just like the whole LG family, the body is 00 in size and roughly the same shape as many classical guitars.

The nut is 1 11/16" and the board is radiused rosewood. This has a neck profile that's a little bigger and rounder than your average 60s version of the same model -- something I like a lot. Being a '59 you might expect it to be getting thinned-up, but the neck feel is clearly 50s.

The frets are nice and substantial, though the board dots are faux-pearl/celluloid.

The binding and trim on this is all black whereas this model had tortoise in its later versions.

This one also has the 50s-style rectangular bridge (a plus) with a drop-in saddle slot.

I forgot to mention woods -- standard for this model, being: solid mahogany for the body and neck and Brazilian rosewood for the board and bridge.

Someone obviously had a bit of "fun" with a string winder...

As you can see, there's some height to the saddle and good back-angle on it, too.

The original, brown, Gibson-branded chip case comes with it, too.