1938 Gibson HG-00 Flattop Guitar




The last HG-00 I worked on was (tone-wise) one of my favorite pre-'50s Gibsons through the shop, so I was excited to hear an unmolested, unconverted, HG-00 was on the way via a consignor. People rant on the net about how these Hawaiian-model guitars are over-braced but the reality is that they've been braced just right for the average modern player.

The weight and thickness of the bracing on these is more akin to early-'50s Gibsons than their concurrent '30s friends, so the truth of the situation is that these guitars handle more like an LG-2 from the '50s and can take modern gauges handily and dish that tension out as punchy, dry, woody, and lovingly-old-timey tone. The 12-fret body places the bridge in a more efficient position, too, which gives them a tad more volume and a (slightly) rounder bottom-end.

This guitar came-in as-original with a high nut, straight saddle, and untouched frets and board. It'd been played as a Hawaiian its whole life and had something like medium strings on it with a 14 in the "high E" position. My work included a neck reset, very light fret level/dress, repairs/cleats to three hairline cracks (one at the pickguard near the high E, one below the bridge running to the endblock, and one smaller one on the back at the lower bout), and conversion of the straight-saddle slot into a wider drop-in saddle slot. I then made a new, taller, bone saddle with proper compensation for "Spanish-style" play. I figure if someone wants to re-convert this as a Hawaiian, a nut extender and uncompensated 2nd saddle could be supplied).

It plays on-the-dot and its decisive voice is excellent. I would absolutely own one of these guitars (I was totally tempted by the black one I'd sold before) but as a thumb-over guy with average hands, the wide nut width (and my hesitance to recut a neck on an antique guitar) means I don't. The neck is straight and the truss works, the top has only the most minor doming/belly around the bridge, and it's stable in service.

Specs are: 24 3/4" scale, 1 13/16" nut width, 1 5/8" string spacing at the nut, 2 3/8" spacing at the bridge, 14 3/4" lower bout, 10 1/8" upper bout, and 4 3/8" side depth at the endblock. The neck is a medium-depth C/V shape and the board has a 10-12" radius to it. Action is 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE at the 12th fret and it's strung with 54w, 42w, 32w, 24w, 16, 12 gauges.

Woods are: solid spruce top (x-braced), solid mahogany back, sides, and neck, and rosewood fretboard and bridge. Aside from recutting the original nut for Spanish-style stringing and the new saddle (and bigger saddle slot), it's all-original right down to the pins and comes with its (presumably) original chip case.






That firestripe pickguard is gorgeous!

The finish glows, though it's marked throughout with plenty of little scratches and scuffs all-over.






The back's deep red-brown tint looks great.


The DG-prefix factory order number at the headstock suggests a 1938 build.



The repaired, small ~2" hairline crack on the back is hard to see but here it is -- visible as as a line that looks like a scratch in the above photo.





Comments

Rob Gardner said…
Very pretty little guitar. The sunlight really brings out the color in that sunburst too, what a beauty. I'll be stopping by to play this little fellow for sure.