Workshop: Gibson Collection

A friend of mine brought in his herd of Gibsons to get valued. I've worked on a lot of them in the past but most just need a little adjustment/minor setup to play perfectly. Above is a 1909 Gibson F-2 (#8500s serial) mandolin in classic 3-point mode. I love that look. These have a very low neck angle and so also have a thin/low bridge, too.

I was in a bit of a rush to shoot these, but suffice to say the inlaid Handel tuners are simply icing on this mandolin-cake.

This 1918 Style U harp guitar was in the shop before, though I didn't compensate its bridge at that point. I'd love to do that and rework the saddle a bit more, but it does play nicely and has held-up in good shape and with good action since I last saw it.

It's pretty amazing that the original case is still going strong for it.

Here's a 1926 Gibson L-1 flattop that I'd sold for a consignor to my buddy. Since I originally posted on it, I had to replace the bridge as the original one cracked. I made the new one in rosewood and stained it a little grey-ish to match the ebonized-maple fretboard. It now has a K&K pickup in it as well.

He's also the owner of a fantastic 1951 Gibson J-50. I'd originally thought it was a '48 but was schooled on that by a blog reader. Here's the original post on it.

His J-200 is from 1996 and it's a killer box with all the punch and clarity you could need from a big-body instrument.

I originally thought this was a much more recent guitar, but it appears to be a 1978 Gibson Les Paul Standard. The artwork is by famed guitar-painter Pamelina H and features... Zappa! 

Its age explains the mismatched hardware -- use and time, of course!

This 1999 Les Paul Classic '60 is an excellent guitar, though the pickups are swapped. This is the Les Paul he uses most during shows, recently.

His 1980 "The Paul" is as minimalist as the name, though I do remember swapping-out the pickups. It's signed by Les Paul himself while the two of them were playing down in NYC, as I recall.