1958 Gibson LG-1 Flattop Guitar

Update 2023: I sold this guitar last year but it came back after a month because a mild hairline crack (center seam, back) had appeared as it sat at the new owner's house. Ironically, the next day after it came back here while sitting-out in the shop awaiting repair, the seam sealed right up like nothing had happened. I added cleats where the offense took place (lower-bout back seam) and that's all that has changed with the guitar since originally posting in 2020. Now back to the original blurb...

LG-1s are superb guitars for folks wanting a woody, folksy, bluesy sound out of an old Gibson. They're a bit more direct and matter-of-fact than an LG-2 (as they have ladder bracing vs. x-bracing) and they record very easily because of their mids-centric voicing. It's no effort at all to mic one of these up and get really good results that sit well in a mix. For the same reason, they're easily heard when jamming-along with friends as well. They sit in a nice, tight spot -- yet are not boring or two-dimensional to play.

This one arrived with some structural nonsense to sort-out at the neck block and a number of braces needing gluing, but now that it's buttoned-up, it hums-along nicely. Aside from the sound, it has that generous, classic medium-C shape to the neck, the comfy short scale length, and a killer-looking sunburst as points in its favor.

It's also entirely original (save perhaps the older bridge pins?), too, and has no cracks except for a pair on the top -- one to the side of the pickguard and one to the treble side of the fretboard extension. These are pretty typical on period Gibsons and have been repaired.

Repairs included: neck block reglue (the joint had been "pinched" by the block slipping under the top in the past), back braces and one top brace reglue, reinforced "popsicle stick" brace addition to the upper-bout top (and abutting the neck block for strength), cleats and reinforcement for top cracks, cleats for the back center seam on the lower bout, a neck reset, fret level/dress, cleaning, and setup. It's good to go and stable.

Setup notes: it plays perfectly with 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE action at the 12th fret. The neck is straight, the truss rod works, and it's strung with 54w-12 "light" gauges. The saddle has 3/32"+ height off the deck for later adjustment as needed.

Scale length: 24 11/16"

Nut width: 1 11/16"

String spacing at nut: 1 1/2"

String spacing at bridge: 2 1/16"

Body length: 19"

Lower bout width: 14 1/4"

Waist width: 9 3/8"

Upper bout width: 11"

Side depth at endpin: 4 3/8"

Top wood: solid spruce

Back/sides wood: solid mahogany

Neck wood: mahogany

Bracing type: ladder

Fretboard: Brazilian rosewood, synthetic (orig) nut

Bridge: Brazilian rosewood, synthetic (orig) saddle (but recompensated)

Neck feel: medium-full C-shape, ~10" board radius

Condition notes: it's pretty clean throughout except for the repaired two top cracks. The finish shows the usual Gibson weather-checking/fine finish-cracking all over but it's still bright and fairly clean. There are smallish scratches throughout as you might expect, though. The binding on the top near the fretboard extension on the treble side is pinched-in a little but it's not obvious at a glance. There's pickwear at the rosette and some wood loss right below the fretboard extension at the rosette. I pieced back-together a damaged/splintered section there during repairs so it's not obvious right away, but the top layer of wood is missing when you check it out.

It comes with: a decent hard case (not pictured) that's newer.