1951 Gibson L-48 Carved-Top Archtop Guitar

Most of the L-48s I see around here are mid-'50s-on-up model, ply-mahogany-top instruments. I don't see a lot of carved-top ones like this guy. In addition, this one's been refinished (on the top only) as well, giving it a very different look. 

I wish I'd had time to do a video for this guitar because it had that sound. It's got that velvety, mwah-ful, punchy, woody, ker-chunk Gibson chordal voice to a T. Plus it had a ridiculous amount of carrying-power.

The owner brought it in because he was worried that the top was collapsing. I mean -- it is, a little bit -- but no more than normal for one of these old Gibson carved-tops. They use kerfed (meaning: they have little cuts to make the wood flex to what you're gluing it to) bracing for the tonebars but that means that as the guitars age the tops get flatter in the middle under tension because the top can move along the slits in the braces just a bit. As long as the bracing is tight, the guitar will be happy, however, so the best solution is to just make sure one has enough travel in the posts of the adjustable bridge to compensate for the changes.

It left the workshop after a fret level/dress and conversion of its external K&K pickup mounting to an internal mounting. All good.