1963 Gibson F-25 Flattop Guitar

Update 2024: this guy's back in for resale after the owner traded things in and out of his guit-carousel. It's just as it left and is playing spot-on and ready to go. Now back to my 2022 description...

This is the first F-25 I've had my hands on in at least 5 or 6 years. They're fairly rare instruments and quirky as heck. Like the concurrently-built Martin 0-16NY models, these were supposedly "convertible" guitars -- one could string it with (classical) nylon or steel and have a blast. Like the 0-16NY models, they sound atrocious with nylon, though, so almost all of them have been played with steel -- making the ears and the fingers happy, frankly.

The necks on these play like a classical guitar -- with a 2" nut width, flat fretboard, and medium C/D neck profile to the rear. They've also got 12-fret body joints and so the bridge is placed lower on the body -- putting it farther from the intersection of the x-braces and in the wider part of the top. Yes, it's true -- this placement does tend to "open-up" a guitar's sound. Yes, it's also true that the guitar in question has to be built right to take advantage of this. This guitar does that. It sounds excellent.

What does it sound like? Well... a Gibson. But... not a "12-fret B-25." I mean, literally -- that's what this guitar is, mind you. It's basically a normal B-25 (read: '60s version of the LG-2 or LG-3) that has a different neck and bridge placement. What it sounds a lot like, however, is a '30s or '40s HG-00. For those not in the know -- that's the 12-fret Hawaiian (slide) version of the venerable L-00... which are often converted over to normal-playing setups. HG-00s are among my favorite vintage Gibsons made as they have a full, round, woody, and mids-rich Gibson sound that you can dig-into with a heavy-handed approach more than, say, a normal L-00 which can get a little "compressed" if you're laying into it like mad.

Who would like this? Old time players, folkies (the F stands for "folk" model afterall), singer-songwriters, Americana-vibed enthusiasts... you name it. But you've got to like that big old neck. All that space makes me want to play melody lines and bass-run fill work, to be honest, when flatpicking, though chords of course sound round and inviting. For fingerpicking it's wonderful to have all the room to move around on, too, to keep those notes clean.

Repairs included: bridge reglue, fret level/dress, cleaning, new bone saddle, new pearl dots for the bridge-bolt covers, setup, etc...

Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: solid mahogany

Bracing type: x

Bridge: rosewood

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 54w-12 lights

Neck shape: medium-heft C/D

Board radius: flat

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-lower

Scale length: 24 5/8"

Nut width: 2"

Body width: 14 1/4"

Body depth: 4 3/8"

Weight: 4 lbs 2 oz

Condition notes: it's all-original except for the bone saddle, the middle pearl dot on the bridge, and the bridge pins. The big "classical" pickguards are original but someone left the pickguard protection cling-film on the guitar from the factory so when I removed it I had to do a lot of steel-wool and buffing of the pickguards to remove sticky residue that was under them. Wild, huh?

The finish shows lots of weather-check and fine-line finish crackle here and there throughout -- just as you'd expect. There's mild pickwear and usewear throughout, too.

There's plenty of fret-life yet to go, the tuners work just fine, and there's tons of saddle height for later action adjustments. While the saddle slot is "straight" and non-compensated, it does slightly angle and I dialed-in compensation on the saddle itself to get intonation good up and down the neck. There's one dryness-related hairline crack on the back of the guitar that's been (previously) filled and sealed. It's good to go and the only portion of it that is "through" into the inside is covered by kerfing at the waist, anyhow.

It comes with: a foam-style lightweight case.