1950s Gibson L-48 Archtop Guitar

This is a nice old L-48 that Jose did over -- it got a level/dress of the frets, replacement (period-looking) relic'd tuners, and setup work. Like many of these L-48s, the ply top has "flattened-out" over time in the middle, and with this comes an accompanying "Gibson neck joint" hump around the 14th fret from compression. This gets dialed-out during the fretwork and suddenly these instruments can play spot-on again, albeit with the bridge needing to be jacked a little higher than probably in the past.

I think these ply-topped L-48s are some of the best budget Gibson guitars you can get -- they tend to have a lot of punch and volume and do well with both flatpicked "chop" chords and also strummed, folksy stuff. I can always hear these when they're played in jams (because they cut through in a midsy range) when someone is using them compared to your average flattop which tends to get lost. Plus... the necks feel great.

The factory order number on this one is illegible but I'm assuming it's a mid-'50s guitar considering the sunburst look and features. It may be a little earlier, though as the tailpiece is odd! The bridge appears to be replaced, too.