Serial number: 73718

Year shipped: 1923

Virzi Number:

Signed and dated by Lloyd Loar on July 6th 1923

Headstock: Prototype headstock shape, diagonal ‘The Gibson’ logo

Neck/fingerboard: 20 fret fingerboard with pointed end, dot inlays start at fifth fret

Body: Birch back, no Virzi fitted. The inscription “Make braces a little thinner” is pencilled beneath the soundboard near the bass side f-hole.  The back has a translucent brown finish (you can see the wood grain through it)

Hardware: Silver-plated metal parts including wrap-over tailpiece and Waverly three-on-a-strip tuners with engraved base plate and pearl buttons, mounted so that the cog is positioned above the worm gear. Short bound pickguard.

Notes: This is one of just two L-5s known to have been shipped in 1923 (see serial number 72268). The first production batch of L-5s was signed and dated by Loar on the 31st of March 1924

Images above courtesy of Peter Kohman of Musurgia and Carter Vintage