Serial number: 76477
Year shipped: 1924
Virzi Number:
Signed and dated by Lloyd Loar on March 31st 1924
Headstock: Horizontal ‘The Gibson’ logo (see neck/fingerboard below)
Neck/fingerboard: Late 1920s neck and fingerboard fitted
Body: Birch back. Although there is no Virzi, the presence of a label suggests that the Virzi has been removed – perhaps when the neck was replaced?
Hardware: Silver-plated metal parts including wrap-over tailpiece. Short bound pickguard
Notes: The horizontal ‘The Gibson’ logo, the flowerpot with an epsilon engraving and small indent on its upper right-hand side, the low position of the truss rod cover, the fingerboard with dot inlays from the third fret and the gold-plated Waverly three-on-a-strip tuners with pearl buttons, mounted so that the cog is positioned below the worm gear – all point to the neck having been replaced in the late 20s. The large neck heel however, is something more commonly seen on 17-inch L-5s. The guitar was returned to Kalamazoo for repairs in 1947 (see below) so perhaps the later style neck heel was added at this point?
Joe Spann tells us that “Gibson L-5 serial number: 76477 was returned to Kalamazoo for repairs in 1947. The repaired instrument was shipped on Friday, December 19th 1947 to Fife & Nichols in Hollywood, California.”
Images courtesy of Laurence Kenyon