Serial Number: 86959

Year shipped: 1931

FON:98xx

Headstock: Horizontal ‘The Gibson’ logo

Neck/fingerboard: Unusual one-piece maple neck with 20 fret fingerboard with pointed end and dot inlays from the third fret. The original mother of pearl nut is intact.

Body: Maple back and sides. Has solid carved top braces (not the ‘kerfed’ variety). Though the original label is missing, the serial number is pencilled on the back beneath the position the label would originally have been in. The original factory order number (FON) was poorly stamped and has faded but is visible as “98xx.” There is one neatly repaired top crack under the tailpiece on the bass side of the centre seam running from the tail-block to the bridge

Hardware: Gold-plated metal parts. The tailpiece bracket and ebony bridge base (stamped “PAT’D JAN 18-21.”) are original to the guitar, the tailpiece is a modern reproduction made by Frank Ford and is signed in stamped letters on the underside. The ebony bridge top is a modern reproduction, as is the pickguard and pickguard mounting hardware. The tuners are a custom made set by the modern Waverly company to the correct specifications of the originals (at some point later Klusons were fitted to the guitar leaving small marks on the back of the headstock).

Notes: Two small screw holes – one just beyond the fingerboard extension next to the bass ‘E’ string, the other under the pickguard next to the corresponding treble ‘E’ string – have been filled. These are likely the result of a DeArmond style pickup having been mounted in the neck position at some point in the past. The frets are modern replacements that are slightly larger than the original specification

Has original black hard shell case.