Serial Number: 87217

Year shipped: 1931

FON: 9952

Headstock: Horizontal ‘The Gibson’ logo

Neck/fingerboard: 19 fret fingerboard with a pointed end and narrow block inlays from the first fret (see Notes below)

Body: Maple back and sides. Solid (carved) top braces

Hardware: Gold-plated metal parts including regular tailpiece

Notes: The tuners have been replaced, and the holes widened at some point (since doweled). A strap button has been removed from the upper bout and a strap hook has been mounted to the back of the headstock, together with an old ‘Matt Umanov’ decal. The pickguard is a replacement, and the bridge base has been shaved slightly. The bridge saddle appears to be original and has the straight Hawaiian style carve on the underside. A small hole beneath the bridge is likely from a piezo saddle pickup wire. There are repaired cracks, one on the back, on the bass side of the upper bout, the other on the top near the bass side f-hole. Both have finish touch-up. The back of the neck has been over-sprayed.

The fact that the guitar has narrow block inlays from the first to the 17^th frets suggests that the board was replaced at some point, since this style of inlay is generally not seen until the introduction of the 17-inch ‘Advanced’ model. Alternatively, it’s possible that the guitar left the factory with dot inlays and was returned to Kalamazoo to be updated with the new style block inlays in the mid 1930s, which could have been added to the original fingerboard.