Serial Number: 88484

Year shipped: 1932

FON:

Headstock: Horizontal ‘The Gibson’ logo

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

Body: Maple back and sides

Hardware: Gold-plated metal parts including wrap-over tailpiece and individual open-back Grover 98G ‘Sta-tite’ tuners with butterbean keys. Long bound pickguard

Notes: This guitar was an export model that was originally sold in Canada (during this period, Gibsons made for export have the words “made in the USA” stamped on the rear of the headstock)

Note that the block inlays start at fret one and are narrower than is usual for this period. It seems likely that the fingerboard is a replacement, as confirmed by André Duchossoir in his research. “My opinion is that the fretboard was replaced,” he says, “most probably in the mid-1930s. I have found an entry in the ledgers indicating that #88484 was returned to the Gibson factory by Canadian dealer, Ed Archambault. In any case, these narrower blocks only appeared on 16-inch L-5 from 1935 onwards.”

This guitar was from the collection of John Entwistle, bass player with The Who.

Images courtesy of Vintage and Rare Guitars