Serial number: 91930
Year shipped: 1935
FON: 1399-13
Headstock: Horizontal ‘Gibson’ script logo
Neck/fingerboard: 19 fret fingerboard with square end and narrow pearl block inlays from the first to the seventeenth frets (see Notes below)
Body: Maple back and sides
Hardware: Gold-plated metal parts including flat plate tailpiece and individual open-back Grover 98G ‘Sta-tite’ tuners with butterbean keys. Ebony bridge
Notes: Although this L-5 still has a 16-inch body, it displays a number of features similar to those found on the 17-inch ‘Advanced’ L-5s that Gibson introduced in 1935. These include narrow block fingerboard inlays at the first and seventeenth frets, a wide neck heel and a flat tailpiece engraved with the L-5 legend. While these features might be viewed as indicative of the changes that Gibson was introducing at this time, it is more likely that the guitar was returned to the factory in the late 30s and the neck, fingerboard and tailpiece replaced. This appears to be borne out by the shipping information that Joe Spann has shared with us:
July 11th 1935 – Shipped to Jenkins Music Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma in a #515 case
October 1st 1936 – Repair to Jenkins Music Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma in a #600 case
April 8th 1937 – Repair to Jenkins Music Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma in a #515 case
This is one of 110 16-inch L-5s shipped in 1935.
Images courtesy of Arlan Ettinger of Guernsey Auctions and photographer Paul Schraub