Serial Number: 95602

Year shipped: 1938

FON: 57 D

Headstock: Horizontal ‘Gibson’ script logo

Neck/fingerboard: 20 fret fingerboard with pointed end and narrow block inlays from the first fret. Wide neck heel and long scale length

Body: 17-inch body with maple back and sides and large unbound f-holes

Hardware: See Notes

Notes: The tuners, tailpiece, pickguard and trussrod cover are replacements. The fingerboard binding has been cut through when the guitar was refretted and some of the binding has come loose. There are several cracks and a number of holes have been drilled into the side of the fingerboard to accommodate a pickup. There is also a plugged hole in the lower bout where a jack socket was fitted. A strap button has been installed on the heel cap

Gibson’s ledgers indicate that serial number 95602 was a ‘long scale’ L-5 with a Natural finish that was shipped on the 16th November 1938 to Lyon & Healy in Chicago. It was returned for repairs in 1940 and then shipped back to Lyon & Healy on the 10th January 1941 (thanks to Joe Spann for this information).

“Here are some pictures of a 1938 L-5 that I worked on recently,” says repairman Richard Heeres. “It has had a hard life as a gigging musician’s work horse! The holes in the side of the fingerboard extension are probably from a vintage DeArmond pickup. There are several cracks in the binding.”

This guitar is one of 13 Natural finish Advanced L-5s shipped in 1938