Serial number: 95666

Year shipped: 1938

FON: D-1 (hard to read: the D is ink stamped and the 1 is handwritten)

Headstock: Horizontal ‘Gibson’ script logo. Has the name ‘S.C. Ronsley’ engraved on the truss rod cover

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

Body: 17-inch body with maple back and sides and large bound f-holes. Parallel braced top

Hardware: Gold-plated metal parts including Grover Imperial tuners. Rosewood bridge

Notes: The nut and frets have been replaced, loose binding on the body reattached, the fingerboard re-bound and a separated centre seam repaired. A strap button has been installed on the heel cap. Has a reproduction tailpiece and reproduction pickguard by Paul Fox

“The person that I bought it from had inherited it from his uncle, a jazz player name Ralph Petrillo, who lived in Northern New Jersey and had owned the guitar since the 1940s,” says Mark Anagnostopulos

This guitar is one of 146 Sunburst finish Advanced L-5s shipped in 1938

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Images courtesy of Mark Anagnostopulos