Serial number: 97291

Year shipped: 1941 

FON:

Headstock: Horizontal ‘Gibson’ script logo (lacks a dot over the letter ‘i.’)

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, Natural finish and large bound f-holes 

Hardware:

Notes: The fingerboard has been rebound and refretted and the headstock face has been refinished. The sections of timber on either side of the end-block are part of an earlier repair. This guitar was sent on 20 November 1942 as part of a shipment of three Natural finish L-5s (97659 and 97660) to retailers Lyon and Healy (one of the largest musical instrument retailers in the US, founded in 1864)

This guitar is one of 41 Natural finished Advanced L-5s first shipped in 1941 (the shipping date given on the ledger page pictured below states that the guitar was shipped in 1942, so it may be possible that the guitar was initially shipped the previous year before being returned to Gibson)

Images above courtesy of Lynn Wheelwright

“I am the current owner of a L-5 serial number 97291,” says D.J. Parker. “I purchased the guitar from Lynn Wheelwright and sent it to Archtop.com for a complete restoration. It was in pieces but now it sings like a bird!”