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Here follows a discussion of the 1937 Gibson Mutant L-00 Guitar pictured on the previous page
Tommy,
I was
looking at the picture of the headstock of your Gibson guitar and it looks very
similar to a early 1930's Kalamazoo archtop that I have. My guess is that your
guitar is one of two things. A guitar made by Gibson in the 1930's from parts
they had around the shop or your guitar was created by somebody aftermarket with
parts they had around in the repair shop. I have a teen's or early 1920's Gibson
A-style mandolin that would fit the latter description. My mandolin's headstock
has what I believe to be an aftermarket "The Gibson" placed into the
original neck's headstock. Did Gibson do this or someone later? Who knows, with
instruments these old, multiple owners and poor Gibson records anything might
have happened. Regardless of what the guitar is, you have a cool looking and I
bet a great sounding guitar!
William
Felty
Lexington, Ky
Steve Stone
consistently makes intelligent posts. This is just another. Maybe he IS
channeling the Cult Leader. My experience precisely mirrors Steven's. And add
the early Nick Lucas (like Norman's) to that list. Of course, Gibson is
notoriously inconsistent- look at the current L-00 thread about Tom Jordan's
guitar. But I haven't played a lousy Gibson (I am sure there are some, though)
that fits in the criteria spelled out by Steven Stone.
That being
said, I suppose I should sign off,
bye,
Doug Stein
I dunno
know your guitars history..but what a beautiful OTIS
guitar!! Pickguard like an
AJ with a mandolin? headstock.
Maybe a headstock originally for the Montgomery ward or Kalamazoo lines?
Barry
Lee
Tommy,
Why not ask Gibson? They probably won't know either, but it never hurts
to go straight to the source. http://www.gibson.com/
Those folks in customer support must not ever go home. Everytime I've eMailed
them they respond within hours, even on a Sunday night!
I'm certainly no authority, but I think most of the bad reputation that
Gibson got resulted from the takeover by Norlin in the late '60's. They went to
a double X bracing to avoid having to do warranty work. Bad plan!
Paul Hostetter who, as y'all are probably
aware, is on the list, is a good guy to ask about things Gibson...
I downloaded your version of Coleman's March,
and IMNSHO I think your old Gibson, whatever it is, sounds marvelous! I used to
be a Gibson detractor, but no more!
Jerry
Tommy,
I looked at
your photo and this what I think. The
inlay and veneer work look aftermarket. They
also look "banjoish". Just
a guess, but I think a banjo mechanic molested your Recording King. I had
a guitar with a somewhat similar headstock and x-bracing.
Its back and sides were made of laminated maple.
Are the back and sides on your guitar solid wood, or laminated?
Cult
leader,
John
Hey Tommy,
I'll look
at your descriptions a bit more later, but had this on file and am enclosing a
jpeg of two of my guitars for you. The headstock is a Recording King Ray Whitley
(1940 I believe and it's the J-35 shape) and the photo is of a 1939 Kalamazoo (
L-00 shape) made for Montgomery Wards - it has a W in it's serial number on the
back of the headstock. Anyway I gotta get to work and wanted to get this off.
Billy Bean
Hey Tommy-
The peghead
shape is the same as the "Recording King" guitars that Gibson made for
Monkey Ward in the '30's (David Mclaughlin of the Johnson Mt. Boys has a
Recording King Jumbo that sounds amazing). I don't know whether they made a
small body model as well as the jumbo. Given the lack of a truss rod it's
possible that the neck was a leftover and the guitar was produced during the war
years. Gibson was using whatever they had at that time, so it's possible that
they cobbled a prewar Rec.King neck onto a 00 body. Anyway, you have one cool
looking guitar and a neat variation on the standard theme. I was surprised to
see that the Gibson L-00 reissue picture shows a silkscreen "jester"
on the peghead. They inlaid the "jester" on, what, L-3's or LG-3's, I
forget (and my Fabulous Flattop book is packed away.) So if you find an old
small bodied Gibson with a "jester" in the peghead, be not misled!
'Tain't no
L-00, but something rarer and a litle more valuable...
Hope this
helps-
-Rob
Tommy
Jordan wrote:
>
>Any listers with L-00 knowledge...I'd love some help figuring out what I
> >have here. pictures at
http://www.crms.uga.edu/tommyjordan - follow the
> >link to the Gibson L-00.
Then
william e felty wrote:
> I was
looking at the picture of the headstock of your Gibson guitar and it looks very
similar to an early 1930's Kalamazoo archtop that I have. My guess is that your
guitar is one of two things. A guitar made by Gibson in the 1930's from parts
they had around the shop...
This could
be said about virtually the entire output of Gibson! Your comment about
Kalamazoo is interesting, as most Kalamazoos I have seen have a simple Martinish
square headstock, not this simplified Florentine mandolin headstock.
> ...or
your guitar was created by somebody aftermarket with parts they had around in
the repair shop.
I
personally don't think so. After all these years, I've seen at least one of
Cult leader
JH sez:
> The
inlay and veneer work look aftermarket. They also look "banjoish".
Gibson
used banjo details fairly indiscriminately. The Nick Lucas was decked out
with banjo inlays. I think it's original, though I do wish I could see it closer
up.
Rob Bulkley
wrote:
> The
peghead shape is the same as the "Recording King" guitars that Gibson
made for Monkey Ward in the '30's
Ah, accord.
> I
don't know whether they made a small body model as well as the jumbo.
If it could
possibly have happened in Kalamazoo, assume that it did. I've seen L-00s under
the names Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Oriole and Mastertone. There used to be an L-00
plectrum in town here with a full-on PB-4 banjo neck on it, headstock and all.
> Given
the lack of a truss rod it's possible that the neck was a leftover and the
guitar was produced during the war years. Gibson was using whatever they had at
that time, so it's possible that they cobbled a prewar Rec.King neck onto a 00
body.
Very true.
Could have happened anytime in the 30's to early 40's. The bridge shows a detail
I only associate with 1933-34. But it could have sat around for a decade before
a neck was slapped on it.
Tommy, you
still haven't confirmed the dummy trussrod cover. Got any other photos you could
email or put on your webpage?
Best,
Hazel
Johnson wrote:
Well it was
good to read that some of you Pickles like the old Gibsons. I have just bought
an early `30`s Nick Lucas Special
(14 fret). Sight unseen, but Norman says that it is a killer guitar, and the
most beautiful sunburst you have ever seen! I can`t wait to see it. From what
Norman says, I think he`s hoping that I don`t like the neck as much as my Wayne
Henderson, so I will leave it at his house for him to play!! Of course he
already has two (12 fret) Nick Lucas Specials, and a Century, and a Recording
King, and an L-4, an L-00 etc. in the Gibson line, plus all his old Martins.
This will
be my first decent Gibson guitar, but I have four very nice Gibson mandolins, an
old Martin D-28 and the Henderson.
Hazel.
Tommy,
I dug out
my Kalamazoo archtop to take another look at the headstock. I have the same
headstock on my guitar. Mine only differs in your headstock in the following:
mine has black tuner buttons, I have just "Kalamazoo" spray painted on
the top of mine , and no truss rod screw holes. My Kalamazoo archtop is a KG-21,
and according to Gruhn's little gray book this headstock was used on this
instrument from 1939-1941.
Hope that
helps,
William Felty
Lexington, Ky