c.1936 GIBSON L-30

Gibson L-30 built circa 1936, in superb original condition and restored for playing in our workshop.

The L-30 is a rather unusual model: an archtop guitar with a small, 14.75-inch-wide body, exactly like the flat-top L-0 and L-00 models. It is simple in its construction but demonstrates impeccable craftsmanship, perfectly equal to that employed in the high-end archtop models built during the same period. This model was launched in 1935 as a new entry-level carved-top guitar, while the L-50, which had previously held this position, was upgraded to a larger, 16-inch-wide body. During the global economic crisis and the Great Depression in the United States, all manufacturers were required to produce affordable guitars—or face extinction! Thus, the L-30, like its sister model, the L-37, and the smaller flat-top L-0 and L-00 models, were available for very modest prices and were therefore widely adopted by blues, ragtime, and other popular-style musicians of the time.

The first L-30s were finished in a solid black, which was changed in late 1936 to the Sunburst finish traditionally applied to Gibson instruments, such as is found on the example shown here. The body consists of a carved solid spruce top with flamed maple flat back and sides. The instrument features a mahogany neck with an unbound rosewood fingerboard inlaid with mother-of-pearl position markers; the headstock features a mother-of-pearl inlaid script-style logo – an unusual element on this entry-level model, the majority of which feature the Gibson logo silkscreened in white paint which was easier and quicker to execute. The guitar also features its adjustable ebony bridge, tortoiseshell celluloid pickguard and set of tuners made for Gibson by the New York firm Handel – all of this hardware is original, only the tailpiece crosspiece has been replaced (the original, broken, part is kept in the case). We have especially focused on substantial lutherie work in order to restore to this nearly 90-year-old guitar all its playability and all its qualities as a musical instrument: neck-reset / readjustment of the neck angle; levelling of the fingerboard; complete refret with vintage-spec fret wire; crafting of a new bone nut; complete action and intonation adjustment – all these restoration operations carried out in our workshop allow this guitar to perform as it did on its first day while retaining the original parts that give it its identity and value. The L-30 was produced for a very short period between the mid-1930s and the outbreak of World War II – the guitar pictured here, although showing some signs of use, is undoubtedly one of the better-preserved examples to date from this limited production!

The guitar is in perfect playable condition, sold in its original Faultless case. We are including some case candy, including a photographic print of the instrument’s original owner, a Gibson pick pouch from the 1930s, and a box of strings, also from the 1930s.