Gibson Custom Shop 1934 L-5 Reissue Acoustic Archtop Guitar Sunburst James Hutchins 2008

Custom Shop 1934 L-5 Reissue Acoustic Archtop Guitar Sunburst James Hutchins 2008 Item Description

Here we have a masterfully built 1934 Reissue 16" L-5 carved by James Hutchins. This one features the later large block inlays, with a straight-end 19 fret fingerboard. It has a "The Gibson" straight logo, open gear Waverly tuners, small unbound f holes, long era-correct bound pickguard, and era-correct gold tailpiece. Interestingly, this guitar features an X-brace pattern with solid carved braces, while vintage L-5 models of this year would have been parallel kerfed braces. It also has a carved rosewood bridge done in the modern style, though with small thumb wheels. The bridge base is well radiused and fitted perfectly to the top. The interior label is dated October 13, 2005 and signed by James W. Hutchins, though the guitar was not serialized, or offered for sale until 2008, which we find not uncommon for this model. Hutch hand carved the top, back, and braces. The top is spruce while the back and sides are beautiful curly maple. The guitar has a 2 piece curly maple neck with a large full C vintage shape. This one is essentially mint and appears to be virtually unplayed. It sounds phenomenal already, and as with most archtops, the more it is played, the better we believe it will sound. It has nice clarity and endless sustain while playing effortlessly up and down the neck. With the X-brace it sounds a touch warmer than we may have imagined, but it still has that nice glassy reflection off the top you get from a finely crafted archtop instrument. This is truly a gem from possibly the best to do it at Gibson since the Custom Shop opened. 

Includes: Original Hardshell Case, COA, Paperwork, Hangtag

Product Specs and Features

• Acoustic Guitar
• Hand Carved Spruce Top
• Hand Carved Curly Maple Back
• Curly Maple Sides and Neck
• Ebony Fingerboard with Block Inlays
• Waverly Open Gear Tuners
• Bound Tortoise-style Guard
• 24 3/4" Scale Length
• 1-3/4" Nut Width
• 16" Wide Body
• Gold Hardware
• 5 lbs, 12 oz.
• .920" Neck Thickness at 1st Fret
• 1.040" Neck Thickness at 9th Fret