1949 Gibson L-48

Sunburst, mahogany top. Ok, we’re not sure of the year. There is no serial number or FON. However, it has the pre ’52 tapered headstock and the tapered skinny braces inside with the modern logo give us a range. We picked the year in the middle. Gibson offered the mahogany top for a super low price, like $10 extra.

The L-48 was very popular as it was only $48. Gibson shipped about 1000 per year when the pro level L-4 sold approximately 125 a year. The mahogany gives this a cool midrange crunch to the tone.

This one is in great condition as very few of these saw duty in clubs. Has a laminate maple back and sides along with a mahogany neck and Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard. The neck is a medium C that is nice and rounded. It has the 1 11/16” nut width as you would expect. This has three well repaired and hard to see side cracks. However no strap button was added at the heel. The frets have almost no wear and there are no divots in the fingerboard. It has the original pickguard and bracket. The tuners are newer.

Gibson was famous for archtops and they are a huge part of their heritage. This is a cool introduction to archtops and easy entry into the world of vintage guitars. This has been cleaned up, adjusted and freshly strung. It’s all about the old wood baby. Comes with a newer deluxe hard shell case.