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Designed for the 1933/4 Chicago World’s Fair, formally titled “A Century of Progress International Exposition” Gibson’s line of ‘Century of Progress’ models featured pearloid-clad fretboards and headstocks, sunburst finish over maple back and sides, and unique framed inlays. The L-Century is the most common Century model, but we use that term loosely. We’ve had a total of 7 of these through the store for sale over the last 15 years, and that’s likely more than any other shop in the world.

Unique among Gibson L-size flat-tops, the L-Century’s maple back and sides and celluloid-clad maple fretboard add mid-range clarity and punch to a 14-fret L, and early thinner-top versions like this one still have the open and dark bass end presence that the first 14 fret Ls are famous for.

This example is a wonderful sounding guitar. It offers excellent definition and note separation, warmth in the bass, and rounded, meaty clarity in the trebles. It’s slightly more fundamentally pure than a comparable L-1 or L-00 but offers lovely overtones and a touch of smokiness when you lighten your attack.

With the exception of a single 2” side crack, this L-Century is crack-free. The frets, aged bone saddle and bridge pins were installed in our shop; everything else is original. The bracing and bridge plate are in excellent condition with only a few cleanly reglued brace ends. Original full-height bridge, original tuners, and the original nut has been shimmed for correct 1st fret action. The neck was reset before arriving at our store; there is finish damage on the heel from the steam used in disassembly. While it’s there and obvious upon inspection, the finish damage is easy to miss from three feet away.

We’ve set the guitar up with 12-54 strings and an action of 5-7 64ths. The saddle is full-height, allowing a lower fingerstyle setup if desired.

Rounded V neck carve with a 1st fret depth of .888”. 1-3/4” nut, 2-3/8” string spread at the saddle, 24.75” scale.

With modern hardshell case.

1934 Gibson L-Century vintage acoustic guitar with pearloid fretboard

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A clean and crack-free 1936 Gibson L-00 that has the classic punchy mids-forward mid 1930s L-00 voice, perfect playability, and chunky neck. It’s an attractive guitar, and a great example of this famous model.

Completely original but for new frets and saddle by our shop, this guitar features very-cool Grover “Book Top” G-102 tuners and is fitted with its original nut and bridge pins as well. The finish is original throughout, although we suspect this guitar might have received a new fretboard at the factory very soon after it was completed based on the look of the original finish along the sides of the neck and the somewhat-common mahogany shim under the fretboard’s extension. Gibson was regularly doing small repairs to its guitars if they didn’t pass QC.

Red spruce top with X bracing, mahogany back and sides, mahogany neck and rosewood fretboard and bridge. Top-only bindings and simple appointments, firestripe pickguard.

This guitar shows very few repairs; the original braces are all well glued and there are no seam separations or cracks. We reglued the pickguard as it’s corner was loose, glued one loose related finger brace end, refretted the guitar, and set it up with 12-54 strings and a new aged bone saddle. The action is 5-6 64ths.

Full-feeling V neck carve with a nut width of 1-3/4” and a 1st fret depth of .982”. 24.75” scale, 2-3/8” string spread at the saddle.

With modern hardshell case.

1936 Gibson L-00 vintage acoustic guitar

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It’s no secret that we’re big fans of smaller-bodied mahogany guitars here at Folkway, so we’re naturally pretty excited about this ’47 00-17. We’ve known this guitar for years, as its previous owner is a client of more than 20 years. About a decade back we reset the neck, and replaced the saddle, pins, and tuner buttons. The original frets remain in excellent shape, there is not a crack to be found, and the finish is in beautiful condition. The guitar’s only minor flaw is a bit of flaked-away finish in front of the bridge, which was reglued at one point.

The early post-war guitars have a unique neck carve that’s deeper and rounder than those we find from a year or two later. We mostly associate this neck carve with 1946, but this 1947 00-17 features this style of neck, which is quite a lovely plus. The nut width is 1-11/16″ and the 1st fret depth is .865”. Folks who prefer 1-3/4″ widths will find this one easy to play thanks to its chunkier feel.

A very fine sounding guitar that’s hard to put down. As compared to the more common 0-17 or 0-15 models, this 00 offers bigger lows and mids without compromising any of the roundness and fullness we love so much in these small all-mahogany Martins. The trebles are very sweet and robust, and there is a wonderful linger and decay throughout the frequency range. Its big enough to strum on and it takes a heavy flatpick really well, as it does a heavier right-hand attack. Under a lighter touch the guitar’s tone is pretty, warm, and inviting.

All mahogany construction, tapered X bracing, 24.9″ scale, 2-1/8″ string spread at the bridge. Set up with 12-54 strings and an action of 5-7 64ths at the 12th fret with perfect frets and a full height saddle.

With non-original hardshell case

1947 Martin 00-17 vintage acoustic guitar

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1949 Gibson L-4C

Gibson’s 16” archtops were “Advanced” to 17” in 1935… all of them but the L-4, which remained a 16” model until finally being retired in 1971 after 60 years of production. The L-4C was first offered in 1949, the year this example was produced. On October 11th of that year this L-4C and another just like it were shipped to Heaton’s Music in Columbus, Ohio – two of 140 L-4Cs shipped in the first year of production.

The L-4C’s more famous fraternal twin is the ES-175, which also debuted in 1949. The ES-175 featured a P-90 pickup and a plywood maple top but was otherwise identical to the L-4C.

This example is in lovely condition and entirely original but for a nicely made bone nut. Apart from a reglued center seam under the tailpiece this L-4C is without repairs. Original first year patent pending Kluson tuners, original bridge, tailpiece, pickguard, frets and finish. Well below average playwear, excellent set-up care of our shop.

Carved Sitka spruce top with tonebar bracing, laminate maple back and sides. Bound rosewood fretboard with pearloid fretmarkers and 24.75” scale. Full depth hollow body with Florentine cut-away.

Round neck carve with 1-11/16” nut and 1st fret depth of .921”. 1st fret neck circumference measures 2.72”. A pretty sounding 1949 Gibson L-4C archtop with classic post-war Gibson cut and midrange focus.

With modern deluxe hardshell case.

1949 Gibson L-4C vintage archtop guitar

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The 1953 Kay K-150 is a 16” electric archtop with a ‘Jimmy Reed’ blade pickup and full-depth body. Similar in design to Gibson’s ES-125, the K-150 was likely designed and marketed to compete with that model.

This example is in excellent condition, crack free, and has recently been refretted here at Folkway. The pickup has been lovingly rewound/restored by Alastair Miller, while the rest of the wire harness is factory original, save for a new endpin style jack installed in our shop.

Playability is excellent on this 1953 Kay K-150 thanks to new frets, replacement ebony bridge, and careful setup. The tuners are StewMac replacements. Round neck carve with a nut width that’s just shy of 1-11/16” and a first fret thickness of .971”.

With modern deluxe case

1953 Kay K-150 vintage electric guitar
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1954 Gibson LG-2 3/4

The ¾ sized Gibson LG-2 ¾ features a 12.75” wide body and a short 22.75” scale. Its neck was designed for small hands, with its 1-9/16” nut and C carve that’s .892” at the 1st fret. Actually, we’ll rephrase that – its neck is very similar to what you’d find on most any Gibson built in the later 1960s. lol

In excellent condition, it’s almost completely original and is largely crack-free (there’s a repaired pickguard crack). The neck has been cleanly reset, and playability is excellent thanks to a recent fret-dress and set-up by our shop. We’ve replaced the tuner buttons on the original Klusons, as well as the nut and saddle. The action is easy and low, and the guitar plays very well. A small finish repair in front of the bridge is this guitar’s only visible flaw, and visible is a stretch.

It has a pretty voice with classic small guitar midrange, succinct bass, and punchy trebles.

Solid spruce top with ladder-bracing, mahogany back and sides, sunburst top, and rosewood board and bridge.

With original chipboard case.

1954 Gibson LG-2 3/4 vintage acoustic guitar

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