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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 beautiful sounding, nearly crack-free early 1934 Martin 00-17, with perfect action and excellent playability. They don’t come much better than this one in just about every way.

Neck reset, new bar frets, new fossil ivory nut and saddle, and replacement Waverly tuners care of our shop in 2012. There’s some wear to the frets now, but the balance of the repairs are as perfect as they were when first completed. Original finish throughout, no other repairs or modifications other than a clean B string pickguard crack repair. Neck finish is playworn up to the 5th fret, body finish shows fairly modest wear.

This guitar was built with bar frets and is within 500 instruments of Martin’s change to T frets in the fall of 1934. As such, the instrument’s neck is reinforced with ebony (rather than with a steel T-bar), which helps keep the guitar light in weight and rich in overtones. It has a voice that’s much more sophisticated than most 17 series instruments that we’ve played; with a rich darkness that’s perfectly highlighted by that classic mahogany tinge in the upper mid-range. Very open and responsive.

Unbound mahogany body, scalloped bracing, tiny maple bridge plate. Brazilian rosewood rectangle bridge with glued-in through-cut saddle and original pins spaced at 2-3/8″. Attractive tortoise-celluloid pickguard, simple rosette. Mahogany neck with an oval profile that tapers to a soft V by the 5th fret; rosewood fingerboard with ivoroid dot markers, 24.9″ scale, 1-3/4″ width at the nut and a first fret depth of .854”. Rosewood headstock overlay with C.F. Martin & Co decal; no stamp on the backside of the headstock.

A gem of a guitar, and among the nicest 00-sized 14 fret bar-fretted Martins we’ve seen in some time.

With original chipboard case.

1934 Martin 00-17 all-mahogany vintage acoustic guitar

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Here’s a sight for your sore guitar-shopping eyes. A crazy-clean, 100% original, single-family-owned, nearly perfect, 1938 Gibson L-30 flat-backed archtop! We so rarely find uncirculated guitars from the 1930s any longer – this one is certainly an exciting find.

The L-30 was introduced in 1935 and remained in production until around 1943, when Gibson abandoned a large number of pre-war models. The guitar features an L-00 shaped body with a maple back that was flat and braced (like an L-00), a carved spruce top with tone-bar bracing, and 14 fret neck. Although a lower-priced model ($30 upon its introduction), it was still more expensive than a similarly adorned L-00, and so featured upgraded Kluson tuners, back binding, and a bone nut.

This example is in remarkably fine condition. Its finish is pretty much perfect, it’s seen no repairs (and needs none), all its back braces are still glued perfectly (super-rare), and it shows essentially no playwear. There is the odd ding and the odd scratch, the D-string tuner post is bent, and the finish has some typical craze-lines, but that’s about it. The nut has never been out, the truss rod had never been adjusted before we set the guitar up, the bridge, tailpiece, and pickguard are perfect, the neck angle is excellent, and there are no cracks (caveat: this is *almost* true – there is a 1” crack on the back by the waist, right side. It’s unrepaired and going nowhere, so we left it that way).

The original owner used an eye-screw mounted on the bass side of the heel. We’ve removed it and infilled the hole, as shown in the provided photos.

The guitar has ample punch and presence, just enough warmth and bass response to appeal to a flat-top player, great cut and lot of projection. It’s a lot of fun to play. Typical 1930’s V neck carve with 1-3/4” width .982” depth at the 1st fret, and 24.75” scale.

With original chipboard case.

1938 Gibson L-30 vintage sunburst acoustic archtop 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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