Introduced in 1912, the L-4 was Gibson's finest guitar offering until Lloyd Loar's signed L-5 arrived ten years later. The L-4 originally featured a 16" body, carved top and back, oval soundhole, and lavish trimmings. Interestingly, the model didn't change in any real significant way until the later 1920s, and it remained a round-soundhole model until the Gibson catalogue was revamped in the mid 1930s. This is a Loar-period L-4, and features an adjustable bridge and truss rod – both of which were brand new design features when this guitar was built.

This example is a particularly lovely oval-hole Gibson L-4. It’s crack free and largely original, it sounds quite wonderful and is beautifully set-up with new frets and a properly compensated bridge care of our shop. The instrument's original finish shows some light playwear and an assortment of dings and scratches but nothing terribly unsightly. There are areas of chemical finish damage on the body’s back side that might have been caused by a vinyl strap or some other reactive plastic that came in contact with the finish. The original tuning machines work well, and the tailpiece, pickguard, and pearl nut all remain in excellent shape. The bridge is an aged replacement that was installed in our shop; it features a solid base that’s perfectly fit to the top and a 1950s Gibson-style top with compensation. The original bridge’s adjustment wheels were reused for the replacement; the rest of it is in the case pocket. We opted to replace the bridge base with a lower-one rather than modify the original as it is a first-year adjustable base which still has its matching serial number penciled on its underside. Finally, a 5-fret section of fingerboard binding was cleanly replaced in our shop and aged to match; it looks good.

The guitar has an incredibly unique tone amongst archtops. It has an open depth and good volume, more bass response than an f-hole model, and delivers a sweetness and overtone complexity that is absent in most later Gibson carved-top guitars. If you imagine the sound of popular music of the 1920s and early 1930s, you can likely come close to imagining this L-4’s tone. Think Lonnie Johnson, Eddie Lang and the like.

Carved spruce top and birch back with single white bindings, bound oval soundhole and diamond-mosaic rosette. Raised tortoise-celluloid pickguard, adjustable ebony bridge and truss-rod (Loar-era features), trapeze tailpiece. 11-1/2 fret neck joint, 9.5” radiused fingerboard, 1-3/4 nut, sharp V neck carve with deep profile and a 1st fret depth of 1.054”. Pearl 'The Gibson" headstock overlay, pearl nut and fingerboard dots, ivoroid fingerboard and soundhole binding, ivoroid tuning buttons.

A very rare and exciting instrument, with original hardshell case.