Shipped from Kalamazoo to John J. Billek, a Gibson Teacher-Agent in Scranton, Pennsylvania on May 26th 1941, this late Pre-War Gibson L-7 was special ordered with an L-5 style tailpiece in nickel with Varitone angle adjuster, and a set of matching Kluson Sealfast tuners with Catalin buttons. Like other 1941 Gibsons, this L-7 features bold top and back purflings and the fat pearl script-logo that is particular to the late pre-war and wartime era.

This is an astonishingly beautiful Gibson. It’s in remarkable condition and is without cracks or repairs; it plays perfectly with a recent masterful refret, and it sounds absolutely gorgeous. With its 17” body of carved figured maple and spruce, non-kerfed parallel bracing, long 25.5” scale, heavier L-5 tailpiece and tuners, and solid-foot original rosewood bridge, this Gibson L-7 Special is essentially the same as an L-5 but for its appointments. Its voice is powerful and projects noticeably better than the X-braced versions of this model built a year earlier. The guitar offers excellent cut, beautiful note separation and texture, strong trebles and expressive mids. In short, it’s a stellar jazz box.

The neck has a post-war feel, with a round C carve, 1-11/16” nut, and first fret depth of .896”. The new fretwork is perfection and is the among the nicest refret we’ve seen on guitar that we didn’t work on! We’d hire this repairperson in a heartbeat. The frets are stainless steel, jumbo-sized, and .114” wide and .055” tall.

Original finish throughout, beautiful replacement pickguard with original mounting hardware, light wear to the finish on the back of the neck, minor belt scratching on the back. Overall, a particularly clean and beautiful example.

With original Gibson #600 case AND Calton Case.