Gibson

About this model Gibson says that the F-9 has a no-frills design with a handsome satin Vintage Brown finish.   It comes with all the design features that give the F-5 its legendary tone, including a hand-fitted dovetail neck joint, solid maple neck, sides and back, a solid spruce top and a hand-tuned tone chamber.   Gibson goes on to say the following under the headline:  “Sleek Gibson F-9 makes legendary mandolin sound more affordable.”    

This mandolin presently "on hold" for a gentleman in SC who has provided us a $100 "Right of First Refual" deposit.

The Gibson Style F-12 harkens back to 1931 when Gibson decided, 9 years after they debut of the famous and fancy F-5, that a less expensive alternative was needed.   Early F-12s were somewhat fancy, having an ivoroid bound headstock and peninsula-extended fingerboard and the fingerboard was raised over the body as is an F-5.  On the headstock at that time was a vase and curlicue inlay pattern and the tuner buttons were actually mother of pearl. . . .  (click "More Info" for more of the story)

We present to you one of the most beautiful (and rare) prewar guitars extant.   For one thing, it’s a natural top and most of the large body prewar Gibsons that circulate, including the Jumbo 35, are sunburst.  Here's a quote from the late Doc Watson:  “I just can’t say enough good things about those old Gibson jumbos.  The old Gibson J-35 that I played was as good a guitar as I have ever played.  Merle learned on that guitar – in fact Merle played that same guitar on the Doc Watson and Son album."

The Gibson RB-250 is the most standard and also one of the most common models of five-string Mastertone.   It was introduced in 1954 and in that original version it had "bowtie" fingerboard inlays.  In 1970 Gibson revised the model to have something called a "varied pattern" mother of pearl inlay sequence on the fingerboard - but for the most part, since the last inlay depicts a flying bird, we and many other people who are not yet institutionalized call it "Flying Birdie."

The original Gibson Gold Top Les Paul guitar is legendary, in so many ways.   The years in which they had a "stop" tailpiece are considered extremely desirable (as opposed to the original period when they had the long trapeze).   This is a glorious and beautiful Gibson solid body electric guitar from the golden period of the 1950s.   It is largely factory original condition with few and minor aberrations, and would be the prize that awaits a player who is seeking to document his or her success in life with a rare and desirable, collectible, memorable and powerful piece from the “golden” period.      THIS WAS $20,104 BUT is NOW ON SALE:  

This vintage era Gibson L-7 is stately and elegant, being made in all dark colors and also being non-cutaway.   It epitomizes the acoustic “big band” archtop of the ‘40s and ’50s.     The guitar is 17” wide, as is an L-5, and fundamentally made out of the same materials as an L-5 – being maple back and sides with a spruce top.  From its black polished headstock to its uniform brown sides and back and three-piece darkly finished maple neck this is, in every way, a thing of beauty.

The Gibson A-4 is the highest level teardrop shaped mandolin of its time.   This one is especially clean of condition and, although it is already 93 years old it seems ready for another 93 years of professional use.

The original Les Paul Special model was made from 1955 through 1959.  For this guitar Gibson introduced a new finish, sometimes called “TV Yellow” since performers who played on black and white TV looked better with this finish than they did with a white guitar.  We hold up before you an extremely classy, extremely rare (Gibson shipped a total of only 958 in 1958 but then they bounced back with 1,821 Les Paul Specials in 1959), and extremely beautiful guitar – as classic a Gibson Les Paul from 1959 as one can realistically ever hope to see.   It is flavorful and it is fine.

The Gibson Harp Guitar is one of the most fanciful looking instruments the Gibson Company (or any other company) ever made.  This guitar commands the immediate attention of everyone in the room, the concert hall or the auditorium.  It is shockingly big, wonderfully loud, notable  in its ability to allow a player to accompany him or herself with bass notes, chords and melody.   It is, in many wonderful ways, the musical instrument that can (finally) make your life complete.  This has been priced at $8764 with a Cash Discount Price of $8500.  HOWEVER: 

This Gibson harp guitar is presently "on hold" for a purchaser.

Back in 1921 Gibson Musical Instrument Co. formally hired a gentleman named Lloyd Loar, who had worked for them in other capacities, to act as the company’s “Acoustic Engineer.”  Professor Loar was a musical theorist who had many ideas about sound transmission and distribution.   His theories, brought to practice at the Gibson factory on Parsons Street in Kalamazoo, Michigan actually (in our opinion, at least) changed the course of American musical history.  Presently in the workshop, it  is priced at only $105,000 at our Cash Discount Price.

This astonishingly classy guitar came in with no case – but we will provide it a new plush lined hard shell case.    

For right now, this cannot be delivered to you since it’s in Repair and a person has reserved it with a $100 deposit.  However, if you wish to be added to the list with a “Second Right of Refusal” please inquire below.   It’s a great opportunity to own a traditional archtop that will please you in every way possible.  Our Discount Price is $3,350.00 and Our Cash Discount Price is $3,250.00.

This fine A-style mandolin conforms to the standard description of the style (interestingly we cannot see the dash or hyphen after the lower case "a" written in pencil on the label - most often they had a dash) having a teardrop-shaped body with an oval soundhole.  Said orifice is approximately 2 ¼" horizontal size and 1 ½" vertical measurement, which port is bound in ivoroid.  This is priced $1953 or at our Cash Discount Price $1895 but it is presently in our Repair Shop.

Here's something different (and rare) -- a Gibson Les Paul Model in the seldom seen color of amber orange ‘burst, in near mint condition (let’s call it “spotless” – formerly owned by a true obsessive).    Few Gibson Les Paul guitars are as beautiful or well taken care of as is this.   It has a flame maple top with substantial horizontal figure.   It derives from the Custom Shop with uncovered pickups . . . .

This extremely handsome cherry sunburst Les Paul Custom weighs in at a mere 11 pounds and 7 oz.   Build strength!   Exercise while you practice!  Work those abs!

According to Gibson records the last guitar made with an A-prefix serial number in 1957 was A-26819.  This number is 10 numbers before the last guitar made that year, so one can safely say it is December 1957.   This acoustic archtop is in excellent condition, showing light normal signs of use that 55-year-olds show . . . .  THE PRICE WAS $4381 BUT NOW ON SALE in a major big way.   

The TB-11 was one of Gibson’s highest level non-Mastertone tenor banjos.    It has the greatly desired “one-piece” flange and the tragically yearned-for ultimate rim construction that renders ecstatic the person who wishes to convert this to a five-string banjo by way of having a new 5-stirng neck made for it and installing a first class tone ring.    The back of its maple resonator is pearloid covered and has a large four-point pastel-color flower whose petals are dark cherry sunburst, with some flourishes between the petals, and this is bordered in yellow with a black fluted border similar to a wreath.

This mandola is quite handsome with its glossy lacquered black finished face offset by a simple, symmetrical but classy soundhole rosette of tan, black, grained ivoroid, black and tan.  The soundhole itself is bound in grained ivoroid (celluloid), and so is the face – but not the back on this model.  The headstock is also polished black ebony and hosts “The Gibson” in script mother of pearl positioned horizontally.   Thereunder is the bell-shaped black plastic truss rod cover held in place by two brave screws.