1940 Gibson L-12 Acoustic Archtop Guitar – Used

The L-12 is one of Gibson’s rarest archtop guitar models. Depending on how you look at it, it’s either a plain L-5 or a fancy L-7. Like an L-5, it has a carved spruce top, a carved maple back, a sunburst top and back, and a maple neck. And like an L-7 it has a rosewood fretboard with parallelogram inlays. Gibson built the 17″ version from 1935 to 1955, with a break in production from 1943 to 1947 because of World War II material restrictions, so a little math gives you a sense of why so few show up today.

This example is from 1940 (FON is 562-F), and is an early example of Gibson’s evolution away from X bracing to the tone-bar bracing that came to define their large archtops. Except for the missing pickguard, which almost certainly succumbed to celluloid deterioration, this L-12 is completely original with all its rare parts, such as the gold Kluson Sealfast tuners and gold tailpiece with a design that is unique to the L-12.

There’s a well-repaired tight hairline in the neck heel, a repaired top seam separation under the tailpiece, and repaired crack in the bass side. Although there’s some typical crazing to Gibson’s original lacquer, there’s very little surface wear to the top or back, allowing the sunburst to shine much as it did 85 years ago. The frets appear to be original and while they show some wear, they are quite playable.. It delivers the full, balanced tone with plenty of volume that allowed these models to anchor dance bands of the era, but it also excels at more contemporary playing styles. It includes a Geib case, which is structurally sound but the edges have been repaired with tape.