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A sad FT :( Gibson Wartime L 50 1943* withdrawn

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StrangefanStrangefan Frets: 5844
edited November 2017 in Acoustics £
Hi all, the only reason  I i need to trade is due to an accident I had last year, in which I broke my arm and wrist, I now have a metal plate, which means playing my amazing L 50 is becoming hard work I don't care about cash I just want an acoustic I can play comfortable for a few hours,  the Wartime guitars didn't have metal truss rods as we know it , due to the metal Shortage, so it's neck is very thick and really comfy if you don't have a huge metal plate in your arm. So trade for an acoustic with a normal sized neck, 

Here the blurb:


Built in 1943 , this 75 year old guitar is a real piece of history from Gibson's golden era for arch-top instruments. Due to the critical wartime metal shortage, Gibson had to essentially make a guitar with as little metal as possible. 

Grand auditorium size - 16 1/4 " wide and 20 1/4 " long 

Carved flame maple back and sides 
Carved Adirondack Spruce top 

Brazilian rosewood fingerboard with pearl dot inlays. 

Original Brazilian rosewood bridge 

The guitar has a pre-war pearl inlay logo that were in use from the late 1930's - these were replaced with paint or silk screen logo's by the war which would suggest a very early wartime model. 

Non adjustable truss rod and wood bar in tailpiece due to the critical wartime metal shortage. 

Guitars from the wartime period rarely have an FON number however a sequence number is visible through the F hole in red pencil. This guitar is numbered '18'. 

The original tuners are included in the sale - the lower four tuners are original to the guitar, being three on a strip with 'press fit' gears due to the machine screw shortage during WWII. The upper two tuners appeared to have been replaced at some point during its history. 

Installed in the guitar at present are Stew Mac Golden Era Restoration tuners which are historically accurate using the original screw placements. These have a higher gear ratio to ensure accurate and stable tuning. 
The original bushings remain on the guitar. The tuner buttons have been aged to match. 

1950s Framus floating pickup installed, (no adaptions to the body needed or made). 

The guitar has had a light overspray to preserve the original finish which had just begun to flake 

The entire guitar has been buffed and hand polished giving a deep sheen to the original finish. 

The guitar has been professionally set up and the frets dressed. A loose brace was repaired and the guitar is now fully structurally sound. The body wood and binding are all intact. The neck is good with a slight relief. 

This guitar has lovely low action and plays like a dream. The fat neck is comfortable for any style from blues to jazz and classical howeer being wartime it is pretty huge!. Whoever wins this will not be disappointed! hard case, and flatwound strings, the Wartime L 50s were very lightly built, this is a light guitar which sounds truly brilliant, very different from most archtops, its has warmth.

 Located in Stourbridge, 
I 50 https://imgur.com/a/eanal
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