1940's L-4

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Author Message   Fg100 Username: Fg100 Registered: 3-2004 Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007 - 10:24 pm:    Hi, has anybody ever played a 1949 Gibson L-4? If yes.. 1. How would you describe it? 2. How would you compare it with the 50's ES175? (although the L-4 didn't have a pickup. It was an acoustic version of the ES175, with a solid(carved?) spruce top) I would love to try one of those.   Ubetcha Username: Ubetcha Registered: 7-2006 Posted on Sunday, May 20, 2007 - 9:10 am:    I had a '56 L4-C for several years, it played nice but it had no volume to speak of & was tonally weak IMO. Perhaps the straight L4 is better, but for the money, for a player, you might do better finding something with a different name on the headstock. Just IMNHO.   Fg100 Username: Fg100 Registered: 3-2004 Posted on Monday, May 21, 2007 - 8:36 am:    Ubetcha, Thanks for the comments. Did yours have a one piece mahogany neck, or 3 piece maple?   Ubetcha Username: Ubetcha Registered: 7-2006 Posted on Monday, May 21, 2007 - 9:52 am:    Mahogany unbound neck with dot markers. It was plain jane but typical Gibson high quality. I took off the original pickguard (but kept it) and tried it with a Johnny Smith humbucker & it was pretty sweet with that setup...just not what I could really use. Always wanted to try a non-cutaway for comparison.   Fg100 Username: Fg100 Registered: 3-2004 Posted on Monday, May 21, 2007 - 12:22 pm:    uhnnn.. As far as I know the L4 and L4C always had bound neck and split parallelogram inlays on the fingerboard... not dots... ? It was an acoustic ES175 with a solid carved spruce top... I thought it would sound even better than the ES175.. at least acoustically (unplugged).. Any other opinions out there? Thanks.   Ubetcha Username: Ubetcha Registered: 7-2006 Posted on Monday, May 21, 2007 - 1:16 pm:    They made some W/O because I had one. Marked L4C + serial number. # dated it to '56. Original case which I still have, using it for my Slingerland Songster which is twice the guitar the Gibson was.   Fg100 Username: Fg100 Registered: 3-2004 Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 7:47 pm:    bump

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