1932 Gibson L-00 Tuxedo, Elevated Fretboard, Rare

FON # 321

Here is a nice 1932 Gibson L-00 14 fret Tuxedo with the rare elevated fretboard. It has its share of nicks and ding, but it is all honest playwear.

Most of these 1930’s L-00’s need loose braces glued, bridgework, neck resets and more – this guitar has had all that work performed by Dave Strunk in April of 2022.

Gibson made a few batches of 14 fret Tuxedo L-00’s with elevated fretboards around 1932, and this is one of those. The general consensus is that with the fretboard elevated off the soundboard, the guitars tend to be louder, which I think is true. This also lets you play with the volume some by altering your pic attack.

This example was played in its day, and shows the worn in rounding to the edges you get from years of playwear along the fretboard and along the edges on the back. The body finish checking is the light fine style, which looks great on the black finish. Has your typical nicks and dings from decades of use. The separation on the top and back have been glued and were not cleated. Listed below is the work performed and more detail on the condition.

Details:

The original brass tuners have been professionally cleaned and look great. Neck shape is the “V” shape that came in during 1932 on these. Headstock is in great shape. There was an extra screw hole under the truss rod cover that Brothers filled in. Some fretboard pitting, mainly at the 2nd and 3rd fret, High E string. It does not affect playing, but it’s there. Neck finish on the sides of the neck shows typical playing wear down to the 9th fret. The spine shows finish wear down to the 9th fret. Frets are original and in good shape. I believe the bridge has been slightly lowered previously, but not enough to merit a replacement. Neck heel is solid. Upper treble bout side has some dings near the neck heel. Sides are crack free, finish has dings and nicks. Some wear marks to the finish need the tail strap button.

Top has a glued, not cleated, crack from the tail to the bridge, and a less pronounced 7” glued, not cleated separation on the back. This neck reset was done by one of the best. The finish along the neck heel joint..(the body finish where it butts up against the neck heel) has shrunk from being so old. I did not have this drop-filled, I’m from the “less is better “school on finish work. This runs along the neck heel joint on the treble side, and half-way along the joint on the bass side. You can see this in the pictures of the neck heel.

Back finish has aged gracefully, with light finish checking, some scratches and nicks and dings.

List of work performed by Dave Strunk at Brothers Guitar Repair :

Reset neck
New bone saddle
Glue 2 top cracks
Sound hole brace
Glue loose pickguard
Glue one loose top brace
Correct worn bridge plate
Glue back crack- not cleated
Correct Truss rod off center screw hole
Dress frets (original frets)

Measurements

Weight: 3 lbs 3.4 oz

Width at nut: 1.7440”

1st Fret: .9355”
9th Fret: 1.0255”

Bridge height front on center: .2485”
Bridge height back on center with caliper zero’d: .1740
Bridge width: 5.9925”
Bridge front to back: .9350

Price listed is for Bank Wire Transfer.