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,