This Gibson L-5 Special appears to have shipped on February 7, 1937 to Volkwein's Music in Pittsburgh according to the Gibson ledgers. The store still exists to this day as a family owned business. The serial number also appears to be a repeat of one that is on another L-5 (not a special) that shipped in 1936 that has a different factory order number. The main things setting this L-5 apart as custom order are the inlays, a 25.5 inch scale length, and parallel top bracing. A typical Advanced L-5 of the era would have solid mother of pearl block inlays, a 24.75 inch scale, and x-bracing. While the fingerboard inlays of this guitar have the outline of the banjo style "picture frame" inlays seen on some guitars of the era, I'm not certain that this guitar ever had those. The ebony in the center of these inlays appears to match the rest of the fingerboard remarkably well, suggesting that it may have always had the simple outlines seen for inlays now. Ultimately, I cannot say for sure. The Kluson Sealfast tuners are a likely later addition, since early 1937 should be a bit early for those tuners. The guitar appears to have been refinished in natural, although it was clearly a very long time ago. Lastly, the guitar has an interesting modification to the tailpiece, as pictured. The modification allows for the tailpiece to be raised or lowered at the endblock to change the break angle of the strings over the bridge. This modification was reportedly done by Jimmy D'Aquisto, but there is no documentation of that. The ability to raise and lower the tailpiece in this way is a feature that D'Aquisto did incorporate at some point into his work, so if he didn't do the modification, it was likely inspired by his work.
The guitar was refretted some time ago and it plays very nicely. The neck is straight and the truss rod works as it should. The neck has a full c-shaped carve, typical of the early Advanced L-5s. The sound is big, full, and punchy. It's everything that's hoped for in a 17-inch, parallel braced L-5. They don't all have it, but this one has it in spades! Played notes jump right out of it.
The finish shows chips and scratches with finsh worn through in some of the bass side of the neck. The guitar is completely free of any cracks throughout. The pickguard and bracket are later replacements. The pickguard shows some shrinkage with associated areas of gaps between the pickguard an its binding.
Weight - 5.75 pounds
Nut width - 1.72 inches
1st fret depth - 0.89 inches
9th fret depth - 0.96 inches
Scale length - 25.5 inches
Lower bout width - 17 inches
The guitar comes with a 1970s Gibson archtop case which is worn, but solid with functional hinges and latches.
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