Up for sale, a 1918 Gibson L-1 archtop acoustic in excellent condition and in perfect working order. This early Gibson model is perhaps most famous for its association with Robert Johnson, who played one extensively during his brief heyday. Featuring the distinctive “egg” body shape and measuring 13 3/4" across the lower bout, tonewoods include a hand-carved Adirondack spruce top, mahogany back, sides, and neck, and a bound ebony fretboard.

This L-1 has an incredibly rich harmonic midrange, with a dry, crisp-yet-airy top end, and deep, focused bass response. Extremely dynamic, the instrument is sweet and warm when played gently, opening up with bold bloom and gutsy rumble, equally well suited to strumming and fingerpicking alike. This L-1 weighs 3lbs 13oz, professionally setup here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar 12-53 bronze roundwound strings and comfortable action.

The mahogany neck has a substantial V-shaped profile carve, filling the palm in every register, measuring 1.040” deep at the 1st fret and 1.350” at the 9th with 13 frets clear of the body. The ebony fingerboard has been refretted with slender fretwire that has more meat than the original "banjo" wire, exhibiting just a hint of wear beneath the plain strings on the crowns of frets 1-5. This guitar plays cleanly up the 24 1/4” scale, the neck is straight, and the bone nut measures a full 1 7/8“ in width. The headstock has a diagonal "the Gibson" inlay, and the replacement set of vintage Kluson Deluxe single line strip tuning machines turn smoothly and hold accurate pitch.

The original patent number trapeze tailpiece is present and extremely unique, complete with its dark tortoise string anchor and bridge pins. The floating compensated ebony bridge is present too. The soundhole is framed by herringbone purfling, and the original white oval label is extremely clean with hand-written serial number and stamped "L1" model designation. The heel block has the original Factory Order Number.

The neck set is ideal, ostensibly reset in the guitar's lifetime, and action at the 12th fret sits at 8/64” high on the bass side and 6/64” on the treble side. There is a slight dip in the top on the bass side of the soundhole, but largely the curvature is consistent and all original bracing is intact.

Crack-free, this guitar retains its original Sheraton Brown varnish finish. Cosmetic wear is consistent with careful use, including some finish loss on the treble side of the top, minor nicks and scuffs on the body as a whole, largely limited to the rims, and light buckle worming across the back. The neck profile has a similarly worn-in, comfortable feel.

A black tolex hardshell case is included.