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This guitar as a faithful reproduction of an early 1926 Gibson L-1 …..Gibson’s very first flattop acoustic guitar. 

It is finished with thin hand-wiped phenolic resin tung-oil varnish…. the same that Gibson probably used because this is what was used in the nearby furniture factories in Kalamazoo, MI at the time. Gibson used varnish in early 1926 and started spraying nitrocellulose in late 1926.

All materials and construction are accurate after conducting extensive research on the Gibson 1926 L-1. 

Tapered headstock with ebony overlay veneer and vintage repro tuning machines (Golden Age Restoration Tuners). 

Ebony nut 1.85” nut width with 1.52” string spread. 

Solid, one-piece Honduran Mahogany neck that has a chunky C-shaped profile with about 0.9” at the 1st fret.

Ebony fingerboard that is flat (no radius) with narrow/low pre-WWII-style frets. It has a 25” scale length and only three dot inlays just like the original.

The neck does not have a truss rod just like the original but the neck relief clocks in at only 0.006”! 

Madagascar Rosewood pyramid bridge with a 2-5/16” string spread. Unbleached bone saddle that is inaccurately angled for intonation compensation. Solid and un-slotted ebony bridge pins. Unbleached bone end pin. 

Soundboard is torrefied AAA Red Spruce. The back and sides are AAA flamed eastern maple. The back and sides are dyed with Sheraton brown aniline dye and the top with honey tone amber…the same Gibson did for their Natural color varnish finishes. 

Wood fiber and maple rosette and even includes the soundhole edge being lined with it. 

Solid Straight Grain Ivoroid Binding (cellulose nitrate) that has the “Gibson ledge” you can feel between the side wood and the binding. The ledge was due to scraping the binding later in the building proces.

It was difficult to find out what bracing Gibson used in early 1926, but I found that they were transitioning from archtops to flattops so they used up a lot of archtop inventory for the new flattops. For example, some of them had carved arched backs instead of the plates that flattops traditionally use now (this one has the traditional radiused plate). Archtops had only two long longitudinal braces on their tops. But flattops needed more bracing so they just threw in some transverse braces to support the top. It is a very old style type of ladder bracing. 

All bracing is AAA Adirondack Spruce bracewood carved to provide maximum flexibility of the top while maintaining ample strength to support it. 

Genuine hide glue used throughout.

 This guitar uses the Gibson L-00 shape but has Martin standard materials.

Nut, saddle, and bridge pins = unbleached bone

Top = torrefied Adirondack Spruce

Back and sides = Rosewood

Finish = A hand-wiped phenolic modified tung oil-based varnish from the early 1900's

Scale = 25.4"

Fingerboard and bridge = Ebony

16" fretboard radius

Solid, one-piece mahogany neck with double-action truss rod: 0.008” neck relief

12th fret action = 4.5/64 Low E to 3.5 /64 High E

Headstock veneer = East Indian Rosewood

All bracing = Adirondack spruce

Golden Age Restoration Tuners for Solid Peghead Guitar with Square-end

Glue = Genuine hide glue

This guitar uses the Gibson L-00 shape but with materials historically used in the old Stella guitars. It has an old-school type of top bracing that is considered ladder bracing but is more structurally sound and has better tone (subjective, of course). I tried to stay as historically correct to Stella as I could, including lower grade materials (but not too low!).

I used curly birch for the back and sides and a lower grade red spruce for the top (hence the shades of color on the top).

I ebonized the maple fretboard and used narrow frets.

I even incorporated the "Gibson ledge" where the binding was scraped near the end of the build which created a ledge you could feel between the binding and sides on old Gibsons and Stellas.

The pyramid bridge is rosewood and the saddle and nut are bone. 1.75” nut width and 2-5/16” string spread at the bridge.

The tuning machines are economy Gotohs, and the neck is a solid, one-piece Honduran mahogany. The neck is nice and chunky

The action at the 12th fret is 5/64 at the low E and 4/64 at the high E (but could be lowered according to taste).

There is a double action truss rod in the neck with access inside the body at the heel.

I finished this guitar with a thin satin polyurethane which is not historically correct but I wanted it to be more resilient for camping, etc.

It is a very interesting build and it sounds much better than I though it would.