My friends ES-300 seems rather unusual

[55bar]

Hi all not posted in years however I thought I’d help my good friend and superb Jazz guitarist Pat, identify this instrument this is all he knows: 1946 ES 300 Style L7 Carved top ,not original PU or tailpiece
Also we think it’s a carved top which I believe is unusual. And says “style L7” on the label. Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated (it also may be for sale in the near future)








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[55bar]

Hi all not posted in years however I thought I’d help my good friend and superb Jazz guitarist Pat, identify this instrument this is all he knows: 1946 ES 300 Style L7 Carved top ,not original PU or tailpiece
Also we think it’s a carved top which I believe is unusual. And says “style L7” on the label. Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated (it also may be for sale in the near future)








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Also. When he bought it it was black, we think this maybe the original finish…?


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[55bar]

Bump. I know there are some really knowledgeable people here [mention]cmajor9 [/mention] [mention]Archtop Guy [/mention] [mention]silverfoxx [/mention] [mention]lawson-stone [/mention] [mention]agentsmith [/mention] [mention]docbop [/mention] [mention]Franz 1997 [/mention] [mention]Fred Archtop [/mention] [mention]wintermoon [/mention]


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[wintermoon]

This is a strange one.
The label says ES-300 and possibly L-7.
The marquetry strip on the back was likely added after the back seam opened at some point. Since it's a 2 piece back this would seem to point to an L-7 as 300s were lams.
The center strip on the back of the neck is odd, partially walnut and maple.
The fingerboard is likely replaced as it's a dot marker and L7's and 300s had parallelograms. The knobs look to be prewar chicken heads as on prewar 250s and 300s. Tuners and tp obviously replaced.
Prewar 300s used that huge diagonal pu or the small one @ the bridge, so likely a postwar guitar. Viewing from my phone I can't tell if the top is maple or spruce.

That's about all I can come up with right now.

[55bar]

This is a strange one.
The label says ES-300 and possibly L-7.
The marquetry strip on the back was likely added after the back seam opened at some point. Since it's a 2 piece back this would seem to point to an L-7 as 300s were lams.
The center strip on the back of the neck is odd, partially walnut and maple.
The fingerboard is likely replaced as it's a dot marker and L7's and 300s had parallelograms. The knobs look to be prewar chicken heads as on prewar 250s and 300s. Tuners and tp obviously replaced.
Prewar 300s used that huge diagonal pu or the small one @ the bridge, so likely a postwar guitar. Viewing from my phone I can't tell if the top is maple or spruce.

That's about all I can come up with right now.

This is great thank you, yes the original pickup as far as I can remember was diagonal. Thank you so much for your insight.


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[zizala]

From the Gibson shipping ledgers....see below.....

Here is ES-300 (black) serial number 98601 shipped Dec 20, 1945 and....
ES-300 (black) number 98603 shipped Dec 21,1945.

There were 10 other black ES-300's shipped on Dec 21, but their serial numbers were not recorded.
Your 98602 might have been one of them.
I have yet to find that number otherwise but may take another look.

Anyway.....ES-300's of this era would seem to have been built using L-7 bodies.
Or they used an L-7 label with the ES-300 designation applied to that.

I'd bet your ES-300 was originally black nonetheless.

Interesting!....hope this helps....

[55bar]

From the Gibson shipping ledgers....see below.....

Here is ES-300 (black) serial number 98601 shipped Dec 20, 1945 and....
ES-300 (black) number 98603 shipped Dec 21,1945.

There were 6 other black ES-300's shipped on Dec 21, but their serial numbers were not recorded.
Your 98602 might have been one of them.
I have yet to find that number otherwise but may take another look.

Anyway.....ES-300's of this era would seem to have been built using L-7 bodies.
Or they used an L-7 label with the ES-300 designation applied to that.

I'd bet your ES-300 was originally black nonetheless.

Interesting!....hope this helps....

Ah wow this is amazing research. It 100% was black. The new owner took off the black finish. Thank you so much.


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[ThatRhythmMan]

From the Gibson shipping ledgers....see below.....

Here is ES-300 (black) serial number 98601 shipped Dec 20, 1945 and....
ES-300 (black) number 98603 shipped Dec 21,1945.

There were 10 other black ES-300's shipped on Dec 21, but their serial numbers were not recorded.
Your 98602 might have been one of them.
I have yet to find that number otherwise but may take another look.

Anyway.....ES-300's of this era would seem to have been built using L-7 bodies.
Or they used an L-7 label with the ES-300 designation applied to that.

I'd bet your ES-300 was originally black nonetheless.

Interesting!....hope this helps....

Great stuff! The very early post-war ES-300s definitely did not have well set specs, except maybe consistently being 17” guitars. I think they are all 25.5” scale, but not 100%. There seem to be so many variations in woods in particular.


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