2006 Gibson L-7CN at Gryphon Strings... $5,500

[Steve Z]

Here's a nice looking 2006 Gibson L-7CN recently listed at Gryphon Strings... $5,500
I have seen plenty of burst modern L7s, but this is the first natural finish.
No affiliation.

2006 Gibson L-7C Natural Acoustic Archtop Guitar Used – Gryphon Strings

[deacon Mark]

A very nice looking L7 and a mahogany neck would tend to probably make it warm sounding. I saw this and really just go to Reverb and you will see why this guitar is so much better, and avoidning dealing with Reverb. I think it is priced fair and Gryphon is a fine shop with the great Frank Ford. I mention this because to me dealers like this a reasonable and have to sell guitars to stay afloat. This has been the best looking L7 I have seen and made during a time Gibson did top notch QC.

[Flat]

Yeah, that seems like quite a good price on a really nice specimen. I doubt it will last. Good luck to buyer and seller.

[Woody Sound]

Mahogany neck, yes!

[RJVB]

Sure looks nice, and I'm surprised to see a recent purely acoustic Gibson archtop!

I watched Michael Watts's Luthier Stories with Cris Mirabella, who claims maple necks give a better sound. Does he just mean "less warm sounding"?
I've seen the remark about a warmer sound before; does that apply to all types of guitar or just archtops?

[Steve Z]

The description states "Brazilian rosewood fingerboard". The same guitar was sold by Cream City Music 7 years ago with no mention on Brazilian rosewood. Originally had a tortoise shell guard. It was listed for $3,499 then... if only I could go back in time.

2006 Gibson Custom L7-C Archtop Acoustic Guitar | Reverb

Much more descriptive info on the Cream City Music Reverb post...

Neck: Somewhat chunky, Traditional V-shaped mahogany neck with cream binding & tortoise side-dots. Hand selected, premium rosewood fingerboard with mother of pearl double parallelogram inlays. Frets are in great shape with no wear. Bound headstock with mother of pearl crown inlay & Gibson logo. Gibson Deluxe tuners are in perfect working condition. 1.725" bone nut; 24 3/4" scale length. Neck is straight & truss rod works fine.

Body: Solid spruce top with 4-ply binding & dual F-holes. Trapeze tailpiece & compensated rosewood bridge. Dark tortoise pickguard with 3-ply binding. AAA Grade solid flame maple back & sides with 4-ply binding. Guitar weighs 5 lbs 11 oz. There is no pickup.

[Dennis D]

......Well I'll be -

Some questions, pls.

That's a Montana build right ?

And it sure looks like those skinny Gibson frets ??

And wonder what happened to the p/g ?? They'd all have had one right ?

Curious and thx.

[wintermoon]

......Well I'll be -

Some questions, pls.

That's a Montana build right ?

And it sure looks like those skinny Gibson frets ??

And wonder what happened to the p/g ?? They'd all have had one right ?

Curious and thx.

That looks like an All Parts guard, not Gibson.

[omphalopsychos]

The correct guard for this is a plastic black & white beveled multiply pickguard. You can get them for not much money on ebay (not as hard to reproduce as celluloid).

I bet this is a great guitar, but not a great acoustic guitar. It's begging for a floating pickup.

[Gitfiddler]

What a beautiful L-7CN!!

And for 2023, it's price is not too far out of line.

I hope Frank Ford's health improved. Not sure if he is still actively working.

[Stringswinger]

The correct guard for this is a plastic black & white beveled multiply pickguard. You can get them for not much money on ebay (not as hard to reproduce as celluloid).

I bet this is a great guitar, but not a great acoustic guitar. It's begging for a floating pickup.

Some years back, I played a Montana built L-7 and I was quite underwhelmed by it's acoustic volume. Those looking for a guitar with a loud acoustic voice need to be careful with this one.

[Hammertone]

The Music Zoo ordered this guitar in blonde, and another in trans-red. Both were standard Bozeman L-7C models except for the colour. This very guitar was, as noted, subsequently resold by Cream City a few years back. According to my records, this is the only standard-spec blonde Bozeman L-7C.

The original pickguards on these are terrible, but easy to replace. I replaced them on both of my Bozeman L-7C guitars, with Allparts L-5 guards in black, as well as with an original '50's L-7C guard.

As far as volume goes, I've played several of these extensively, and directly compared two of them with several 1930s Advanced L-7 guitars. The Bozeman guitars had the same volume and tone as the '30s Advanced L-7 guitars, which makes sense because of their similar specifications. The main difference is that the older guitars sounded ... older.

1245932[/URL]]I bet this is a great guitar, but not a great acoustic guitar. It's begging for a floating pickup.

I bet you are wrong. Perhaps I was lucky, but all of the ones I played were excellent-sounding acoustic archtop guitars.

[Steve Z]

If based on 30s L7… is this one parallel braced?

[omphalopsychos]

If based on 30s L7… is this one parallel braced?

Definitely not based on a 30s L7. This is based on a 50s L7 with some alterations. There was no cutaway L7 in the 30s.

* Mahogany neck, single-bound headstock, flame back, quilt sides.

[omphalopsychos]

As far as volume goes, I've played several of these extensively, and directly compared two of them with several 1930s Advanced L-7 guitars. The Bozeman guitars had the same volume and tone as the '30s Advanced L-7 guitars, which makes sense because of their similar specifications. The main difference is that the older guitars sounded ... older.

I bet you are wrong. Perhaps I was lucky, but all of the ones I played were excellent-sounding acoustic archtop guitar.

We have contrasting experiences. Maybe it comes down the particular guitar. I *could* feasibly drive over to gryphon to check it out, but it doesn't interest me quite enough for that.

[Woody Sound]

I watched Michael Watts's Luthier Stories with Cris Mirabella, who claims maple necks give a better sound. Does he just mean "less warm sounding"? I've seen the remark about a warmer sound before; does that apply to all types of guitar or just archtops?

I prefer Mahogany. Think about Fender's bright snappy sound with maple. (Of course many Gibsons etc, also have maple necks.)

[Dennis D]

Fwiw -

I own a '30's L-7 x braced non-cut, and also own a '50's L-7 parallel braced, and cutaway.....The two are neither equal in tone nor volume, and noticeably so, as expected. Bottom line the '30's has more volume and tone, hands down.

And I have to seriously doubt any Bozeman L-7 would ever equal a '30's L-7 in volume and tone. MHO

[Stringswinger]

For the sake of the new owner of this blonde L-7, I hope thieir experience is more like Hammertone's than my experience. Perhaps the one I played was a dud and the rest are great? I am going to leave it at that.

[Hammertone]

1245963[/URL]]If based on 30s L7… is this one parallel braced?

All the Bozeman L-7C models are X-braced (maybe one or two were custom ordered w/parallel bracing - that I don't know).

1245964[/URL]]Definitely not based on a 30s L7. This is based on a 50s L7 with some alterations. There was no cutaway L7 in the 30s.* Mahogany neck, single-bound headstock, flame back, quilt sides.

Disagree - the concept is very much based on an Advanced L-7. The design uses a combination of Gibson specs, mainly '30s pre-war Advanced, with only a few post-war details. Here are some key specs for the Bozeman L-7C:

-24 3/4" scale (Advanced L-7/L-10/L-12/L-5);
-mahogany neck (Advanced L-10);
-rosewood board w/double parallelogram inlays (Advanced L-12);
-vintage small fretwire;
-double-hump carved top and back (Advanced L-7, L-10, L-12, L-5);
-x-bracing (Advanced L-7, L-10, L-12, L-5);
-Advanced-style f-holes (not quite accurate, unfortunately - they are a bit wider and not as nice;
-sunburst finish on top & back (Advanced L-12, L-5);
-sunburst finish on rims (Advanced L-5);
-Premier-style cutaway carving and binding ('38-'48 L-7P, L-12P, L-5P);
-Thistle headstock inlay ('41 L-7, L-12),
-Tailpiece ('41 L-12);
-Gibson headstock inlay (post-'48);
-Covered Kluson tuners w/plastic keystone buttons (post-war?).

The intent was never to do a reissue, but a composite. So, even if there were no L-7P models made before the war, the idea was introduced in 1938. Similarly, very few Advanced archtops got mahogany necks - most are maple. I've seen Advanced L-10 guitars with mahogany necks, and one Advanced L-7 with a mahogany neck. A particularly good Advanced L-7 was disassembled and over 200 points were measured off of its top and back plates to duplicate the carve of the original. The plates were computer modeled and modified to incorporate the cutaway.

The guitars had serial numbers, Custom Shop decals (back of headstock) but no labels. The fancy Cedar Creek cases had no Gibson markings. Only a few hundred Bozeman L-7C guitars were made between 2003 - 2012. A Gibson accounting moron sent to Bozeman cancelled the model because of the very low production numbers.

[omphalopsychos]

All the Bozeman L-7C models are X-braced (maybe one or two were custom ordered w/parallel bracing - that I don't know).
Disagree - the concept is very much based on an Advanced L-7. The design uses a combination of Gibson specs, mainly '30s pre-war Advanced, with only a few post-war details. Here are some key specs for the Bozeman L-7C:

-24 3/4" scale (Advanced L-7/L-10/L-12/L-5);
-mahogany neck (Advanced L-10);
-rosewood board w/double parallelogram inlays (Advanced L-12);
-vintage small fretwire;
-double-hump carved top and back (Advanced L-7, L-10, L-12, L-5);
-x-bracing (Advanced L-7, L-10, L-12, L-5);
-Advanced-style f-holes (not quite accurate, unfortunately - they are a bit wider and not as nice;
-sunburst finish on top & back (Advanced L-12, L-5);
-sunburst finish on rims (Advanced L-5);
-Premier-style cutaway carving and binding ('38-'48 L-7P, L-12P, L-5P);
-Thistle headstock inlay ('41 L-7, L-12),
-Tailpiece ('41 L-12);
-Gibson headstock inlay (post-'48);
-Covered Kluson tuners w/plastic keystone buttons (post-war?).

The intent was never to do a reissue, but a composite. So, even if there were no L-7P models made before the war, the idea was introduced in 1938. Similarly, very few Advanced archtops got mahogany necks - most are maple. I've seen L-10 guitars with mahogany necks, and one L-7 with a mahogany neck. A particularly good Advanced L-7 was disassembled and over 200 points were measured off of its top and back plates to duplicate the carve of the original. The plates were computer modeled and modified to incorporate the cutaway.

The guitars had serial numbers, Custom Shop decals (back of headstock) but no labels. The idiotically fancy Cedar Creek cases had no Gibson markings. Only a few hundred Bozeman L-7C guitars were made between 2003 - 2012. A Gibson accounting moron sent to Bozeman cancelled the model because of the very low production numbers.

I obviously didn't read the specs, so my apologies. It's definitely a composite of various Gibson archtops from various periods, including a mid 30s inspired scale length and top carve. I didn't see that it was 24 3/4" and x-braced. On the surface it just looks like a post-48 L7C with some anomalous features. What you called out about the top carve, scale length, bracing, etc. definitely is consistent with your description of a combination of early advanced features. It seems like they labeled this an L7 but the features you describe combine a variety of L-10 and L-12 features from various generations, not just L7s. That's an interesting guitar to call an L7.

Many of the features you listed are also present on a post-48 L7C, so it's not logically necessary to attribute them to a "30s design". For example, none of the following features you mentioned are exclusive to the original Advanced models. These are all consistent with a post 48 L7C:

-rosewood board w/double parallelogram inlays
-vintage small fretwire;
-Premier-style cutaway carving and binding;
-Thistle headstock inlay
-Tailpiece

Other features you listed (such as sunburst back, sides) are, again, not unique to 30s models. And they were never standard on L7s.

Finally, there are features in this guitar that are unique to postwar models:
- Elevated fingerboard extension
- Post-48 Gibson logo

I stand corrected with respect to the scale length and bracing, but you're stretching to call this a 30s style guitar. It's definitely a combination of features from different eras and even different models (plenty of non-L7 features). But you would expect Gibson to have at least put a 30s style logo on it if they wanted it to look 30s*. And they might have called it an L7P instead of an L7C. And the corresponding inlays for an advanced L7 would have been picture frame, not parallelogram. Anyway, it make no sense for me to speculate what Gibson was thinking. I've cynically assumed they produced what was cheapest to pull off a reissue and meet quality targets.

*At least they used an older logo on the 1934 L5 Reissue. I'm curious for your interpretation of why that model also has x braces, since obviously it's not Advanced-inspired in any way. Or maybe you can list some features that show that it is. That would sure be another surprise.

[wintermoon]

"I'm curious for your interpretation of why that model also has x braces"

Probably because Gibson did some silly things when they began "reissuing" some models, especially archtops.
They'd be more likely to reissue a prewar ES-300 w the small diagonal bridge pickup than the ultra cool ES-250.
Like what's w that semi recent L-10 reissue w the scalloped fingerboard extension? Is that based on a one off original?
Very silly things.....

[Steve Z]

a question and a comment...

-double-hump carved top and back ?
Is this referring to the carve having a strong up carve near the neck, then fall back to flat(ish) in the middle and another raised carve at the back end of the top. Thistle headstock inlay
I had never heard the "crown" inlay called a thistle though every guitar I show my daughter that has the crown she states, "I like it... it has the frog inlay". It does sort of resemble a frog. If you now see a frog when looking at the inlay, you will always see a frog... sorry

[Steve Z]

Neck: Somewhat chunky, Traditional V-shaped mahogany neck

The traditional V-shaped neck profile is the big unknown in my opinion...

The V profile went away for many years and is typically a reason I have heard players say they don't care older Gibsons. The v-carve can be nice if subtle, though if a strong v-carve, it can be a bit awkward unless you are a player who tends to wrap your thumb. For me, my thumb typically is placed near the center of the neck. Definitely a guitar that would be interesting to demo. It sure is stunning in appearance Add a CC pickup (floater) or similar vintage style pickup and it would likely really be impressive.

[Woody Sound]

-Thistle headstock inlay ('41 L-7, L-12),

So THAT'S what that thing is supposed to be. I always thought is is a crown

[Woody Sound]

"I like it... it has the frog inlay". It does sort of resemble a frog. If you now see a frog when looking at the inlay, you will always see a frog... sorry

I tried for a few seconds, and saw the frog. Now I can't unsee it. Arggg! You warned me.