Gibson L5 - 1937 NFS

This is an L5 from 1937. Beautiful guitar. No! Beautiful is not enough to describe this guitar it is awesome. Until I bought this one I had always thought an L7 was an L5 with less binding. Do not believe what people tell you (including me elsewhere!), while an L7 is an amazing guitar (I have 2 from the 1950's) it is different from an L5 by more than the binding. I guess some guy spending tens of hours more in the factory on this guitar than an L7 really does make a difference. Who would have thought!

This one has a replacement tailpiece. It is from early 1937 (I think February) and the tailpiece then was the one with the hinge and the flat strips without the centre adornment. (Just happens to be the rarest L5 tailpiece. SIgh!). Looking under the tailpiece that is currently on it (a later model L5 tailpiece) I can see the holes in different places. So, not all original (the rest is) but who cares with a guitar like this.
Interestingly, it has parallel bracing when most (but not all) had X bracing at that time although Gibson was experimenting with both types at the time before they eventually decided on parallel bracing.

Now, if I could just get it to tell the story of its life...