Gibson's Most Successful 17-Inch Archtop
Essentially a Plain Version of the L-5

1957 Gibson L-7C

This sixty-two year old L-7C weighs just 5.30 lbs. and has a 17 inch wide, 3 1/3 inch deep body. Hand-carved two-piece book-matched spruce top, two-piece 'birds-eye' maple back and 'birds-eye' maple sides. The two 'f' holes are edged in black. Two-piece 'lightly flamed' maple neck with mahogany center-strip. Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 20 original medium frets and inlaid pearl double-parallelogram position markers. The body is triple-bound, the fretboard and headstock are single-bound. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl crown inlay. Black laminate widow's peak on the back of the headstock. Individual 'single-line' Kluson Deluxe tuners with single-ring Keystone plastic buttons (stamped on the underside "D-169400 / Patent No." Original five-layer black over white plastic pickguard. Frequensated rosewood bridge on rosewood base and standard trapeze tailpiece with three raised parallelograms on cross-bar. Original oval orange label inside the bass f-hole with the Style "L7-C" written in black ink and the serial number "A-25766" stamped in black. There is a very small (and very hard to see) professionally repaired hairline crack (running with the grain of the spruce) on the bottom edge of the treble 'f' hole. In our opinion this repair was carried out at the Gibson factory many, many years ago and they re-finished the top at the same time. There are three very small additional screw-holes next to the three existing screw-holes on the bottom end of the body where the tailpiece was very slightly re-aligned. These are only visible when the tailpiece is removed. Otherwise the guitar is in near mint condition with just some very light finish checking and a few very minor and insignificant surface 'dings' on the sides. Housed in the original Gibson 'Faultless' brown 'four-latch' hardshell case with green 'flannel' lining (8.75). The 'birds-eye' maple back of this guitar is simply 'stunning'.

Originally introduced in 1948 as a 'plain' version of the L-5. "Extremely popular for orchestra use, the L-7C with its modern cutaway design has outstanding appearance and an unusually rich tone. Gibson quality, exclusive features, and expert workmanship insure perfection in every detail of construction. Attractive alternate white-black-white ivoroid binding - hand graduated carved top of selected spruce, arched curly maple back with matching curly maple rims. Three piece curly maple neck, wit adjustable Truss Rod construction - bound rosewood fingerboard with attractive parallel pearl inlay design. Nickel-plated metal parts, Gibson designed tailpiece, laminated pickguard with attractive border, rosewood adjustable bridge, and enclosed individual machine heads with deluxe buttons." (1957-8 Gibson catalog).

 "With the L-7 a player could buy a guitar that was almost as good as an L-5 but at no more than half the price. The earliest L-7s have fingerboard inlay appropriated from the Nick Lucas flat top, which, ironically, was the top model of the flat top line" (George Gruhn and Walter Carter, Acoustic Guitars and Other Fretted Instruments: A Photographic History, p. 172).