Gibson, however, was the one who put the greatest effort in developing the mandolin family. There was an almost 'genetic' reason: Orville Gibson, even before Company's birth, had extended hand-carving technique, traditionally used in violin construction, to plectrum instruments, and so Gibson guitars, mandolins and mandolas all featured a typical arched-top shape. A new step ahead was due to Lloyd Loar, musician, inventor, acoustic engineer and so on: Loar realized that the arch-top construction alone was not enough to give a fretted instrument proper volume, and conceived many radical innovations, such as 'f' soundholes, the elevated fretboard which left the top more free to vibrate, and the new-style  pickguard which was essential to give a support to the right hand of the player. It must be said, however, that in Loar's mind the guitar was just one of the members of the mandolin family, and certainly not the most important.

The so conceived line of fretted instruments had its focus point in the F-5 mandolin (made famous by bluegrass artists like Bill Monroe); L-5 was the guitar of the group: body was sixteen-inch wide, top was spruce with parallel bracing, and maple or birch were used for back and sides. The neck was made of maple with a 24 ¾" ebony fretboard, dot inlays,  pearl-button chrome tuners and trapeze tailpiece. The elevated pickguard was in celluloid, with no binding.  L-5 was equipped with the new adjustable ‘truss-rod’ patented in 1921, with a simple bell-shaped black plastic cover. The headstock  had the classic 'snake-head' shape with 'The Gibson' script logo and the 'torch' or pot decorative pearl inlay which has become the symbol of the model ever since. Inside of the body, in many cases, a second sound board was suspended to the top.  This one was the so-called 'VirziTone Producer', patented by italian luthiers Virzi brothers  from Palermo, Sicily, whose effectiveness gave rise to many doubts in everyone, except for Loar himself..

Through the years, the model went through many changes both in its look and in its structure: large pearloid position-markers, gold-plated hardware and richer binding, and most notably the 'advanced' size of the body (17-inch) with a larger headstock design: this new advanced L-5 also featured a bigger and heavier tailpiece, and a longer 25 ½" scale.  L-5 Premier (cutaway) was then introduced in 1939, and in the same year a 'natural finish' began to be offered in Gibson catalogs. These innovations marked a definitive step ahead, towards a 'modern' instrument conceived to deliver an even louder volume, and to offer to the player the whole neck lenght for solo work. From this point of view, it really was a prelude to the electric L-5 CES introduced in 1951, which stands out until today as the symbol itself of Gibson quality.

The guitar you see here was built in 1930, when the ebony fretboard with large pearloid blocks had lost its pointed end. The headstock still shows a 'snakehead' shape, with ‘The Gibson’ script logo, which would have... lost its article the following year. The neck has a very distinctive V-shape, and is made of two pieces of flamed maple, and the same wood is used for sides and gorgeous back. Spruce top shows a very fine sunburst finish, and many details, such as ebony bridge or gold-plated trapeze tailpiece, are of light construction and subtle elegance. Tuners are the classic early Grover Sta-Tites, also used by D’Angelico, and after 70 years are still working great. Yes, because this 16" L-5, far from being a museum-piece,  is a very playable instrument with an easy action, with comfortable dimentions and a very balanced voice,  well-suited for a recording studio. Personally, I have been surprised by its excellence in finger-picking styles, especially country blues, which seems to find again in acoustic L-5's ancient woods warm and enthusiastic support, maybe generated by their common and venerable age.