1924 Gibson Style O Artist Archtop Acoustic - Used

$8,500.00

Details

The Style O Artist, or, as the catalogs dubbed it, the Special Grand Concert Guitar Style O Artist’s Model, was the most expensive 6-string guitar Gibson offered until the early 1920s, when Gibson introduced the L-5. Although the carved scroll on the bass-side upper bout draws your eye, it's the flattened upper bout on the treble side that holds the key to this model's success. Count the frets clear of the body and you quickly realize that this model offered the player 15 frets clear when almost every other guitar widely available had the neck joining the body at the 12th fret. In short, Gibson's Style O was a forerunner of the modern cutaway.

This example has its original shellac finish and has survived with an impressive array of its original parts, including the tuners, the pickguard, and the tailpiece with celluloid cross-bar with bridge pins. The ebony adjustable bridge with the “Patd. Jan 19, 21” appears to be original. Being made in 1924, this guitar has an adjustable truss rod, an innovation Gibson introduced just two years before this guitar was built. There is also a repaired old heel crack. These are common on this model, the legacy of the large laminated heel block that (in retrospect at least) was perhaps not the best idea.

This guitar has three labels inside. The first is the standard Gibson oval label with the model and serial number. The second is a square label just below that advertising the teaching studio of Roy Kilgore who offered lessons in Hawaiian Guitar, Ukulele, Mandolin and Tenor Banjo. Perhaps Roy was what Gibson called a teacher-agent, a combination educator and salesman, which was the method Gibson used to sell most of their instruments prior to World War II. The third label is for Virzi Tone Producer, a small wooden disc that Lloyd Loar liked to install in guitar and mandolins in late 1924. Sadly, the Virzi has been neatly removed.

Even among Gibson carved top models with oval soundholes, the Style O has a unique tone because of its unusual sound chamber and top bracing. The playability is enhanced by a fingerboard with a steep radius, making the large neck far more playable than it appears at first glance. Although many players are drawn to the Style O Artist's unique appearance, they often find it a useful addition to their recordings as the tone has amazing clarity and projection. Comes with the original shaped hardshell case, a rare find in itself.