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Arch-top guitar (style O Artist)
Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Company (American)
about 1918
Object Place: Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States
Medium/Technique
Birch, spruce, mahogany, ebony, ivory, mother-of-pearl, plastic, steel, copper, nickel silver
Dimensions
Length 97 cm, width 40.9 cm (Length 38 3/16 in., width 16 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated by the Gibson Guitar Corporation
Accession Number2001.138
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAmericas, Musical Instruments
ClassificationsMusical instruments – Chordophones
DescriptionTwo-piece arched back and ribs of birch. Arched belly of fine- to medium-grain spruce. Back, belly, fingerboard, and soundhole edged with binding of white plastic. Soundhole encircled with purfling in diamond pattern. Neck and headstock of mahogany; back and face of headstock ebonized. Face of headstock inlaid with pearl in fleur-de-lis. Tuning machines of steel with knobs of white plastic. Fingerboard of ebony with fret markers of pearl dots and twenty-two frets of nickel silver. Nut of plastic. Bridge and end button of ebony. Tailpiece assembly and pickguard of nickel silver and plastic in tortoiseshell pattern. Red shaded varnish. Internal construction: One lateral and two longitudinal (slightly angled) braces on belly. Original hardshell case.
ProvenanceLate 1980s, sold by Mr. Babitz, New York, to Fred Oster, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 2001, sold by Oster to the MFA. (Accession Date: March 21, 2001)