View attachment 16197
This guitar is why I do what I do. This is a 1913 Gibson L3 archtop acoustic that belonged to my grandfather. The story he gave me was that he received the guitar from someone in church sometime in the 30's, when he was a kid. He let someone borrow it. They dropped it in a creek while intoxicated and it never played right again.
The guitar sat in the attic for roughly 70 years. He gave it to me around 1999, long before I started building guitars, with the stipulation that I get it in playing condition somehow. I found a repair guy who was capable of the work and hoped for the best. The restoration took 2 years. Grandpa passed during the process so he never got to see or hear it. If I knew then what I know now, I would have done it myself.
Once I heard that guitar, I never wanted to play a flat top again. Archtops have their own sound. Some don't like them, but they have their own sound. I was hooked. After seeing what a guy in a shop could do with a few tools, I knew I wanted to build guitars. It didn't take long before I built my first with little more than grandpa's drill press and a jig saw. My shop has more tools in it now, but is still a single car garage with what I need to do what I do.
I never knew this guitar existed before he pulled it out of the attic and gave it to me. It changed my life.
Thanks Calvin Eugene Whitt Sr. I am what I am because of you.
This guitar is why I do what I do. This is a 1913 Gibson L3 archtop acoustic that belonged to my grandfather. The story he gave me was that he received the guitar from someone in church sometime in the 30's, when he was a kid. He let someone borrow it. They dropped it in a creek while intoxicated and it never played right again.
The guitar sat in the attic for roughly 70 years. He gave it to me around 1999, long before I started building guitars, with the stipulation that I get it in playing condition somehow. I found a repair guy who was capable of the work and hoped for the best. The restoration took 2 years. Grandpa passed during the process so he never got to see or hear it. If I knew then what I know now, I would have done it myself.
Once I heard that guitar, I never wanted to play a flat top again. Archtops have their own sound. Some don't like them, but they have their own sound. I was hooked. After seeing what a guy in a shop could do with a few tools, I knew I wanted to build guitars. It didn't take long before I built my first with little more than grandpa's drill press and a jig saw. My shop has more tools in it now, but is still a single car garage with what I need to do what I do.
I never knew this guitar existed before he pulled it out of the attic and gave it to me. It changed my life.
Thanks Calvin Eugene Whitt Sr. I am what I am because of you.
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