Icon '60s LG-2 Sunburst Acoustic Guitar

The Gibson LG-2 model was born of necessity in the early years of WWII, when material shortages were having a major effect on musical instrument production. Tone woods like Mahogany and Spruce were going into war materiel, and guitar manufacturers were scrambling for wood. Gibson had been working on updates of their small body guitars of the 30's, so in 1942, the LG-2 was born.

Gibson's goal was to keep the overall small body shape and size of the 30's, yet update it with a larger, more powerful voice. The LG-2 featured an extra wide, 102 degree "X" braced top, and the bracing was scalloped and shaped by hand. This extra wide "X" brace design had been employed on Gibson's famous "Advanced Jumbo" model. It brought the "cross" of the X brace much closer to the soundhole, thus freeing up the top for better vibration and projection. The lightweight hand scalloping of full bracing system made the guitar resonate and sound like a much larger instrument.

Gibson succeeded in their design goal. The LG-2 went on to be a top selling instrument, and was in continuous production for over 25 years after its' original introduction date!

The LG-2 we selected for inclusion in the Acoustic Icon Series of guitars is a reissue of the model at it's zenith in the early to mid 1960's. This LG-2 uses Solid Honduran Mahogany for the back and sides, and hand-selected top grade Sitka Spruce for the top. Despite the guitar's small body size, the scale length is a full size, 24.75" scale, and a solid, one-piece Mahogany neck is used. The fingerboard is Indian Rosewood, using Mother of Pearl "dot" inlays. The bridge is Indian Rosewood as well. Both the nut and saddle are bone. The fingerboard is 19 fret, just as the original LG-2 was. The machine heads are the vintage style Gotoh "3-in-line" style, with the white "button" type tuners, just as was one on the original LG-2 models.

The LG-2 sound was perfect for finger picking, folk, and blues music. Original examples of these guitars are hard to find today, as they were "played hard, and put away wet" as they old saying goes. Guitarists played the heck out of them! The LG-2 sound influenced guitarists worldwide, and to capture that "vintage" sound of original LG-2s is almost impossible today with the new guitars available on the market. That's why we chose this model for this series of guitars!

The Acoustic Icon LG-2 is finished in Nitrocellulose lacquer, for a beautiful gloss, just as all Gibson guitars have done since 1894. A custom, form fit case is included, as is a signed Certificate of Authenticity.