First introduced in 1929, this flat top acoustic guitar was the second most expensive guitar that Gibson produced behind the Nick Lucas special. Discontinued in 1934, there were only about 200 produced of the Gold Sparkle, Argentine Grey model.

The Great L-2 Adventure!

On a grey Sunday afternoon we received a phone call about what could be a rare guitar. Now, we get these phone calls a lot, so this was nothing out of the ordinary. Until we started asking a few questions.

The lady on the phone mentioned it was old and bore the name ‘The Gibson’.

Instantly, all three of us sat up a little straighter. She had us interested. Suddenly, we realised that the logo and characteristics she was describing matched the description of an early Gibson L-2.

The thought of potentially seeing one of these beauties in the flesh was too much for us. So, we piled in the car and headed to the bank to get a large pouch of $$$ in case there was the chance of a cash sale.

It was quite a trek to get to this rural address, so Josh, always thinking of content, thought he’d pass the time by filming the journey out the window of the car. The conditions were perfect after all, the sun was shining, the weather was clear… and windy.

As we were heading up the new motorway to Maungatoroto, the wind whipped Josh’s beloved content capturing machine out of his hand! Cue hilarity as we had to use the Find My iPhone feature to locate the goldmine of footage Josh had collected.
While we can’t show you the footage right now (as said iPhone is currently being repaired), we promise this was not all a dream. It totally happened!

Finally, we arrived in Maungatoroto and met Ngaire to inspect the guitar. Jackpot! It really was a Gibson L-2. We managed to contain our whoops of excitement in front of Ngaire and got to hear the super cool story of how the guitar had been acquired by her older sister when she was 11, and she is now 84! The guitar had been in their family for 73 years.

That showed in the condition of this much loved guitar as it needs a little TLC to bring it back to its former glory, but that was why Studio 1 was the perfect team to take it off her hands. A wonderful find in New Zealand, that is staying in NZ. 

Check out Nick Brightwell's demo here: