Vintage 1939 Gibson TG-50 Tenor Guitar Sunburst With Case

We have quite the special find here: an ultra rare vintage Gibson TG-50 Tenor, straight out of 1939.  That's the year of New York World's Fair, the debut of Batman and the release of Gone with the Wind.....as well as the outbreak of WWII, but lets keep it positive.  Especially with a wonderful guitar like this!  And it has an interesting backstory - more on that in a moment.

Gibson production of TG-50 models started in 1934.   It's a 4-string archtop tenor guitar built as the tenor version of Gibson's popular L-50 archtop model.  The FON (Factory Order Number) dates the instrument to 1930's, and when we found that Gibson switched from flathead to Phillips screws in 1939, we had the year nailed down.  

The first thing you'll notice at how clean it is - that's because it's only had two owners, which is incredible.  The guitar is 100% original and has very little player wear, and no repairs done to it.   This by itself makes it an incredible find.

The guitar features a 16-inch wide carved spruce top, maple back and sides, and a 22.75-inch scale mahogany neck (14 fret).  It's topped a flat rosewood fingerboard with dot inlays and a 1-1/8 inch nut width.  You get an adjustable rosewood bridge paired with a nickel-plated trapeze tailpiece and open-gear Kluson tuning machines.  Speaking of which, this instrument is current tuned D-G-B-E like the 4 highest strings on a guitar.

Setup to play perfectly by the techs in our shop, this beautiful tenor guitar is ready to go, with a hardshell.

Now, for the backstory....

This Gibson TG-50 belonged to Clifford William Aubuchon, who was born in Missouri in 1896 and died in St. Louis in August 1950. The guitar remained locked in its case in a closet at his daughter's home until after her death in 2019. Following her passing, a good customer of ours worked on wrapping up various aspects of her financial affairs. During that time, because he expressed an interest, this locked guitar case was given to him. He had no idea what kind of guitar it contained. When they managed to open the case, this fine, old Gibson Tenor was the prize that had been inherited. As far as he knows, he's just the second owner, though he prefers to think of himself as the caretaker of this beautiful instrument. 

Serial Number: F.O.N #2797