I bought one that needed restoration on my local Craigslist. I restored it myself and this guitar is truly a gem. It was in the guys family since the 1920's. A label inside it said it was purchased in West Virginia music store in 1925. It's a parlor guitar with Brazilian Rosewood back/sides, Mahogany hard V-shaped neck, ebony fretboard and bridge and some really blinged out shell inlay for the purfling and rossette and a complex binding design. It's a ladder braced guitar and sounds like everything you would want in an old blues guitar.
The only hint that I can see that this is of Gibson provenance is that the fretboard binding has fret end nibs. That is obviously not a dead give away but it is a reasonably good clue. It's a great guitar none the less.
You can see pics of the guitar and restoration here: https://goo.gl/photos/6jyg2r4LN6NoQrUq7
My SS Stewart
I bought one that needed restoration on my local Craigslist. I restored it myself and this guitar is truly a gem. It was in the guys family since the 1920's. A label inside it said it was purchased in West Virginia music store in 1925. It's a parlor guitar with Brazilian Rosewood back/sides, Mahogany hard V-shaped neck, ebony fretboard and bridge and some really blinged out shell inlay for the purfling and rossette and a complex binding design. It's a ladder braced guitar and sounds like everything you would want in an old blues guitar.
The only hint that I can see that this is of Gibson provenance is that the fretboard binding has fret end nibs. That is obviously not a dead give away but it is a reasonably good clue. It's a great guitar none the less.
You can see pics of the guitar and restoration here: https://goo.gl/photos/6jyg2r4LN6NoQrUq7