A Great Rarity in Mint Condition

This super-rare, fifty-four year old, single venetian cutaway, eighteen inch-wide, three and three-eighths inch deep archtop, weighs just 6.10 lbs. and has a comfortable nut width of 1 11/16 inches and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Two-piece carved close-grain spruce top, two-piece carved birds-eye maple back, and curly maple sides. A wonderful medium-to-thick profile, two-piece curly maple neck with a single mahogany center strip. Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 20 original small nickel-silver frets and inlaid pearl split-block (parallelogram) position markers. The top and bottom of the body have three-ply binding, the f-holes are unbound, the neck is single-bound and the headstock is single-bound. Long headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl "crown" inlay. Black laminate headstock back. Individual Kluson Deluxe single-line tuners with tulip-shaped 'single-ring' keystone buttons, each stamped on the underside "2356766 / Pat Appld." Single-layer black plastic truss-rod cover with two screws. Original five-layer black plastic pickguard with mounting bracket to treble edge of body and securing pin to treble side of neck. Original rosewood bridge with pre-set compensating saddle on rosewood base. Original Super 300 brass tailpiece with no engraving. Orange oval label inside the bass f-hole, with the model "S-300C" written in black ink and the serial number "A 25529" stamped in black. Inside the treble f-hole the FON (factory order number) "V 7371 15" is stamped in black. Apart from a few miniscule surface marks, this exceptionally rare guitar is in near mint to mint condition. The original frets show virtually no playing wear, as does the Brazilian rosewood fretboard. Housed in the original Gibson five-latch brown "Lifton" hardshell case with pink plush lining (9.25). One of the very first Super 300C guitars ever built, with a 1956 FON number - but actually shipped in early May of 1957. This is the only uper 300C that we have ever actually seen - it is identical to the example shown in Tom Van Hoose's book, The Gibson Super 400 / Art of the Fine Guitar (color plate #7).

"Before summarizing the postwar Super 400C production, it is important to discuss briefly the Super 300 guitar. Gibson introduced the Super 300 in 1948 as a less-expensive version of the Super 400. The instrument was produced in both noncutaway (Super 300) and cutaway (Super 300C) versions. Gibson shipped a total of 214 Super 300s, all of which were listed as noncutaway guitars. The Super 33C was made only during 1957-1958, and is considered extremely rare. All Super 330s and Super 300cs were offered only in the golden sunburst finish. All critical dimensions of both guitars are the same as their more expensive Super 400 counterparts. The only real differences between the Super 300 and the postwar Super 400 are in ornamentation and figure in the curly maple neck, back, and rims. The headstock face inlay of the Super 300 instruments was much simpler, with the small pearl "crown" replacing the pearl split-diamond inlay of the Super 400. Nothing was inlaid on the back of the headstock. The standard postwar slanted Gibson logo was utilized, and the headstock was bound with a single layer of white binding. The tuning machines used were individual Kluson Deluxe with single-ring keystone buttons… the first Super 300 truss-rod covers were bell-shaped and made of a single layer of black plastic. On later Super 300s the truss-rod cover was a two-layer black-white laminate, also bell shaped… the f-holes were unbound, and the tailpiece was nickel-plated brass with no engraving no Varitone." (Thomas Van Hoose. The Gibson Super 400 / Art of the Fine Guitar, pp. 48-49).

The Gibson shipping records confirm that this guitar was shipped from the factory on May 7th, 1957. The exact number of Super 300C's that were actually shipped between 1957 and 1958 is unknown - but in a recent conversation with Tom Van Hoose regarding this guitar, he was absolutely certain that no more than a handful were ever made - truly a great rarity…Ï