Silver Lake Vintage Guitars

Pre War Gibson Blonde/Natural 1939 Super 400 N

Introduced in 1934, the Gibson Super 400 was Gibson's all-out effort to surpass their flagship and widely acclaimedL5 archtop. Priced at $400 and coming with a premium leather covered case the Super 400 certainly got the attention it deserved.

The Gibson Super 400 was a status symbol. The price of $400 in 1934 was more than the average American earned in a year. Gibson stated: "It is worth any sacrifice made for its possession".

The Super 400N was in a class of it sown. This was only enhanced with the introduction in 1938 of the Natural Super 400 with its highly figured maple back and sides which was built from the finest woods that Gibson had at its disposal.

The Super 400 featured a full 18-inch lower bout which compared at the time of its introduction to the 16 inches of the L5. To locate spruce of this size and quality Gibson was using premium woods of the finest vintage.

In 1938Gibson increased the upper bouts of the body from 12 1/4 inches to 13 5/8 inches and opened-up the f-holes to further increase volume.

The brass hand-engraved ornate gold-plated tailpiece had a wide crossbar with Super 400 embossed in a block that was pointed at both ends.

The tailpiece's rear section had a Y-shaped centre piece with engraved diamonds at the end of each of the Y. (The early tailpieces are known as "sharp Y's” and this was superseded by the "soft Y” tailpiece in 1939).

The Super 400 headstock was larger than any previous Gibson model and featured a vertical split diamond inlay.

The fingerboard had diagonal split rectangular markers and was pointed at the treble end which at that time was only featured on one other model, the L5. The guitar featured an attractive marbleised pickguard.

The rear of the headstock was lacquered in black with a large diamond inlay, and the open back engraved buttoned tuners were replaced with "butterfly" Kluson Sealfast tuners. Extra binding was added throughout the guitar. Prior to the introduction of the Blonde Super 400 in 1938, the Super 400 was only finished in Cremona brown sunburst.

According to Gibson historian, Julius Bellson, quoting from the original Gibson shipping ledgers, only seven Super400N models were shipped in 1940 and none prior to that date.

This same shipping information is also listed in Tom Van Hoose's excellent primary source book “The Gibson Super 400 - Art of the Fine Guitar” as well as other Gibson reference books.

However, our good friend the late Andre Duchossoir long held the opinion that more pre-war Blonde Super 400'shave been shipped than previously documented by Bellson, and he held the view that previously published shipping totals were inaccurate. His extensive research of the Gibson ledgers provided a revision in 2010 of the pre-war Super 400N shipping totals. He stated that, based on his personal research, four Super 400N models were shipped in 1938, 40 in 1939, 14 in 1940, 11 in 1941, 4 in 1942 and none between 1943 and 1945.There has been a continual dialogue and mystique surrounding the late thirties Blonde Super 400s fueled by controversy over the original ledgers.

However, the proof is plain to see, the featured guitar is certainly from 1939,and the fact that it is fitted with the earlier tailpiece suggests it is one of the earliest Blonde Super 400's to leave the factory.

Andre said that the late 1930's was his favorite period for Gibson guitars. "They had the best wood, built by the best craftsmen, and the guitars from this era are amongst the best guitars Gibson ever made".

This 1939 Blonde Super 400, which comes with its original brown leather covered case, was made by Gibson’s finest craftsmen using superlative materials and is an incredibly desirable and rare guitar. Stunning!