A c.1920 Gibson L-3 | Christie's

A c.1920 Gibson L-3

Details

A c.1920 Gibson L-3
Serial No. 60616, in red mahogany sunburst finish, spruce top with round soundhole, mahogany neck, nineteen-fret bound rosewood fingerboard with dot inlays, headstock face with floral inlay, wooden bridge, metal tailpiece and imitation tortoise-shell pickguard; and a black hardshell contour case with red plush lining and Lee Dickson's handwritten tie-on label 1924 Gibson L3 60616 and adhesive paper label similarly inscribed

The Gibson L-3 model was introduced in 1902.

One of Clapton's blues heroes, singer and guitarist, Robert Johnson (1911-1938) was photographed with a similar Gibson L-1 model.
Gibson L-3/Red Mahogany Sunburst

Literature

COLLETTI, Alex Amazing Grace Interview in Guitar World, Harris Publications Inc., June, 1993 p.94
FORTE, Dan, Out From Behind The Sun Interview in Guitar Player, GPI Publications, July, 1985
HENKE, James, Eric Clapton: The Rolling Stone Interview in Rolling Stone, Issue 615, October 17, 1991, p.49

Lot Essay

During an interview with Alex Colletti, MTV Unplugged producer, Clapton states: "Robert Johnson is the most important influence I've had in my life and always will be".
He told Dan Forte in 1985: "Both of Robert Johnson's albums actually cover all of my desires musically. Every angle of expression and every emotion is expressed..."
Similarly, later on, in 1991, he spoke of his understanding that some people find listening to Robert Johnson "like listening to a voice they've always heard" and he confesses: "when I first heard it, it was so shatteringly intimate for me that it was almost unbearable...it was like a voice I heard way, way back."

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