What Makes a Nick Lucas a Nick Lucas??

[John Arnold]

As near as I can tell, Gibson only started using that 'other' rosewood in 1934, which was after the transition from 13 to 14 frets. Since there were very few 14 fret rosewood Nicks, most of the Rosewood ones were Brazilian. All the Gibsons made after that (namely the Smeck Radio Grande, AJ, SJ-200, RK Ray Whitley, and initial banner SJ's) were Indian.
The same rosewood is seen on Regals from the period.
The Nick Lucas was Gibson's premier flat top prior to the introduction of the SJ-200, and many were custom ordered with nonstandard features.
Note that in the 1969 appearance, Nick's guitar has suffered the indignity of having a larger bridge installed.

[sinistral]

Thanks, John, for the insightful detail. For anyone interested, here is a treasure-trove of old Gibson (and Martin) catalogs:

acousticmusic.org—Catalogs

Here’s the 1934 catalog—the Nick Lucas is on page 17:

Gibson Catalog—1934

[John Arnold]

The 1934 catalog illustration shows a 12 fret neck, which is obviously a recycled image from an earlier catalog printing. It goes to show that you cannot rely on the catalogs for accurate information.

[mcmars]

Originally Posted by sinistral

Thanks, John, for the insightful detail. For anyone interested, here is a treasure-trove of old Gibson (and Martin) catalogs:

acousticmusic.org—Catalogs

Here’s the 1934 catalog—the Nick Lucas is on page 17:

Gibson Catalog—1934

This is amazing! Thanks!

[sinistral]

Originally Posted by John Arnold

The 1934 catalog illustration shows a 12 fret neck, which is obviously a recycled image from an earlier catalog printing. It goes to show that you cannot rely on the catalogs for accurate information.

Yeah, I posted it more for the ad copy. It’s interesting to see how Gibson described the guitars when they were new.