There are no cracks or major problems only some minor'dings' a shown in the photos. It is in very good to excellent condition considering its' age. This is the Mastertone Special MEHG steel Hawaiian lap guitar. Here is a wonderful rare find of a very collectible vintage steel lap guitar. Gibson Mastertone Special MEHG Lap-Steel Guitar- 1940 Up for auction is an awesome Gibson lap-steel guitar from 1940. Body routing& knob placement to EXACT scale Binding is falling off the front& has separated in multiple sections- the headstock looks as if it had had it glued in but no binding to be found. The neck heel& pocket- confirmed by Gibson& historians to be an early concept design The heal of neck has an small extra piece added Long neck Tenon Truss Rod No Headstock(Holly-Veneer) appears to have been installed Vintage style block inlay& Vintage Pearl(as found on 30's& 40's instruments) Obscure Brazilian Rosewood Fretboard Proto-type scalloping/nubs- on binding. The headstock and neck appear to be a multi-piece(4 piece) design. Bottom of neck marked'3 2 1' Proto' The body appears to be routed for P90's sized pickups. When the instrument was purchased- there were many vintage Gibson string packs& string box/cases included- along with Gibson employee paperwork dated in the 40's- adding to the legitimacy of the claim that his brother had worked for Gibson& closely with Les Paul. The binding has dried& cracked& separated randomly thru-out. You can literally smell the age of must& dust on the wood from sitting untouched for decades. The neck& body was all that remained from his deceased brothers collection of junk he had been storing in his barn for 50+ years. From a 96 year old retiree living in Kalamazoo. Providence- The story of the Find: Purchased 12 years ago. Making this one of the FIRST prototypes of the LP model. After speaking to Gibson- they claimed the neck& heel design- along with'nub' aka scalloping of binding is only found on early proto-type LP's. But it has been proclaimed an undeniable EXTREMELY EARLY prototype LP. I've consulted Gibson& many other collectors to date the year& gather info.

Gibson lap steel guitar serial numbers