Gibson Super 400 F-holes?

[customxke]

Noticed that this pre-war Super 400 has L-5 style f-holes, vs. Super 400 f-holes. Anyone have any insight?

1939 Gibson Super 400 Pre-War Vintage Archtop Acoustic Guitar | Reverb

[wintermoon]

I've seen a number of them, all late 30s models, mostly in '39.
I don't think they ever came on Premier (cutaway) models.

[Hammertone]

Super 400 f-holes went through a clearly defined evolution. From memory, although I'll go look at Van Hoose for confirmation:

-The first style was very similar in size and shape to those on the 17" Advanced Model Gibson L-5, L-12, L-10 and L-7. The S-400 f-holes were bound, unlike those of the 17" guitars.

-The second style was as you have shown above, with wider f-holes. I've seen pix of them on '36 models.

-The third style is the elongated, more parallel-oriented f-holes that are most common, were introduced in '38 and went through some slight variations from there.

I'm sure there's plenty of overlap as the existing stock of top plates already cut for f-holes was used. Given that this S-400 was a custom order, it's not unreasonable to see the second version f-holes on this slightly later guitar.

[Hammertone]

Today was a fun day.
'37 on the left, '41 on the right.