1955 Gibson L-5CESN

[Marker]

Seen a lot of gigs and smokey bars but still going strong. My favorite model, era and features on a Gibson archtop.

[andrew]

Whew that’s a real beauty! Congrats. Same year and color as the one Scotty Moore played on “Mystery Train”.

How’s the neck? A lot of Gibsons from that era have fairly substantial profiles.

(you can see from my profile picture that I’m a fan of L-5s with single coil pickups)

[Marker]

Yes I got this guitar from Brian Setzer who specifically bought it as he’s a huge fan of Scotty. He had a bigsby on it but I switched it back to the original tailpiece

Neck is quite large and lovely - great neck! Great L-5 overall, lovely player and the sound is tops. Very acoustically lively with that great Gibson mid range.

[Baldoza]

Yes I got this guitar from Brian Setzer who specifically bought it as he’s a huge fan of Scotty. He had a bigsby on it but I switched it back to the original tailpiece

Neck is quite large and lovely - great neck! Great L-5 overall, lovely player and the sound is tops. Very acoustically lively with that great Gibson mid range.

Saw this one on TGP. Man you have something really serious there. I love it with a capital L. Play the hell out of it!

[Marker]

Thanks I will !!

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

That's really cool!!

I've kept a file of guitar info I thought was interesting since I was a kid. Here's what I think is a decent web page about Scotty Moore's L5. Along with great guitar history, it has good pics and a copy of the original bill of sale from Houck Pianos in Memphis.

[Marker]

That’s cool thanks !!

[Archie]

Nice!

Pre D’Angelico cutaway.

I’m going to 3D scan a 1949 L5C next week.

[EllenGtrGrl]

Ooh! Very nice! Pluses for me - a nice chunky neck, and P90s that may be wound a bit more than today's P90s, making them darker sounding. Oh! and you're good boy for putting the pickup selector in the middle position when you're not playing the guitar. As I found out the hard way decades ago with 3 position pickup selectors that are like what Gibson uses, keeping the pickup selector in the middle position when not playing the guitar, cuts down on the physical strain/wear on the reed-type contacts, keeping them from failing, or worse yet, reeds from breaking off (which happened to me 40 plus years ago).

[Marker]

Yes, gotta keep it in the middle

The pickups are actually the original alnico V ‘staples’ aka very nearly identical to a DeArmond you’d find on a similar-era Gretsch.

[ThatRhythmMan]

I happen to have a ‘55 and a ‘56 right now. The ‘56 on the right was NY session musician Allen Hanlon’s.


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[Marker]

^^ that’s cool I bet that ‘56 has been on some great records!

I get the feeling that many L-5s from this era have probably passed through some pretty serious musician’s hands at some point in their time due to their cost and reputation. I wonder where Brian got this one from, initially…

[customxke]

I have a ‘57 that’s had a hard life, but is still a spectacular guitar. At least I don’t have to worry about it getting a ding or a scratch.

[yebdox]

I happen to have a ‘55 and a ‘56 right now. The ‘56 on the right was NY session musician Allen Hanlon’s.


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Wow. Beautiful. Those both have aged gracefully.

[Marker]

A few more pics…

[ThatRhythmMan]

A few more pics…

What’s the back look like? The ‘56 I posted above has a mix of blister and birdseye figuring and the ‘55 has classic tiger flame maple.


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[Marker]

A rather unique flame pattern on the back of this one…a kind of ‘feathered’ flame. The sides are quite flamey all-around.

[floatingpickup]

Mine isn’t a natural one, but it is a very early Alnico version. My father purchased it new in the mid 1950’s.
Keith

[Marker]

That’s so cool !!

[andrew]

Just out of curiosity, does it have a white or an orange label? I have two ‘55 Gibsons (an L-7CN and an ES-175D). Their serial numbers are only about 200 apart, yet one has a white label and the other an orange.

[Marker]

Orange label, serial A20xxx.

FON begins with a W then 4 digits and a very wayward ‘1’ stamped off to the right.

[wintermoon]

Just out of curiosity, does it have a white or an orange label? I have two ‘55 Gibsons (an L-7CN and an ES-175D). Their serial numbers are only about 200 apart, yet one has a white label and the other an orange.

First orange label was mid Jan '55

[andrew]

According to the databases, this should have been made in the later half of '55. Guess they found some leftover white labels they needed to use up.

[andrew]

Ok. This ES-175 gets even weirder. The FON begins with a "Y", which I just realized is supposed to be '53. And did I mention that it has a 1-5/8" nut width?

[jim777]

Some of the most beautiful guitars I've ever seen in this thread!