1991 Gibson L-5 CES

[wfarr]

Been on the look out for a sunburst L5 for a while now, and when this model landed in fellow forum member ThatRhythmMan’s inventory, it piqued my interest. It’s no case queen, but I don’t mind a bit of honest play wear.

It’s 8 lbs even, and comes with a 1.75” nut width. Will primarily be using it for chord melody and trio play (bass/keys/guitar).

Photos are from the listing on TRM’s website (more can be found on his website and YouTube channel).

Very excited to get my hands on this guitar!

[Rob MacKillop]

Gorgeous! Let us know how you get on with it.

[Stringswinger]

Nice! What is the tailpiece story? IIRC, when they were using the Ebony inserts, there was no L-5 engraving. Could yours be transitional?

[wfarr]

Nice! What is the tailpiece story? IIRC, when they were using the Ebony inserts, there was no L-5 engraving. Could yours be transitional?

I’m not entirely sure! The QC label on the interior was signed and dated as late Dec 1991 by Triggs, so it almost certainly would have shipped in 1992, which bumps up against the official start of the Custom Shop. I could definitely see them toying around with some different ideas, or maybe they had already-engraved tailpieces and were making the transition to the silver-plated insert again and only had the some of the newer gold-plated parts on hand. ThatRhythmMan might have some more context around the tailpiece itself.

Certainly the flaming on the back is pretty uncommon as well, which I really enjoy.

[Danny W.]

Nice! What is the tailpiece story? IIRC, when they were using the Ebony inserts, there was no L-5 engraving. Could yours be transitional?

That was normal for the time period. Here's one I had:



Danny W.

[Gustavo Eiriz]

Beautiful! the Triggs era is often overlooked. Not much information.

[Stringswinger]

@ Danny Did yours have both the Ebony insert and the L-5 engraved on the Gold part? All the ones that I have seen with the Ebony insert lacked the L-5 engraving.

I think the OP's is indeed a transitional part.

[wintermoon]

@ Danny Did yours have both the Ebony insert and the L-5 engraved on the Gold part? All the ones that I have seen with the Ebony insert lacked the L-5 engraving.

I think the OP's is indeed a transitional part.

I had a blonde '89 and '90 w just the pearl/ebony insert, that's the 1st I've seen w the metal engraved L-5 also.
I think they were out of the silver inserts, these guitars were made after Gibson had temporarily stopped making carved top guitars for a few years.

[2bornot2bop]

Congratulations WF! There’s nothing like a NGD celebrating a CES! Enjoy!

[Danny W.]

1459801[/URL]]@ Danny Did yours have both the Ebony insert and the L-5 engraved on the Gold part? All the ones that I have seen with the Ebony insert lacked the L-5 engraving.

I think the OP's is indeed a transitional part.

I completely misunderstood your comment and don’t think I have a slide scan sharp enough to tell, so my correct reply should have been “Beats me!”

Danny W.

[Spook410]

Beautiful back on that one. Hope you enjoy for years to come.

[Danny W.]

I took a look at my original .tif for that photo and can verify that there is no L-5 engraving on the tailpiece.

Danny W.

[wfarr]

The L5 arrived yesterday and is looking absolutely gorgeous. It's going to get setup with some TI 12 swings here in the next week or two, but had some fun playing a bit on it yesterday with the round wounds that are currently on there.

I wanted to get a short video showing the flaming on the back because it's even more impressive in person. The audio in the video is removed because nobody needs me to yap at them about how amazing the flamed maple is.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=MpDPSuPNGq8

[wfarr]

Congratulations on a beautiful instrument. Looks like a keeper. You should leave the audio on in the video. It is cool to hear another fellow guitarist geeking out over his/her guitar.

Hah! Thanks for the kind words.

I took a quick and dirty iPhone recording of a chord melody arrangement of “The Shadow of Your Smile” I’m shedding on in my lessons at the moment. It’s still a work in progress, and I’ve only been playing for about a year and a half now, so still lots of room for improvement (I primarily play tenor sax).

I’ll get a better recording with the amp properly mic’d up another time, but wanted to put something together today as first impressions.

And a couple additional photos:

[guildx500]

Really like the wood on the back!