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Well. I closed on my house today. Lots of delays and bad news along the way. But...I have the best guitar I have ever played and will be playing for the rest of my life. It has had one owner before me and except for some small scuffs and a couple very small chips it is amazing how well kept it is. Apparently an 80-something year old guy brought it into this shop to sell and treated it very well. It even has a few quirks - he wanted to customize it so he inlaid small pearl dots next to the knobs to mark the volume and a little circle further down. It is pretty cool. And it sounds SO GOOD and plays SO GOOD and I am in love. My questions are these:
1) it came with an original case. It is very cool and I love having it, but realistically a more modern case would protect it better - even a good gig bag. All my archtops have been 16 inch so I have nothing that fits it but I would love to find a nice protective gig bag for it. Suggestions?
2) Should I be concerned about the original pick guard? It looks fine, and I like it a lot, but I have read about gassing and don't know if that should be a concern. I need to clean up the guitar more but each pickup has one screw that is pretty crusty. It might not be from gassing but I am completely ignorant about it so I wanted to ask.
3) I keep my guitars out. Seeing them makes me happy and this is the king of happy. My oldest guitar is a '77 and plywood and obviously this new one is solid and even older...should I get serious about humidification? I would hate to keep it in a case to have the neck properly humidified but there are no cracks in the neck binding and I would like to keep it that way.
And any other tips to keep this as nice as it is right now? I bought it to play the f*** out of it so I am not trying to baby it, but honestly I have never had a guitar this nice or one that I connected with so quickly. My eastman gets damaged just looking at it wrong so that is my reference point...glossiness of the finish gone where my arm goes over the body, fretboard binding cracked on nearly every fret etc.
pictures (I need to take better ones during the day)
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05-13-2016 12:35 AM
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It's fine to replace the screws and pickguard if it makes you happy, just keep the original parts somewhere so the guitar is always complete. An yes, you should look into humidifiers, especially if you have forced air heat or a/c as these tend to dry out the air. If you keep it out of the case make sure it isn't directly above or below an air vent. In addition to neck issues humidity could cause cracking in the spruce top.
Funny thing about L-5s is they're made to be played and played and played, wear doesn't bother me with mine. I'm more concerned about dings in a Fender Strat relic, or smudges on a glossy ES-335 than I am about dings or wear on my L-5.
That's a really beautiful guitar and the 'bursts from that era are amazing. Enjoy!!!!
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What Max said. The L-5 is gorgeous. Congratulations, and play it in good health!
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+2 on what Max said. Congrats. An L-5? You have arrived!
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Oh, yeah, baby. Seeing this beauty makes my day a little sweeter. I'll be that 80-year old some day (hope to reach that age). That inlaid dot is non-intrusive and nicely done. Does not bother me a whit. And I am pretty fussy. Love the tangerine iced tea burst. Only passing of time gives it that patina.
1) OHSC. Store it somewhere safe where you can find it. If and when you sell the L-5CES, having the OHSC means a lot to value. Gigbag suggestions? Reunion Blues Midnight Continental (~$230). probagwebstartscom or Glenn Cronkhite for a custom leather jobbie.
2) Remove pickguard and replace with a new one. Store it away from things you care about. Most people are aware of pickguard rot so not having the original pickguard does not hurt value.
After all the tosh that has been said about Gibson and the L-5CES, plug one in and it all becomes clear why it is still the gold standard. Only an L-5CES sounds and handles like an L-5CES.
Play her in good health. And be gentle with that 40+ year old truss rod ; )
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Beautiful guitar!
Looks like the pickguard may have been changed already? The support isn't correct, should be the rod type that terminates in a block under the pickguard. The old one may have been gassing out. I have a same year ES-355 that had that problem, had attacked the gold plate on the treble side of the Bridge.
If it is gassing it's usually pretty obvious; circles of lighter colour that look "crystalline" and give a sticky residue if you wipe with a paper towel. It's nitric acid that's leached when the celluloid breaks down, so it can make a mighty mess and damage the lacquer as well as metal if left long enough.
Some horror photos of what can happen here
http://www.gtstulsa.com/workbench/20...w3oneazptuzsd6Last edited by old tube; 05-13-2016 at 02:10 AM.
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Congratulations, very nice!
It looks very close to my 70 L5. I believe the pickguard has been replaced already. The original ones were more transparent. I had to replace mine because it crumbled, the one i put on looks just like yours.
I replaced the knobs on mine with speed knobs, but of course kept the original ones.
These are sturdy guitars, no need to worry about anything except the lacquer. The neck on mine is almost bare, much of the laquer came off when i was playing a one week outdoor gig in a swimming pool area. The air was "aggressive" because of the chemicals evaporating from the swimming pool. I literally got lacquer on my left hand one night.
Enjoy your guitar!Last edited by JazzNote; 05-13-2016 at 03:19 AM.
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I believe the support is original, typical for seventies. The same on my 70 L5CES.
Originally Posted by old tube
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No, I think the bent metal hanger is the age appropriate support for a 70s L5CES. Royce Campbell plays a '70 that he got when he went with Henry Mancini for 20 years.
Your guitar is super. Enjoy.
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Rio,
Congratulations! Yeah, you did it man. Oh my god.
The only advice I can give for keeping it nice is humidification. In New Jersey, during the winter months, it is THEE most important thing. As far a gig bag, The best protection is a real case. That guitar is too substantial to trust is to the soft sides of gig bag. One last thing.. Last year, I succumbed to the pressure and started using Virtuoso to keep my guitars looking (and feeling) spiffy. That was a good move.
Your guitar has what no cosmetic treatment could ever have.. Its an L5. No matter what, you have the absolute benchmark. Its gonna make you a better player, because you are gonna want to play it all the time. And when you do play it, you will sound better.
I am so happy for you buddy.
Joe D
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Rio, here's a picture of mine, serial is 185570. What's yours?
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Very nice!. That's my favourite cut of the wood. Quartered exactly. Beautifully silked, that is beautiful.
I congratulate you on your desire to play that guitar. I, for one, go everywhere with a gig bag. I actually find that the reduction in weight and closeness to my body allows me to avoid bumping, maneuver better and the padding on a good bag is really good. I've taken hard knocks in my gig bag and it's never been damaged in the bag. Outside, in the real world, is another story.
I use Mooradian bags. Home and I go everywhere on public transportation. My guitar is always with me.
You decide what works for you but this is what experience has taught me is a good solution. I've seen some great leather bags. Also highly recommended, I'll ask some of my colleagues what they use.
Have a long, musical and happy life playing and enjoying
David
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I think that humidity and temperature issues are not so critical with this guitar; it is carved pretty thick. Very common for an L5C to develop cracks; not a CES. I suspect that if you have it out all the time indoors, it is unlikely to develop any issues that it has not developed in the last 46 years.
Re the outgassing; at some point Gibson stopped making pickguards that are problematical. I kind of associate it with 30s-40s guitars. Anybody know when the pickguards became stable?
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Try Mono gig bags. They're not soft, but hard cases that are very light weight and will provide protection for your L-5 nd are equipped with shoulder straps. I have two of them---one that fits semi-hollows and another that fits full size acoustics and archtops. They are the new standard for guitar cases/gig bags, imo. Congratulations on the acquisition of that beautiful guitar!
MONO M80 Dreadnought Guitar Hybrid Case Jet Black | Guitar Center
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I just remember that my 67 L5's pick guard developed evil smelling liquid gas before it started dissolving. The 70 L5 was not as bad as there was no liquid, the guard just crumbled into pieces a few years after the other one. Recently i played on a 74 Johnny Smith with a replaced guard, so i guess the gassing was also present with the seventies models. Originally Posted by nopedals
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Rio,
I can add little to what has already been so eloquently stated,
you are in an elite club now, Few of us once hooked want to
part with one of these magnificent instruments. They'll have
to prise mine from my fingers before rigor mortis sets in.
An exquisite example that you have , great patina, Congratulations.
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Tortoise shell pickguards were made from cellulose nitrate. Pickguards made from it are inherently unstable. Cellulose nitrate and bakelite are, by the way, our oldest synthetic polymers or "plastics." Cellulose nitrate is plasticized using camphor, which it gradually loses (out-gassing) over time, making the pickguard brittle. As the pickguard deteriorates, the process speeds up due to the release of acids in the plastic. This is called an auto-catalytic response. (I have always figured that people with more sweaty hands will have pickguards that deteriorate sooner. I have VERY dry hands, and I have never had a pickguard go to the plastic graveyard on my watch. Maybe just lucky.)
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Wow it's so beautiful. Not to detract from it, but when I saw it, I immediately thought of my 1977 Aria Pro II PE180, which is trying as hard as it can to "be" your guitar. It's a laminate, of course, and doesn't have the Gibson Pixie Dust (which I fervently believe in!) but I feel a lot better about the family likeness now!
Enjoy your masterpiece and play it with pleasure and pride!
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I am a sunburst guy and that has always been my favorite Gibson sunburst color. May it serve you well Rio.
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congrats on the NGD, I still remember getting my first L-5 in the early 80's like it was yesterday [early 70s blonde, $900]
I had a 175 before and the L-5 just felt so solid in comparison. that and the cool bling....
those two L-5's posted have backs that look like they came from the same tree.
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I use a reunion blues/ Glenn Chronkite bag with mine. Works great. I have not carried a hard case to a gig in many years.
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A couple thoughts:
1 - Mono bags are AWESOME, but I don't believe they fit a 17" guitar. I really love my Reunion Blues Continental bags, and the dreadnaught ones sort of fits my '35 L-12, but it's a bit tight, maybe too tight. So neither of those great semi-hard sided options really work for a 17" guitar, which is a bummer.
2 - Keep the OHSC somewhere where it won't get destroyed (especially with moisture).
3 - Pickguard - I can't say whether the guard is original or not, but if it's not showing signs of crystallization, AND it's being store outside of the case most of the time, then I think you're good. The biggest problems happen when the guitar is stored in a case for long periods, unplayed, and the gas can really build up. But if the guard was starting to go, then get a new one.
4 - Storing the guitar out of the case - I totally store my guitars on a Hercules rack and love having them all at arm's reach. I never really thought about humidity for years, but once I got some vintage guitars I started thinking about it a lot more. But once I found out that a machine like this one: Sorry! Something went wrong! is only ~$100, I really couldn't pass it up.
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Originally Posted by Stringswinger
same here, Cronkhite leather for about 10 yrs now for my '64 L-5 [now gig retired] and my '69 L-5 [working guitar]
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Glenn's 17 inch bag is great for my L-5. I also use it for both of my vintage D'Angelicos (which are 17 inch guitars) and my Epiphone Triumph (which is a bit over 17 inches. I will note that my Guild artist Awards do not fit in that bag. While they are 17 inch guitars, they have a very long headstock. For those guitars, I use an 18 inch Glenn Chronkite bag that was designed for a Super 400, hence the extra room for the headstock.
I store my guitars in their hard cases (the safest place for a guitar). I am lucky in that the air where I live is perfect for guitars and no humidifier is necessary. If I did not live where I do, I would use case humidifiers.
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as some have noted, definitely a replaced guard.
the guitar must have been stored in the case a very long time as the outgassing guard did a number on the metal parts, from the tuners down to the tailpiece and burned 1/2 the lining from inside the case lid.
happens all the time though, especially when the owner gets old and stops playing, or passes away.
p.s. I wonder what the extra pearl dot in the top is for?Last edited by wintermoon; 05-13-2016 at 12:47 PM.
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