2014 Wes Montgomery Gibson L-5

[Midnight Blues]

Excellent! You will never let that one go. Mine is solid as a rock, stable tuning and a tone that can’t be duplicated. Not better, just unique. I always feel privileged to play mine and it’s been over 20 years since she showed up on my doorstep.

Thanks very much yebdox, I appreciate it!

I have no plans whatsoever of letting her go (or any of my guitars actually). This one will stay with me until I'm no longer on this earth.

WOW, 20 years? That's fantastic! I'd love to see pictures of her for comparison purposes.


Thanks for the post and

[Midnight Blues]

Wow!! Beautiful guitar there happy playing

Thanks very much Jazzguy, it's very much appreciated!


Thanks for the post and

[Midnight Blues]

Pheeeew! That's just gorgeous

Thanks you very much T1mothy!

[Larry M]

I have a 2001 that I got about 12 years ago. I have and have had other great guitars, but will never get rid of my Wes. It looks a lot like yours, but a little more wear. Great guitar. Congratulations and enjoy.

[Midnight Blues]

Thank you very much Larry, I appreciate it!

Certainly seems like the consensus that other owners have no intention of ever selling their’s and unstandably so.


Thanks for the post and

[deacon Mark]

Great guitar a real beautiful box. Thinking wow all you need make
great music. It is a chop maker because you want to play.

[Midnight Blues]

Great guitar a real beautiful box. Thinking wow all you need make
great music. It is a chop maker because you want to play.

Thanks Mark! Hard to put down for sure!

With your permission, I was going to PM you about setup, but this may benefit others who might be in a similar position, so I'll pose the question(s) here if you don't mind answering?: Much to my chagrin, I don't setup my own guitars. I am contemplating attempting to do so on one of my old Les Pauls that I've had modified several times over the years, but there's no way at this point that I would even consider touching my L-5.

I recently moved, hence, I no longer have the services of the luthier I used, whom I trusted implicitly to take care of all my prized possessions. I have located someone in the area that I'm considering, but I don't know if he's had any experience with archtops? Is there anything special I should ask him, or inform him about prior to taking it to him for service?


Thanks and regards,
MB

[Bluedawg]

Assuming Photobucket is working for me here is my L5 WES

[Midnight Blues]

Assuming Photobucket is working for me here is my L5 WES

GORGEOUS!!!!

I gave up on Photobucket and I could never get Flickr to work, so I use imgur.

I was looking through some older threads yesterday and I noticed that there's thread for the Tal Farlow model (which is lovely in-and-of-itself) is there one out there for the WesMo model?


Thanks for posting her Bluedawg and

[Midnight Blues]

So I gave her a good cleaning today with some Virtuoso cleaner and I thought I'd take a few pictures. That's a picture of Wes from an old Guitar Player magazine (as if you couldn't tell! ) that I framed and had in my office at work for years. Now that I'm retired, it's home where it belongs:

[Gitfiddler]

Gorgeous photos of your L5 as well as Wes.

Hey, if you have any of his LP's, you can also frame the album jackets. I've have a few hanging in my music room.

https://www.amazon.com/Americanflat-.../dp/B00UNSPUDQ

[Midnight Blues]

Gorgeous photos of your L5 as well as Wes.

Hey, if you have any of his LP's, you can also frame the album jackets. I've have a few hanging in my music room.

https://www.amazon.com/Americanflat-.../dp/B00UNSPUDQ

Thanks very much Gitfiddler! The Virtuoso, as usual, did a great job, not that it need much, if any mind you.

Are those your frames? Those are really nice!

I have several Wes LPs, along with all of them and plenty more on CD as well.


Thanks for the post and

[Gitfiddler]

Thanks very much Gitfiddler! The Virtuoso, as usual, did a great job, not that it need much, if any mind you.

Are those your frames? Those are really nice!

I have several Wes LPs, along with all of them and plenty more on CD as well.


Thanks for the post and

You are very welcome and nope, I'm not affiliated with the seller. Amazon carries a number of them.
Wes will thank you!

[Midnight Blues]

It's a really cool idea! My nephew did that for me a number of years ago with one of my all-time favorite albums from one of my all-time favorite bands (not jazz related). I'm a creature of habit, so I think I'd have to track-down some old used ones somewhere, buy 'em and then frame 'em, leaving my originals the way that they are. They're all in really good shape for their age, well over 40 years now.

This guys is a PHENOMENAL player, one of my favorites. You really don't have to watch the video, but in the very beginning, look in the upper left-hand corner:

Thanks for the post and

[yebdox]

Thanks very much yebdox, I appreciate it!

I have no plans whatsoever of letting her go (or any of my guitars actually). This one will stay with me until I'm no longer on this earth.

WOW, 20 years? That's fantastic! I'd love to see pictures of her for comparison purposes.


Thanks for the post and

Mine has never been as black around the outer edges of the burst, but has slightly faded to more of a dark viceroy brown over the years. Gets played a lot, still a thing of beauty. I don’t have any problem with wanting something to play that has inspiring looks, but it has to sound and play great, as well. This one does!

[Midnight Blues]

Mine has never been as black around the outer edges of the burst, but has slightly faded to more of a dark viceroy brown over the years. Gets played a lot, still a thing of beauty. I don’t have any problem with wanting something to play that has inspiring looks, but it has to sound and play great, as well. This one does!

Just lovely yebdox! What year is it?


Thanks for sharing and

[yebdox]

Just lovely yebdox! What year is it?


Thanks for sharing and

'97. I've seen a few others from that era with the same brown burst. It grew on me, though I always pictured the darker burst like yours. I'm stuck with the beast, though.

[Easy2grasp]

I have an growing case of GAS thanks to you. I lowered the price of of my Lacey on Reverb and have been WesMo shopping. I love my Gibsons. I sold an L-5 20 years ago, and it would be great to have one back in the collection. I can't seem to talk myself out of this after seeing your beautiful find. Half the pleasure is the hunt, the other half is when it arrives and it is held in loving arms. My name is Ted and I am an addict.

[Midnight Blues]

'97. I've seen a few others from that era with the same brown burst. It grew on me, though I always pictured the darker burst like yours. I'm stuck with the beast, though.

Awe, I feel bad for you. If you're that disappointed, send her off to me and I'll provide her with a good home.

Man and I thought mine looked pristine for a 4+ year old, two owner guitar. Your's looks untouched!


Thanks for the post and

[dickbanks]

Top Shelf! Congrats!

[Midnight Blues]

I have an growing case of GAS thanks to you. I lowered the price of of my Lacey on Reverb and have been WesMo shopping. I love my Gibsons. I sold an L-5 20 years ago, and it would be great to have one back in the collection. I can't seem to talk myself out of this after seeing your beautiful find. Half the pleasure is the hunt, the other half is when it arrives and it is held in loving arms. My name is Ted and I am an addict.

Hi Ted.

You've completed the first step towards recovery.

I know the feeling. I've had GAS for years for one of these and for some reason, this year it became impossible to overcome? I missed-out on a couple prior to this one and when I saw it posted on Reverb, that was it; I just had to have it. There were something like 15 (or thereabouts) "Watchers", I gave a half-hearted attempt at negotiation, but this one was so beautiful and the seller is such a great guy, whom I trusted, that I folded like a cheap suit. Maybe the slightest bit compulsive, but I just wasn't willing to take the chance.

Are you looking at the "Vintage Sunburst", or the "Wine Red", which is also quite beautiful.

Good luck in your search!


Thanks for the post and

[deacon Mark]

I have an growing case of GAS thanks to you. I lowered the price of of my Lacey on Reverb and have been WesMo shopping. I love my Gibsons. I sold an L-5 20 years ago, and it would be great to have one back in the collection. I can't seem to talk myself out of this after seeing your beautiful find. Half the pleasure is the hunt, the other half is when it arrives and it is held in loving arms. My name is Ted and I am an addict.

Ted I went to check out your Lacey on Reverb and sure enough a beautiful guitar although black would not be my personal choice I can see many would love the color. The more important thing is Mark Lacey is a tremendous skilled craftsman and makes fine guitars. His skills in my opinion would far exceed what any one individual worker at Gibson might be able to do but, maybe not? In any case to be selling that guitar to get a WesMo says something about Gibson guitars. No matter what it seems that this again verifies that boutique guitars are pretty much nothing down the line except of course in a few circumstances where they are revered as the finest in the business.

[Stringswinger]

Congrats Midnight Blues!

Only a Gibson is good enough.

[Midnight Blues]

Congrats Midnight Blues!

Only a Gibson is good enough.

Thank you very much Stringswinger, I appreciate it and I completely agree with you as well!

[Easy2grasp]

Ted I went to check out your Lacey on Reverb and sure enough a beautiful guitar although black would not be my personal choice I can see many would love the color. The more important thing is Mark Lacey is a tremendous skilled craftsman and makes fine guitars. His skills in my opinion would far exceed what any one individual worker at Gibson might be able to do but, maybe not? In any case to be selling that guitar to get a WesMo says something about Gibson guitars. No matter what it seems that this again verifies that boutique guitars are pretty much nothing down the line except of course in a few circumstances where they are revered as the finest in the business.

When I got the L-5 style guitar back from Mark Lacey, it was so minty looking that I am hesitant to pull it out of the case because I have 7 other archtops I could play and not feel compelled to wipe completely down after playing. It is so pretty that I don't want to smudge it up. It deserves to be played because it sounds as nice as it looks.
I have come to find I like guitars that already have some "honest wear" on them. I like the character of a slightly worn tailpiece, pickup cover, or the slight curve of a pickguard. I love my 7 Gibsons that include ES-175s and a Super 400. Most are "vintage" enough that they already have dings and crackles. It would be great to have a WesMo in the collection. I probably won't find one as clean as yours, Midnight Blues, but that will be OK with me. I can respect a gig-worn guitar. Wabi Sabi is what I have learned it is called. Here is one with a worn pickup cover I have seen that I will show you. I myself must look away or my GAS flares up.