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Did you see William Pearlstein's Gibson L-5CES Crest in the new Guitar Player Magazine? Like the other "Crest" headstock archtops made in '62 by Gibson, it was commissioned by Gibson rep Andy Nelson and originally sold for $2,000. (It has been advertised on Gbase recently for $123,000.)
This guitar makes my mouth water.
Last edited by Greentone; 04-29-2019 at 10:17 PM.
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04-29-2019 08:44 PM
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I did see it, even though it's heavily restored, still a super rare guitar.
Personally I wouldn't be interested in owning it as it's a thin body L-5 w/short scale, not my cup of tea, but I get the rare as hens teeth aspect.
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24-3/4"
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Yeah GT, unless it's a 16" L-5 I'm not a fan of short scale guitars. But those 16" L-5's are magical.
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Crazy amount of money. To me is not worth any more than a regular L5. In this case not a guitar that thrills me.
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Not a guitar that I would want at any price. Too large headstock, tone-sucking Variwhatchamaycallit, short-scale, shallow rim...I'd take a regular Nashville L-5CES over it and pocket the $117 500 change.
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It's a Super-400 neck, but with a Les Paul scale. Andy Nelson was a player rep who liked the ES-335 series, so he got Gibson to design some ne plus ultra archtops that featured that scale, thinner body depth, and features of the 345/355. Not everyone's cuppa, to be sure.
I'm just a sucker for "strange," like the prototype Byrdlands, etc.
In terms of personal playing preference, however, I do like the 25-1/2" scale.
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Say, did anyone here know Nelson? My understanding is that he was about the best guitarist out there in the 50s/60s--but he did rep work, not recording. Apparently, he was obscenely prodigious in a great variety of styles/genres.
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The link doesn't seem to be an actual link.
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Did you try My L5 Collection | Gbase.com > Guitars Amps & More ?
That looks like his collection from Guitar Player. The Crest is the guitar on the left in the picture at Gbase.
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I saw Nelson twice in the early sixties at Rolly Williams Music ,aGibson dealer in Mpls Mn . Afantistic player...Sorry for the typo,s Mickmac
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Now the jpeg shows up. It didn't before.
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Prototype Byrdlands, ooooh still my beating heart.
Originally Posted by Greentone
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"Life is too short to play cheap guitars." [from the Gbase link] Hey, if you've got, spend it on what you want, I always say. And I have to respect a guy who likes the oft-maligned VariTone (Pace 99% of the guitar buying public. To each his/her own.)
Move the decimal point to the left a ways, and I'd take it.
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Right on, about the decimal point.
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If only I had that kind of change to pocket :-) Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
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I think Danny W. here on forum is selling one like it. Albeit a newer CS model,but at a reasonable asking price.
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wow! A really unique guitar with a fascinating history.
I've never used a Varitone before - is it true that they adversely affect tone?
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I think it's a matter of personal taste. Nowadays, our amps have very good EQ properties and in addition all kinds af EQ pedals are available, so me, I'd prefer that to the Varitone. But it must be remembered that when the original 345 and 355 were introduced in the late 1950s, amps often had just a "tone" control or - at best - a "treble" and "bass" control, so back then the Varitone came in handy. And of course, no pedals were invented at that time. Originally Posted by entresz
Last edited by oldane; 05-01-2019 at 10:29 AM.
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If you've ever played a ES345, you know that a Varitone is not a tone suck. It has a true bypass on setting 1. The settings 2 to 6 offer various scooped tones via notches--accomplished with resistance and capacitance.
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When you look at the mongrels that the Gibson luthiers in Bozeman (and other places) have put out, this one is absolutely tame.
They take for instance a J-200 Jumbo, stick abalone purfling on EVERY edge, inlay MOP on the whole headstock, fingerboard and bridge and sell it to wealthy collectors who think BLING makes a better guitar.... That was always part of Gibson's (and Martin's, too) marketing strategy so this CREST is not so strange after all. Personally I think the proportions are off with the large headstock and the extra control knob - I have the same gripe with the Johnny Smith model : large headstock, small-ish body, shallow depth. The only model where the big head looks completely "right" (to my eyes) is the pre-1960 Super-400..... a sharp cut L-5 IS very attractive but only in it's original form.
The price on this one is pure marketing- I'm pretty much certain that it will not sell for that kind of money. MAYBE if it was an Elvis guitar or if Lennon had touched it once ....
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+1, JEEZ how do these myths perpetuate themselves? Originally Posted by Greentone
I might add that some (or all) of the VT's have chokes in the filter mix and some or all of the VT's (according to prints I have) have a 100k series resistor inline with the #1 bypass selection. At the very worst I'd say it "may" drop volume a tad.
At any rate, players remove the VT and SWEAR they sound better! No wonder drug trials need placebo controlled studies.
The Varitone Circuit Demystified: Scott Sharrard and the | Reverb News
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I think it’s a cool idea. I’m not a fan of the larger Gibson headstocks though - they look silly. Gibson has one of the best headstock designs imo and too much alteration ruins the aesthetic. In this case, bigger isn’t better. However the rest of the guitar is intriguing, even though I prefer 25.5 scale.
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Andy Nelson was my uncle. He was an amazing player and a born salesman. I miss him terribly. After his death in 1995, I wrote a memorial booklet about him, which is freely available at http://www.grinnellfamily.org/images/andybook.pdf. Enjoy!
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