View Poll Results: Your L5 choice
- Voters
- 85. You may not vote on this poll
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L5 acoustic floater ok
15 17.65% -
L5ces 2 pickup
34 40.00% -
L5 Wes 1 pickup
36 42.35%
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Wesmo. Especially if I can replace the Wes insert with a plain one (no disrespect for Mr. Montgomery intended).
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01-14-2021 02:13 PM
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Despite the WesMo love, I think the bridge pickup, even unused, has an impact on the sound of the L5ces. Less feedback, and a less acoustic/stringy quality as well. I notice it also between ES175 and ES165. Love them both, but the 2 pickup tone is stronger, the 1 pickup probably picks up more microphonic from the more strongly resonating top for what I call a "stringy" sound--and I don't mean that negatively at all. I just prefer the smoother, more electric sound of the L5ces.
But if you want to give me a WesMo to prove me wrong, I'm up for my mind being changed!
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What most don't realize is the top plays a way bigger role than 1 or 2 pickups does. Thick top, thin top, wide grain or tight, stiff or soft.
My VSB Wes has a very thick top with grain so tight you can see no lines. It is darker than midnight in January. My Blonde Wes has a thinner top with wide grain a more airy tone. My Wine Wes has a top between the 2 and by far is my favorite tone.
Right now I own 3 Wes's but have bought 6 Wes's, 1 L5CES, and 1 L5P BJB and none of them sounded the same.
You could blindfold me and play one of my L5 Wes's and I could tell you which one you are playing.
Buying 1,2, or 3 L5's won't make you a expert. Being a Danny W. will. The wood stack of the build is the bigger factor.
When I bought that L5CES from TMZ 3 years ago it sounded exactly like my Tal Farlow so I decided not to keep it.
Ask any builder, the spruce top, the carve, and the stiffness is everything in the tone factor but yes a 2nd pickup will deaden the top more than 1. Personally I have a 175 and Tal's for that type of tone. Not to mention a CES weighs a lot more.
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Danny W is like the man with so many beautiful daughters.
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I voted, but really my choice would be the smaller L-5 Signature or a thinline. This might not be a popular opinion, but larger 17" bodies over 3" tend to bother my shoulder
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Originally Posted by Paulie2
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Originally Posted by vinnyv1k
My 2003 L-5 CES is 3 ounces LIGHTER than my 1996 L-5 WESMO.
My 1948 D'Angelico Style B has a thicker top (by far) and a brighter tone (by far) than my 1935 D'Angelico Excel and my 1937 D'Angelico Style A.
Having had many archtops of all sorts, my experience is that 2 pickup models tend to be more feedback resistant and have more tonal options than one pickup models of the same guitar. For a real world gigging musician, those are important traits.
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Marco you just proved my point about wood stack and density of the wood. Every guitar differs because every piece of wood varies in weight, density, and hardness.
The wood plays the biggest factor. Yes I already admitted that a 2nd pu will deaden the top but then you might as well just buy a laminate.
I learned from the best....Mr.James D’Aquisto. I had to beg him for a floater and he was mad about that.
For me a carved top set up like a Les Paul makes zero sense. Better off with a 175.
To each their own. No wrong choice just a personal one.
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I wonder if a heavier bridge that adds damping mass on the top would imbue the single pickup L5WM with much of the character of the double pickup L5CES.
My other thought is clamping a set of weights with neodymium magnets on the top and obverse side of the soundboard where the bridge pickup would have been.
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Everything matters including bridge mass and height, neck angle, etc...
For me l like simple. Don’t like too many knobs on my amp either.
Joe Pass summed it up best with his 92 175 saying I don’t like too much iron on my guitar.
Configuration choices is a good thing. We all have what we want.
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Originally Posted by vinnyv1k
why no two are ever really exactly the same
cheers
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I'd love to have an L5-CES. They are way too expensive for myself. If I were a Jazz player, maybe. I'm more of a rock/blues player that knows some outside notes who likes archtops.
I have a L5-CES style laminate top guitar and a Gibson L7. Those will have to do.
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WesMo for sure:
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Sweet MB ! I think single pu is sexier too.
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I love Wesmo’s, because that’s what I have, but would love to try a CES. For me, I think it would be splitting hairs, as I like the variety of archtop sounds I can get from my current toolbox. I think a CES, much as I would love to have one, would probably be at the peak of the curve for ROI where satisfaction starts to diminish, unless I sold my Wesmo, which will likely never happen.
A great solid top jazz guitar is like a sound experiment stretching out over years, watching and listening to changes in the sound as my skills improve and the wood ages. I can’t stop the experiment in the middle, I’ve only been working with this test subject for 22 years
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Originally Posted by Stringswinger
The Wes Montgomery L5 is elegant and simple, having only the electronics that a jazz player would typically use. Also, I find that built-in pickups with volume and tone controls are the most versatile for live performance. I am not sure I will ever buy a Wes though, because I really like older/vintage guitars and a single pickup version was not offered in the old days, unless by custom order.
Having said that, I don’t feel I am in a position to vote for the Wes without the experience of owning one. I will say that my CES’s have been wonderful guitars, with great tone and virtually no feedback trouble. The second pickup, although never used, may be a factor in all of that. My L5C (with Johnny Smith pickup) is very nice to play around the house, but I seldom play it on gigs as it’s a little too bright when amplified. A tone control would help but I don’t feel the need to modify it, especially when I will probably still grab the L5CES when heading out to a gig (if we can ever play gigs again).
Keith
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Originally Posted by floatingpickup
My solution to the dilemma is to have both
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Bottom line if it says L5 on the tailpiece it is a winner.
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Originally Posted by vinnyv1k
MB
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This is one of my favorites, I have others, this really floats my boat
Gibson L-5 finish: What is the name of it?
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Money no object? Give me a super rare L5CT Gobel and an impossibly rare single pickup ES-5.
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I think there must be more L5 owners here than anywhere! I’m in the double pu crowd. I owned a Wesmo and a CES. I sold the Wesmo because it sounded bright. Perhaps it had bad wood?
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Originally Posted by Stringswinger
Keith
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Originally Posted by Crm114
Originally Posted by nopedals
Here's a reissue from '94:
and a few more Gobel-sized guitars:
NOTE!: I no longer own any of these guitars!
Danny W.
Blowin in the Wind
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