Looking For Info About Historic Gibson L7 necks

[TEMAS]

Hi there. I'm a big fan of the necks on the mid-late 60's Gibsons and my small hands find them really comfortable. I'm 50 now and my hands are not going to get any looser or stronger, so comfort is the single most important thing for me when choosing a guitar. I already have a 66 Epiphone Riviera, a 66 Epiphone Caballero, a 67 ES-125 and and 68 ES-330 and they all have similar neck profiles and all are 24 3/4 inch scale, which I also prefer. The two 66's have a bit more depth and feel chunkier, but still only 40mm wide at the nut. The 67 and 68 models have less depth and are closer to 39mm at the nut. They all seem to be about 51mm at the 12th fret, and this is the most important thing as it makes them really comfortable between the 5th and 10th fret area.

I'm looking to get an L7 and have mainly been looking at the 1965-69 era because this is what I'm familiar with, but I would like to know if there are other eras of Gibson production also have a narrower profile. I'm not opposed to 1 7/8th nut or even 1 11/16th so long as they are still around 51mm at the 12th fret. I really struggle to play necks that are thick in depth and wider than 53mm at the 12th fret.

When I make inquiries about L7's for sale, I usually find that the 40s and 50s models are pretty chunky and have wide nuts. But I have found a couple of 30s ones that are a bit narrower. Is this common or are they usually just as chunky as 40s and 50s ones? With regards to scale length I believe it is more common to find a 24 3/4 inch scale L7 in the early 30s models. If the necks are also not too wide then maybe I should include 30s era in my search.

Thanks if you have any info on this to share.

[omphalopsychos]

The 16" 30s L7 mostly have a deep V neck and 1 3/4" nut. If you find the 50s necks too big you will likely find these too big also.

The early 17" L7 made from ~35-38 (x braced 24 3/4" scale model) have slimmer necks and a narrower nut 1 11/16". They're a bit slimmer than the 50s necks and definitely slimmer than the 40s necks.

Not sure they're as slim as a 60s neck. I've always avoided 60s Gibsons bc I tend to prefer a meatier neck (e.g. 50s).

[TEMAS]

That’s really useful information. Thanks. So an L7 from the late 30s with 17” body might be worth looking at.

For me it’s great that the late 60s models aren’t so popular because they’re slightly cheaper!

[jads57]

Gibsons from 1950’s on back have larger neck shapes as well the wider 1&11/16” nuts. Starting in 1960 Gibson generally had slimmer shaped necks from front to back.
Late 1965 saw a change to 1&5/8” width necks as well up until 1970

This was pretty uniform with all of their guitars. Hope this helps!