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Gibson L5-S Custom 1978 - Cherry Finish and 2-piece top - Is this possible?


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Posted

Hi dear L5s enthusiasts!

This guitar is a mystery to me. In all the years of playing Gibson L5s I have never seen one with this finish. So far I only knew about sunbursts, firebursts and natural finishes from that era.  What do you think? Is the guitar refinished?  Also this guitar seems to have a 2-piece top, 3-piece middle and 2-piece back body. None of the L5s guitars from the 70s had that. They all had the 3-piece top, 3 piece middle and 3-piece back body. You can even see it on all the models (firebursts, sunbursts, naturals) through their finishes. The first time I know that this guitar had a 2-piece top was at the Ron Wood Signature L5s Custom in the 2000s (and maybe his personal one was like that too, I dont know). But all the other models from the 70s had these visible 3-piece tops. Any thoughts on that?

 

Very curious about your thoughts.

Screenshot_20210125_180601_com.ebay.kleinanzeigen.jpg

Screenshot_20210125_180603_com.ebay.kleinanzeigen.jpg

Posted (edited)

That's a beaut.   Never seen one like that before. 

I have 2 pics of a wine red one which was on sale at Gary's Classic Guitars some years back - not good resolution - the only one I've ever 'seen'.

winered-L5-SA.jpg

winered-L5-SB.jpg

 

Edited by jdgm
  • Like 1
Posted

Thanks. She indeed is and also sounds nice, but still there stays the question if mine was refinished and why she should be bulit differently than others in this era. Yours is beautiful too. But as you can see in your pictures, yours also has a 3-piece top and a 3-piece back body, so at least the building style seems to be equal to other L5s in the late 70s. Do you know if yours was refinished and may I ask how much you paid for yours?

Posted (edited)

It's not mine - I couldn't afford it - it was about $5k nearly a decade ago!  I wish....!!

I just loved the pic and the colour;  I seem to remember that on the site it said it was a rare factory finish. 

He has a couple of L5s guitars in stock now, both sunburst and nearly $6k.

https://www.garysguitars.com/

Could yours have just faded?  Doubt it....more likely to have been a natural that has had a refinish surely?

I can't see the detail of the binding - is it layered white/black/white like on the one I posted?

My very 1st Gibson was a cherry L6 -S deluxe; Lawrence pickups, through-body stringing, 24 frets.   

I wish I still had it, but now I have an L4-S - AFAIK they were a limited run 2004.

P1020873.jpg

Edited by jdgm
  • 2 years later...
Posted

hi 

reviving topic - any thoughts on 2 piece tops and backs rather than usual 3 for this era? 

i've came across one recently with same bridge as the first post, 1978, everything looks super legit other than that 2piece aspect of it 😉

@Sandbox0 have you ended up buying it ? 

thanks 🙂

  • 3 months later...
Posted (edited)

I had a cherry sunburst L5-S with a two-piece top back in the 70s. Great guitar, fabulous neck. But it was quite heavy.

If I'd known two-piece tops were rare I might've kept it anyway.

Edited by eclecticsynergy
  • 1 month later...
Posted (edited)
On 3/31/2023 at 9:56 AM, Vofcr said:

hi 

reviving topic - any thoughts on 2 piece tops and backs rather than usual 3 for this era? 

i've came across one recently with same bridge as the first post, 1978, everything looks super legit other than that 2piece aspect of it 😉

@Sandbox0 have you ended up buying it ? 

thanks 🙂

See below, my 1975 L5s

On 7/3/2023 at 10:35 PM, eclecticsynergy said:

I had a cherry sunburst L5-S with a two-piece top back in the 70s. Great guitar, fabulous neck. But it was quite heavy.

If I'd known two-piece tops were rare I might've kept it anyway.

My cherry sunburst has a two piece top and weighs 9.2 lb. Two piece tops are quite a bit more rare than the three piece tops. I know of a one-piece top out there too!

SittingInCase2.JPG.703f391a827a7af8bb1e31217906896e.JPG

Edited by Rockabilly69
  • Like 1

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