I am very grateful to you for showing us the great Gibson archtop collection with a wonderful blonde finish. Ever since I started playing guitar, I have loved Gibson archtop guitars.
When I first moved to LA in 1982, I visited "guitar row" and dropped in on Voltage, Guitar Center, and the maybe 6-8 other guitar shops in that area at the time. In the Voltage window was a very clean blond 1965 L5CES with pointy cutaway. This was a guitar I had lusted after for many years. $900. That's what they sold for then, they were completely unpopular. Unfortunately, $900 was more than all the money I had in the world scraping everything I could together. I probably stood in the doorway of Voltage for a solid 15 minutes just staring at that guitar. I walked away, then came back at least twice. That night, I gradually came to the conclusion that I absolutely had to buy that guitar, if had to put it on 2 credit cards or whatever it took. I went back the next day and it had been sold. Sigh. I coulda kicked myself, I could have figured out some way to snag it.
Holy cats! What a collection. What’s the story behind the Florentine cutaway with the single staple pickup? Was that a custom order or was the pickup added later?
That one was a modified 1938 acoustic which had a heel crack. Someone before me did the Florentine and a cutout for a PAF. I bought it and had Tom Murphy add a stinger over the heel crack repair and then I swapped the PAF for the staple pickup. It plays and sounds Devine. :)
Assuming I am unable to wrestle the gun from my wife….haha….I would have to keep the 1947 L5CC conversion. Why? Well all of the electrics play effortlessly, the acoustics are a little less forgiving, but the white CC bobbin is special in that it was customer ordered and sound hot by Hank Garland and that combined with the exceptional tone qualities found (in my opinion) in the 1947-48 Gibson’s produced a very rich and balanced (perhaps heavier in the lower frequencies) sound. I am also attached to it more than the others since I did the conversion myself. Second pick would be the 61 L5 Florentine because it’s just gorgeous with untouched PAFs and came from Neal Schon’s collection (one of my higschool guitar hero’s (haha).
Mmm great answer. That Florentine is gorgeous. Thanks for the thorough answer, you have an unreal collection. Natural L5's hold a place in my heart for sure. Would love to hear a tone demo video where you go through all of them and let us hear the differences. Jealous is an understatement!! Take care
I am very grateful to you for showing us the great Gibson archtop collection with a wonderful blonde finish. Ever since I started playing guitar, I have loved Gibson archtop guitars.
It appears blonde DO have more fun at Mike’s house….👍
Beautiful collection
Thanks a lot
When I first moved to LA in 1982, I visited "guitar row" and dropped in on Voltage, Guitar Center, and the maybe 6-8 other guitar shops in that area at the time. In the Voltage window was a very clean blond 1965 L5CES with pointy cutaway. This was a guitar I had lusted after for many years. $900. That's what they sold for then, they were completely unpopular. Unfortunately, $900 was more than all the money I had in the world scraping everything I could together. I probably stood in the doorway of Voltage for a solid 15 minutes just staring at that guitar. I walked away, then came back at least twice. That night, I gradually came to the conclusion that I absolutely had to buy that guitar, if had to put it on 2 credit cards or whatever it took. I went back the next day and it had been sold. Sigh. I coulda kicked myself, I could have figured out some way to snag it.
Unreal man. I’d have no choice but to practice 25 hours a day with that collection 😂
Yes indeed. They call to you ever time you pass them and they jump into your arms almost on their own. Haha
dream team... 🙂
Holy cats! What a collection. What’s the story behind the Florentine cutaway with the single staple pickup? Was that a custom order or was the pickup added later?
That one was a modified 1938 acoustic which had a heel crack. Someone before me did the Florentine and a cutout for a PAF. I bought it and had Tom Murphy add a stinger over the heel crack repair and then I swapped the PAF for the staple pickup. It plays and sounds Devine. :)
Gun to your head, you can only have one...
Which is your favorite and why?
Assuming I am unable to wrestle the gun from my wife….haha….I would have to keep the 1947 L5CC conversion. Why? Well all of the electrics play effortlessly, the acoustics are a little less forgiving, but the white CC bobbin is special in that it was customer ordered and sound hot by Hank Garland and that combined with the exceptional tone qualities found (in my opinion) in the 1947-48 Gibson’s produced a very rich and balanced (perhaps heavier in the lower frequencies) sound. I am also attached to it more than the others since I did the conversion myself. Second pick would be the 61 L5 Florentine because it’s just gorgeous with untouched PAFs and came from Neal Schon’s collection (one of my higschool guitar hero’s (haha).
Mmm great answer. That Florentine is gorgeous. Thanks for the thorough answer, you have an unreal collection. Natural L5's hold a place in my heart for sure. Would love to hear a tone demo video where you go through all of them and let us hear the differences. Jealous is an understatement!! Take care