Gibson L-5 CES 1970 - Cherry Sunburst

For sale today is a beautiful 1970 Gibson L5 CES in a sunburst finish. This guitar features a maple body, spruce top, maple neck with an ebony fretboard, block inlays, and is mostly original. It's a great player and is currently set up with flat wound strings. The only non original part on this guitar are the 70's Grover Rotomatic bulls-eye tuners and the strap buttons.

This instrument has been well loved over the years but not abused. It has a good amount of fret-wear, especially on the first 7. They are not worn enough to cause the guitar to fret-out or to have any bad buzzing. The spruce top shows some wear marks, the largest of which is a previously repaired crack near the switch (see photos). This crack is not moving and the repair is holding well. Other than that, there are some small dings here and there, and lacquer checking. Moving to the back of the instrument you notice the beautifully figured maple that ripples under lighting. There is some buckle worming on the back, but nothing that breaks through the clear coat.

Near the output jack on the side of the guitar, there are some cracks and an impact mark, but they are stable and unmoving (see final photo). There are some other small dings around the sides, but nothing structural. Aside from the chip out behind the 9th fret, the neck is in relatively clean shape. There is a small amount of finish wear-away near the first three frets/treble side.

The action at the 12th fret is 5/64" on the low E, and 4/64" on the high E. The nut width is 1.71", and 2.02" wide at the 12th fret. The weight on the guitar is 7 lbs. 10 oz. To sum up this guitar, it's a super resonant hollow body with an out-of-this-world tone that has seen a ton of play time. It's not perfect, but it is great. It will come shipped in its original hardshell case and will be packed with utmost care. Please let us know if you have any questions on this great L5 and we will do our best to help. Thanks for looking and have a great day!

We are a brick & mortar retail space in Saint Charles, MO (15 minutes from St. Louis) and serve our customers with sales, repairs, appraisals, and estates of musical instruments, amps, pedals, and more. All of us at Driftwood share a passion for music and instruments, and are here to help with any questions Monday-Friday 10-6, and Saturday 10-5.