• Model: L-5C
• Year: 1976
• Made In: Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
• Body Style: 17" Carved Archtop Hollowbody
• Finish: Sunburst
• Finish Type: Nitrocellulose Lacquer
• Top: Solid Carved Spruce
• Back & Sides: Solid Carved Figured Maple
• Neck: 3-Piece Maple with Volute
• Scale Length: 25.5" / 648mm
• Nut Width: Approx. 1 11/16" / 43mm
• Fingerboard: Ebony
• Inlays: Mother of Pearl Block Inlays
• Headstock: Split-Diamond Inlay
• Binding: Multi-Ply Body, Neck and Headstock Binding
• Pickup: Gibson BJB-Jazz Floating Humbucker
• Controls: Master Volume, Master Tone
• Control Mounting: Pickguard-Mounted
• Output: Side-Mounted Jack on Clamp Bracket, No Body Routing
• Bridge: Adjustable Ebony Bridge
• Tailpiece: Gold-Plated Engraved L-5 Trapeze Tailpiece
• Tuners: Gold Gibson / Kluson Sealfast
• Pickguard: Bound Tortoiseshell Celluloid
• Hardware: Gold-Plated
• Country: USA

• Original solid carved spruce top
• Original carved figured maple back and sides
• Original 3-piece maple neck
• Original ebony fingerboard
• Original Gibson BJB-Jazz floating humbucker
• Original pickguard-mounted volume and tone controls
• Original side-mounted output jack arrangement
• Original adjustable ebony bridge
• Original engraved L-5 trapeze tailpiece
• Original Gibson / Kluson Sealfast tuners
• Original bound tortoiseshell pickguard
• Original gold-plated hardware
• Original frets with very little wear

This is a beautifully preserved Norlin-era L-5C and a particularly elegant example of Gibson’s flagship acoustic archtop format. Handcrafted in Kalamazoo, it retains all of the classic L-5 ingredients: carved spruce top, figured maple back and sides, ebony fingerboard, elaborate multi-ply binding and that unmistakable engraved gold tailpiece.

 

The floating BJB-Jazz humbucker is a major part of the appeal. Mounted without routing the body and controlled from the pickguard, it preserves the acoustic integrity of the carved top while adding a wonderfully sweet, warm amplified voice. It is exactly the sort of pickup arrangement that suits this guitar, giving plenty of fullness and definition without overpowering the natural resonance of the instrument.

 

Acoustically, the guitar has the projection, clarity and woody response you would hope for from a good carved-top L-5C. Plugged in, it becomes an exceptionally refined jazz instrument, with a smooth attack and rich harmonic character that feels very different from a conventional body-mounted electric archtop.

 

What really stands out is the level of preservation. There is hardly any fret wear, only light signs of careful use and remarkably little wear to the gold plating. For a guitar approaching fifty years old, it has clearly been exceptionally well looked after and remains a very strong collector-grade example as well as a superb playing instrument.

Excellent condition. A very tidy and exceptionally well-preserved 1976 example with only light signs of use over the years. There are no cracks or major dings, the original frets show hardly any wear and the gold hardware remains unusually clean for its age with only minimal natural tarnishing.

 

The guitar presents beautifully both cosmetically and structurally, and the photographs form part of the condition description. A particularly clean Kalamazoo-built L-5C with strong collector appeal.

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