Gary’s Story
In 1997, Gibson’s Custom, Art & Historic Division ran a remarkable promotion. The original buyer was flown first class to Nashville, picked up by limousine and taken to the Custom Shop, where Gibson head luthier Jim Hutchins helped personally select the woods for a pair of special archtops — an L-5 CESN and a Super 400 CESN.
The Custom Shop chose two of Gibson’s most influential archtop designs and dressed them in exceptional materials: select close-grained Sitka spruce tops, highly figured maple, extensive black pearl and abalone inlay work, and custom engraving throughout.
I was not the original owner. I purchased the L-5 from a dealer in Pennsylvania about a year after it was built. From the finely grained spruce top, to the quilted maple sides and back, the hand-laid black pearl and abalone inlay, and the custom engraved pickup covers and tailpiece, Gibson left very little unattended.
Jim Hutchins later told me that only three guitars were made from this wood set: this L-5 CESN, a matching Super 400 CESN, and a third Super 400 CESN with slightly different abalone coloring and other details. I own this L-5 and that third Super 400.
The L-5 has always been my favorite archtop model. This guitar has a touch and feel that is very solid and unlike anything else. You cannot just play it without letting it inspire you for hours.
Unquestionably, this is my favorite L-5 — and the most spectacular L-5 I have ever had the privilege of playing.
