Though they technically were acquired by Norlin in 1969, Gibson wasn’t fully under their auspices production wise until the mid 1970’s, and although many of the guitars made by Gibson in the early 1970’s were subject to design and playability changes, the structural changes that came with Norlin’s acquisition didn’t come fully unto effect until about 1974.

Ergo, this great L5CES from sometime close to 1971 has a lot of the great features of a late 60’s L5, with the more stylistic tendencies of its 70’s counterparts.

With a solid spruce top (yep!) and a carved maple back, plus laminate sides, this guitar is surprisingly loud acoustically as well, which is not always the case for later L5s. The nut width is a healthy 1 11/16, but the three piece maple neck has a bit of a slim 70’s C profile to it, and is quite easy to play. The original frets have some height left for playability, though they are low.

This guitar’s in great condition for its age, with some dings on the top, specifically a big one by the pickup selector, but it’s overall in great condition. The bridge has been replaced with a modern gold ABR style, and the tailpiece is a non-Gibson replacement, though it is quite nice!

Comes with a hard shell case, probably original.