The Last of the Original L-5CT George Gobel Guitars Made by Gibson

This original L-5CT George Gobel guitar weighs just 5.80 lbs. and has a very fat nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Carved spruce top, highly figured curly maple back and sides, three-piece curly maple neck, and bound ebony fretboard with 20 jumbo frets and inlaid pearl block position markers. The top of the guitar has nine-ply binding, the back of the guitar has five-ply binding, the f-holes are single-bound, the neck is triple-bound, the headstock has five-ply binding, and the fretboard has double sets of white lines going down it. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl flowerpot inlay. The back of the headstock is laminated black. The serial number ("62179") appears on an orange label inside the guitar and is stamped in blind on the back of the headstock. Individual Kluson Sealfast tuners with bell-shaped metal buttons. Tortoiseshell pickguard with five-ply (white/black/white/black/white) binding. Rosewood bridge with pre-set compensating saddle and L-5 trapeze tailpiece. All hardware gold-plated. This guitar is in near mint (9.25) condition, with only a few tiny belt buckle scars on the back of the guitar (but not through the finish), a very thin scratch on the back of the neck, and a small finish crack by the tailpiece. There is also some wear to the gold-plating on the tailpiece. At some time early in its life, this wonderful guitar was fitted with a "floating pickup," as is evidenced only by a professionally and invisibly plugged jack input on the side and four tiny holes professionally and invisibly filled on the bass side of the neck. There is also another hole professionally and invisibly filled in on the upper bass bout (probably where there was a strap hole). The original tortoiseshell pickguard has started to 'bubble' so we have now removed it from the guitar. Housed in the original Gibson brown hardshell case with purple plush lining (9.50). With the original case key in the original envelope.

The L-5CT was a "thin line" L-5 with a 2 3/8 inch deep body (instead of a 3 3/8 inch for the standard L-5) and a shorter scale length of 24 3/4 inches (instead of 25 1/2 inches). "It was expressly developed by Gibson for comedian George Gobel (hence the 'George Gobel' nickname) who asked for the guitar to be finished in a gleaming cherry red. The L-5CT was manufactured from 1959 to 1961 in fairly small quantities (43 in all) but a few of them were factory equipped with humbuckers or bar pick-ups, although it was primarily introduced as an acoustic guitar next to the L-5C" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics from the Origins up to 1961, p. 132).

A blonde L-5CT with Humbucking pick-ups is illustrated on p. 115 of A.R. Duchossoir's Gibson Electrics from the Origins up to 1961. "[However, it] was usually offered in a gleaming red finish and this guitar is quite likely one of a kind." The L-5CT Cherry finish (24 3/4" scale) was listed at $620.00 on p. 40 in the 1962 Gibson catalog.

Arguably the rarest of all Gibson guitars, this instrument was almost certainly the last L-5CT that Gibson produced -- it has the serial number "62179" (serial numbers "61450"-"64222" were produced in 1963). According to Duchossoir (Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, p. 183), "the L-5CT was discontinued in late 1961 but the last sample of the original issue (#61308) was actually registered on 27th November 1962 (and is not included in the shipping totals!)."

Gibson produced many Artist models in the 1950s and '60s -- the Les Paul, Byrdland, Tal Farlow, Barney Kessel, Trini Lopez, and Johnny Smith are probably the best known. This model, the L-5CT, is one of the rarest of the Artist models. The CT is a variant of the venerable L-5 (which has a "long" scale length of 25 1/2 inches) with a thinline body and cutaway, and was originally designed for comedian George Gobel. In 1958, Gobel was big-time -- he had his own TV show, and the first L-5CT was presented to him by Tennessee Ernie Ford on Gobel's show. The comedian wanted a thinline, shorter-scale guitar to fit his somewhat rotund and short-armed body, and the CT design was Gibson's answer. The production model of the L-5CT had the thinline body and a "standard" 24-3/4" scale length. Another unique feature of the guitar was the cherry red finish, which was the very first use of that color.

The thinline L-5 design has an easy feel and good balance, but the real value of this instrument is its collectibility -- not only is it a celebrity guitar, but it's also the prototype of a Gibson rarity. According to Larry Meiners's Gibson Shipment Totals 1937-1979 (pp. 33-34), only 43 L-5CTs were built between 1958 and 1961. The above-mentioned L-5CT with serial number "61308" and our guitar with serial number "62179" makes a total of 45. Now that's rare!