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1969 Gibson L-5CN

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Serial #: 533387, stamped on headstock

Body size at lower bout: 17", Scale length: 25 1/2" Nut: 1 10/16" Neck depth: .82/.98, 1st/10th frets

Materials: Solid bookmatched handcarved fine grain spruce top; full-depth handcarved solid flame maple back, sides and neck; solid ebony fingerboard with block mother of pearl inlays; abalone torch and headstock logo; 5-ply body and neck binding; bound f-holes.

Hardware: Original gold hardware includes engraved tailpiece with deco insert, Kluson Sealfast tuners, compensated adjustable Brazilian rosewood bridge. Vintage correct 5-ply bound tortoise pickguard installed, with DeArmond 1100 Adjustable Rhythm Chief pickup, volume control and 1/4" jack.

Notes: We've all heard the story. An old barn behind a remote farmhouse. A tattered tarp over a long forgotten vehicle. And underneath, a gleaming '53 Corvette, with the keys still in the ignition.

Just about as often, a guitar might surface in similar circumstances. Once kept by an owner in the Seattle suburb of Edmonds, Washington, this spookily preserved Gibson traveled no further than Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, a wooded resort town just east of Spokane on Interstate 90. Nestled under its perfectly preserved original blue canvas case cover, this guitar looked like it had simply gotten lost for half a century, in that music shop in the Twilight Zone.

By the time this lustrous instrument left the factory in Gibson's last pre-Norlin year, acoustic archtops had become an anachronism, with production just a fraction of the newly popular electric CES models. One of a mere 19 blonde cutaways produced in its model year, this blonde masterwork has been preserved in uncannily pristine, showroom quality condition. Free of cracks or repairs, both body and neck are entirely free of pick, buckle, thumb or fingerboard wear, and show no more than a few faint checks in its gorgeously ambered all-original natural finish.

Crafted of intensely flamed northern Michigan maple, both body and neck show tiger flame figure of exceptional depth. The all-original gold hardware includes the engraved Varitone tailpiece, massive Kluson Sealfast tuners, and compensated rosewood bridge. At just 6lb. 13oz, the instrument is notably lighter than current examples, with a warm, rich acoustic voice with excellent balance, its classic tone highlighted by the floating DeArmond Adjustable Rhythm Chief pickup, with volume control and full size 1/4" jack under the pickguard.

Gibson models of this era are well known to have the sleekest, most elegant neck profiles in company history, and this one is no exception, with effortless action over a fresh high precision setup. The serial number is impressed in the back of the headstock, and no label appears to have been installed at the factory, though in its place an ink-stamped number is visible inside the bass soundhole. (As Gibson had discontinued factory order numbers by this date, the exact purpose of this number remains a mystery.)

Having never left its cover, the original black Gibson hardshell case is similarly immaculate, and contains the original factory hang tags, complete with user instructions. Fresh from its time warp, the rarest of finds, in museum quality condition. It could take decades to find another in this kind of shape: don't dawdle, call now.

Setup: This instrument is strung with medium gauge nickel flatwound strings. The guitar will accommodate lighter or heavier gauge strings, according to preference. String action is set at 4/64" to 5/64" at the 12th fret, with moderate relief for acoustic playing with medium strings. The action may be lowered or raised to your requirements with the adjustable bridge.

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