Why Shop With Us?
Free Shipping
Free Standard Ground shipping (48 contiguous states, some overweight and Used/Vintage items excluded).
Orders placed before 3 p.m. ET usually ship the same business day.
Learn More2-Year Free Warranty on Guitars
Every guitar or bass you purchase from Musician's Friend (electric or acoustic, New or Open Box) includes two years of protection from manufacturer defects.
Contact Us for DetailsWe're Here for You
Our Gear Advisers are available to guide you through your entire shopping experience. Call or Chat for expert advice and to hear the latest deals.
Contact UsContact Us
Hablamos Español
866.226.2919
Hours:
MON - FRI 5 AM - 8 PM PT
SAT 6 AM - 6 PM PT
SUN 6 AM - 5 PM PT
2015 Wes Montgomery L-5 CES Electric Hollowbody
false falseWe're sorry-this item is unavailable.
Contact our experts for a recommendation of great alternatives. Call us at 800-449-9128.
A signature jazzbox with the finest woods, hardware and craftsmanship.
Montgomery began his musical journey at the age of 19, listening to the early recordings of his idol, Charlie Christian, and learning the solos note for note. His approach to playing jazz involved the heavy use of single note lines, block chords and octaves, plucking the strings with the fleshy part of his thumb instead of using a pick. His unique style and technique would eventually become known as the "Naptown Sound."
Though it all, Montgomery relied on his faithful Gibson L-5 CES guitars. His original instruments were typically stock L-5s that came equipped with either Gibson's single coil P-90 or alnico pickups. Sometime in the early 1960s, however, as Montgomery's reputation continued to grow, he ordered a custom L-5 with a rounded cutaway - instead of the sharper Florentine cutaway - and a single humbucker pickup situated at the end of the fingerboard. It is this guitar that Montgomery is most associated with, and the guitar he played almost exclusively on many of his most important recordings of the 1960s, up until his untimely death from a heart attack in 1968.
The Wes Montgomery L-5 CES built today by Gibson Custom is built to the same specifications as the instrument used by Montgomery in the 1960s - Gibson also produced it briefly as a production model during the same era. Today's Wes Montgomery model features a body crafted with a high-grade spruce top, and high-grade maple back and sides. The body is then adorned with multi-ply black and white binding on both the top and back, with single-ply white binding around the f-holes. The gold hardware includes an ABR-1 bridge with a base made from ebony, and Gibson's period-correct L-5 tailpiece. The 25-½" scale length neck is a five-piece neck made primarily from high-grade maple, with two streamers made from high-grade walnut, resulting in one of the most stunning neck designs in the history of Gibson Custom. The eye-catching neck is topped by a 20-fret ebony fingerboard with pearl block inlays and multi-ply black and white binding, then hand-fitted with Gibson's traditional ES-rounded neck profile. The single pickup is Gibson's legendary '57 Classic, which faithfully captures the unique and subtle variations between coil windings of the original "Patent Applied For" humbuckers of the late 1950s, and delivers a warm and full tone with a balanced response. Other appointments include Gibson's traditional flower pot inlay on the headstock, and Schaller M6 tuners. Indeed, Montgomery's talents have inspired a generation of guitarists, but his guitar and legend lives on in the Wes Montgomery L-5CES from Gibson Custom.
Features
Body- Body shape: Single cutaway
- Body type: Hollow body
- Body material: Solid wood
- Top wood: Spruce high-grade
- Body wood: Maple high-grade
- Body finish: Nitrocellulose
- Orientation: Right handed
- Shape: ES rounded
- Wood: 5-piece maple/walnut
- Joint: Set-in
- Scale length: 25.5"
- Truss rod: Standard
- Finish: Nitrocellulose
- Material: Ebony
- Radius: 9.5"
- Fret size: Standard
- Number of frets: 20
- Inlays: Pearl block
- Nut width: 1.687" (42.8mm)
- Configuration: H
- Neck: '57 Classic
- Middle: Not applicable
- Bridge: Not applicable
- Brand: Gibson
- Active or passive: Passive
- Series or parallel: Not applicable
- Piezo: Not applicable
- Active EQ: Not applicable
- Special electronics: Not applicable
- Control layout: Master volume, tone
- Pickup switch: Not applicable
- Coil tap or split: Not applicable
- Kill switch: Not applicable
- Bridge type: Fixed
- Bridge design: Floating tune-o-matic
- Tailpiece: Trapeze
- Tuning machines: Schaller
- Color: Gold
- Number of strings: 6-string
- Special features: Body and neck binding
- Case: Hardshell case
- Accessories: Certificate of authenticity
- Country of origin: United States
Make Wes your muse. Order today.
- Free Standard Ground shipping (48 contiguous states, some overweight and Used/Vintage items excluded).
- Orders placed before 3 p.m. ET usually ship the same business day.
Every guitar or bass you purchase from Musician's Friend (electric or acoustic, New or Open Box) includes two years of protection from manufacturer defects.
Our Gear Advisers are available to guide you through your entire shopping experience. Call or Chat for expert advice and to hear the latest deals.