Developed from advanced 3D scans of rare late-50s originals, the reissue is available in Antique Natural and Vintage Sunburst.
Gibson Custom has returned the L-5 to its core lineup with the 1957 L-5 CES Reissue, a recreation of one of the most celebrated archtop guitars ever made.
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Developed from advanced 3D scans of rare late-50s originals, the guitar is designed to capture the look, feel and tone of the vintage instruments that inspired it.
The reissue is fully carved, with a AAA spruce top, a bookmatched AAA curly maple back and solid AAA curly maple sides. Gibson says the construction delivers resonance, depth and responsiveness whether it’s played acoustically or amplified. A Venetian cutaway gives access to the upper frets, while seven-ply top binding and three-ply back binding round out the build.
The neck is a three-piece design made from curly maple with a walnut centre strip, joined to the body with a traditional dovetail joint. Its profile is based on scans of original 1957 L-5 examples, aiming for a substantial vintage-inspired feel. The four-ply bound ebony fretboard has 20 medium jumbo frets, a bird’s beak extension and mother-of-pearl block inlays.
Up top, the five-ply bound headstock carries a mother-of-pearl flowerpot inlay and the Gibson logo. A Corian nut, gold Kluson Sealfast tuners and a rear stinger complete the vintage-correct specification.
Other appointments include a gold Historic Reissue ABR-1 bridge on a rosewood base, a gold L-5 tailpiece with silver inserts and engraved L-5 details, and a five-ply bound tortoiseshell pickguard. Electronics are two unpotted Custombucker pickups with Alnico 3 magnets, each with its own volume and tone control and True Historic gold Top Hat knobs with dial pointers.
The guitar ships with .012 to .052 flatwound strings and a Custom Shop hardshell case.
The L-5 has its roots in Orville Gibson’s carved archtop designs and was refined through Lloyd Loar’s innovations in the early 1920s. By late 1957, the addition of Patent Applied For humbuckers helped define what many players consider the ultimate version of the model, and Gibson describes the 1957 L-5 CES Reissue as the pinnacle of its archtop design.
Key specs
- Body: carved spruce top, figured maple back and sides, VOS nitrocellulose lacquer finish
- Neck: three-piece maple and walnut, 25.5″ scale, ebony fingerboard with a 12″ radius
- Hardware: gold ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic bridge, trapeze tailpiece, Kluson Sealfast tuners
- Electronics: two Custombucker Alnico 3 pickups, two volume and two tone controls, three-way toggle
- Finishes: Antique Natural and Vintage Sunburst
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