Gibson L5-S on Ebay

I gotta wonder if this auction is for real. A friend of mine owned one of these guitars many years ago. It played nice, but not $4000 worth of nice… This auction seems suspicious… ???

From the blurb in the description seems like a joke… but I don’t quite get it…

Nice looking guitar though… and looks in good nick…

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Old, used Gibson guitar

Model L5-S

Color Honey-Blonde (Natural)

This guitar was in perfect tune when I bought it. Now after years of play it is out of tune, so I must sell it and buy a newer guitar that is tuned.

It is still a nice old guitar, a bit worn but ok to kick around garage bands or just to jam along at your local church Hootenanny.

It’s electric, so it needs one of those amplifier things and you must be careful to avoid damage to your hearing; so be careful.

It has a hard case to store it away in when yer not a playing it.

If anyone needs an old guitar to plunk on at church gatherings or just to sit in the corner as an ice-breaker or conversation piece, this one is for sale. Nothing like a family gathering at Thanksgiving or such where a cousin, or an uncle or a gang of kids can pick this old plucker up and justa hoot and hollar with old hymnal tunes…

Jim Crack Corn…

I don’t care.

It was made by that fine old Gibson company that nice feller Orville Gibson started up, I guess it was back a few years, 1894 something like that, those fellers got pretty good and building guitar boxes and things.

Well I’m just selling this old thing so I can buy a newer fancier guitar. One of those modern fancy new Les Paul’s or something like all the other fellers seem to be playing these days

Thanks for taking time to look at this old, used guitar and if anyone is looking for an old used guitar, this one is for sale and still has a few good hymns left in it.


Well, there are 29 bidders who think it is worth 3900 or so. Very odd. ???

Tom,

There is so much about this auction that is suspicious. The country bumpkin act in the ad is just part of it. Gotta sell it cause it went out of tune??? The auction is private so all the bidders identities are also private (not shown). Also, the bidding is at $3950 and it still hasn’t reached the reserve!?! Either the seller is an idiot and did not fill out the selling form right, or he/she is a marketing genius or someone the seller knows is driving the price up to show a false value. My guess is on the latter.

There has to be a Question that can be asked about the guitar that’ll bring the Owner out from behind his FireWall…

If the sale is “For Real”… it’s one beautiful Guitar… I’d have to want that guitar awful bad to pay that kind of money for it… though… It’d have to be the only other guitar in my collection that I didn’t have… Well… :O ???

Bill…

From what I can tell, this was a fishing expedition. The final bid was well above the actual worth of that guitar. My guess is that the seller (through a friend) pushed the bidding as high as he/she could to find what actual bidders were willing to pay. Since it reached above $4600 and still did not reach the reserve, I can anly guess that the reserve was set impossibly high to find out how high actual bidders would be willing to go. Like I said, a fishing expedition. :(

Bet you’re right. Not exactly cricket.

The L5-S is back. This time the seller sounds like an educated man interested in selling. What a sleezeball. I hope no one goes as high this time… :angry:

Is it that good a guitar Mike?

Or is it just historical value?

Ali (Fender freak who knows nothing about Gibsons)

Nothing wrong with putting the price at what you want for something. The last bid hasn’t hit the reserve so it could be just as high as before. At $5000 before an not hitting the reserve I’d say he’s asking a bit much, but if he get it then that’s the price of owning a classic Gibson in what looks like mint condition. It is a a custom blond finish that was not part of Gibson’s production colors. That could bump it up more if that is indeed a factory finish. It doesn’t look refinished, but that’s hard to tell in the pictures. That price isn’t too far off from the going prices on some other L-5 guitars on eBay. That solid body version is right much more rare.

Those were the VERY top of the line Gibson solid body back then. One of the guys I played with in the 70’s had a Cherry Sunburst model. It was one of the nicest most well made guitars I’d ever seen at the time. It was heavier than any LP Custom and felt sturdier. It would not be liked by a lot of players because it had a sort of Sherman Tank feel to it, but that was only in the weight and thick neck (yeah thicker feeling than an LP - I don’t know if it was actually thicker). It’s played very easily and had natural sustain for days, along with a traditional LP Custom tone.

I was looking around a couple of years ago and searched for a Gibson EB-3. That’s the Jack Bruce model. I have one in very good condition and was wondering what they going price for one was. I found one on eBay that had a bit of $4000 sitting on it (reserve met). That particular guitar was one that had been fixed since the neck had been snapped off at some time. It was still going for $4000. I was rather astounded that a bass that only a handful of players, and only one major artist in particular, had made popular would be going for so much then. I’ve since seen some others in various states going from $2000 to $5000 - none in particularrly good shape. That’s way over priced in my book, but it’s a collectors item and that mean the price could be almost anything. Would I sell mine for $5000? No way! I’d want a heck of lot more and probably wouldn’t be willing to sell it at all if what I got didn’t pay off the house. I guess that is enough to disprove my point that the prices I saw were way over priced. :)

FYI: Anyone that has a Gibson should put a TP6 tailpiece on their guitar. I had one on my LP (long ago stolen). They are invaluable tuning devices. I wish every guitar had fine tuners as good as those are, not just the ones with wammy bars.

phoo,

Someone told me long ago that the value of an item is the same as what someone is willing to pay for it. The problem comes in when the prices of guitars become artifically inflated because of a single collectors bad judgement. A good friend of mine owned that same L5-S (blonde) with much better flame in it. It played about as nice and had the sustain of a Carvin neck-thru model electric (pick one). I will admit that it is a pretty guitar, but if it were brand new, I don’t think too many people would pay $5000 for it. Is it worth more cause the gold plate is fading and there are marks on the top? I guess to someone.

By the way, the Gibson L5 is a much nicer guitar than the L5-S, no comparison. The L5-S is little more than a Les Paul with fancy binding thats been run down by a steamroller. And I can truthfully say that I would never pay over $2500 for a Les Paul. I don’t care if it can play all Eddie Van Halens licks all by itself…it ain’t worth it.

Ali, as far as I’m concerned, he should get about $2400 for it (if it is excellent shape). I’ve built too many guitars in my life to see that guitar as any more valuable than that. Solidbody electrics are particularly easy to build and make a fine instrument. $5000? It better go out and get a job and pay bills all by itself for that price. :)

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FYI: Anyone that has a Gibson should put a TP6 tailpiece on their guitar. I had one on my LP (long ago stolen). They are invaluable tuning devices. I wish every guitar had fine tuners as good as those are, not just the ones with wammy bars.


Actually phoo, if Gibson would only install quality tuners, then you would not need fine tuners on the tailpiece. :(

In response to an email I sent the buyer about flaws in the instrument, I was sent to following…
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This in in regard to my auction:
Rare Gibson L5-S Custom honey blonde finish Item number: 7370027206


The L5-S is up for auction which will close in about two days. A buyer has asked me the reserve and has met my reserve price in previous auctions in which I had set a higher reserve.
The reserve is set at $5500.00 and he will bid that before the auction closes. I told him that the auction would run to end and he would win only if he bid the reserve price before the auction closes. If he does not comply, I will not sell at that price after the auction closes if he does not bid the winning bid.

Many of you have bid or offered more or the same and some have expressed great interest in the instrument. I have informed the potential winner that I will give others a fair chance to bid on it. The auction is private and no one knows until it ends who will win, but there is one winner who knows the reserve and is going to meet it.
I like this person and will be happy if he ends up with it, but I also have had great correspondance with a few others and am emailing a heads up. I have told the winner that I will do this and he agrees it’s the only fair thing to do, as other’s have bid on it and expect that they have a fair chance as any other.

Please be advised that if you wish to win this guitar and bid one minute after the close of the auction, you will not win the auction.
Best of luck to all of you. I have sent this notice to all that have expressed interest and to a couple who wrote to say it would never sell.
Part of the reason I am selling this is because of personal health problems that I have been and am presently dealing with, so the sale will help my family and myself with costs that have not been covered.

Thank you all for your interest and to those that have sent me great emails from all over the world and the United States.
Good Luck to you all in the New Year and have a great holiday season. Enjoy your loved ones and I wish you all the best and good health in the future.

Regards
*****



I have never had someone push so hard to sell an over priced instrument before. Tis auction just keeps getting weirder.

???

That sounds very fishy to me. It’s as if they don’t really want to sell it to someone that don’t know. The guy’s in Tacoma and I know there is a big-time guitar dealer with a shop down there (know nothing about him though). I don’t know if that’s him. After reading that response I get the idea that it is nothing more than a ploy to see what the market will be. In other words - it’s not REALLY for sale.