Gibson L6-S, anyone?

[rollyfoster]

I haven't been able to find any discussion on these guitars around here. I hope I'm not the only person that plays one! I'd like to get some others' opinions on them.

Also, I'd like to get a pic of the electronics. My henry-choker fell out and I'm not sure if my tech wired it correctly when he put it back in.

Thanks

[xcycle]

I am looking for a 2nd guitar to go with my G&L Legacy.

My sister has one in her shop but it needs fret work. Checking Harmony Central and wow! Bunches of L6 lovers. It almost seemed abit over the top, like they were all in cohoots with each other to drive up some interest or something.

What is your take on that? I can't play it because it is 200 miles away.

I would be using it for slide mostly and a maple body/neck should be pretty bright right? The guitar is about $300 but will need a $200 refret. Seemed a bit pricey.

Eric

[George Johnson]

I had one back in the seventies. They're made entirely of maple so don't expect a lot of depth tonewise.

Played great though!

[DejavuDave]

I had one of those in the 70's, too. I hardly remember what it felt and sounded like so perhaps it's not fair for me to remark on it, but I do remember thinking it lacked character and I didn't keep it very long --- probably because I started playing strats after that and never looked back. The only Gibson I have nowadays is an archtop.

[paintguy]

I used to have one in the 70's also. My first electric guitar. I don't remember anything about it except some day I would like to get another for sentimental reasons. Oh yeah, I bought it because Santana played one, and I thought I would sound like him if I bought it.:jo Of course I didn't.

I would invest $500.00 for a decent one.

Larry

[The Golden Boy]

Nifty guitars.

Welcome to the Gear Page BTW!

[leond]

The L6-S was my first electric guitar also. I remember paying $400 cash for it. Back then, that was a lot of clean dishes (I was a dishwasher).

I ended up trading it plus $50 for a used Gibson Howard Roberts.

Rumble Seat Music has one in exc condition for $1250.

LeonD

[Rich]

Rumble Seat can keep it for 1250. To me thats just dealer price hyping because it "vintage."

I had 2. One black, one natural. Both excellent condition. Paid 400 (private) for the black and 600 (dealer) for the natural just a couple of years back. Nice enuf guitars but not overwhelmingly full of character. Plus they had skinny little necks and low frets.

[Soundhound]

I remember some guys playing those in the 70s, and I played a few at soundchecks etc. A couple played pretty nicely, but my memory of it was that it was a cross between a gibson and a fender, but the wrong kind of cross. Took the worst of both and left out the best of both. Of course, my memory of the 70s is seen through a fairly thick filter of all kinds of, er, substances. Just my .02

[c_mac]

I have owned one for years now. I hate it. I've done everything I can think of to make it sound good and I have failed every time. It just doesn't have a nice chimey clean or a thick distortion. Rumble Seat will have theirs for quite a while for $1250.

[Stormy]

Keith Richard plays a really cool looking black one that I've seen and always wanted (now that I mentioned Keef plays an L6-S the price will probably go up 4K) :jo !

[Mark Barratt]

I played a friends L6S many years ago in New Zealand. It was O.K. but i never got around to buying one myself.
It was, from memory a "bright/thin" sounding Gibson and i seem to recall i wasn't crazy about the neck.
I think Al Di Meola played an L6S for a while, mid 80's.
But -- when i moved to England i tried out the L5S and to this day i always wished i had of bought one of those.
The L5S was a bigger budget version (sort of) and was one of the best guitars i ever played.
It was the Cherry/Sunburst Humbucker version, and great to play but out of my price range at the time.
Pat Martino and Jorma Kaukonen where two players i can remember seeing using an L5S.

[eric102673]

I had one for a while, it sunded cool but it was really neck heavy.

-e.

[mainsale]

I've got a L5s in natural and I like it. I've had it since new in 1979.

[JiMB]

Keith Richard plays a really cool looking black one that I've seen and always wanted (now that I mentioned Keef plays an L6-S the price will probably go up 4K) :jo !

Keith's is an L5-S, black. I saw Ronny Wood use it on one of his solo tours in the 80's. My second guitar teacher had one in a natural finish.

[paintguy]

I have owned one for years now. I hate it. I've done everything I can think of to make it sound good and I have failed every time. It just doesn't have a nice chimey clean or a thick distortion. Rumble Seat will have theirs for quite a while for $1250.

If you ever sell, I would like one for sentimental reasons. Just don't want to pay a small fortune for it.

Larry

[HarryJ]

http://www.harryj.net/l6-2.jpg (http://www.harryj.net/l6-2.jpg)

This is the L6 Deluxe that I have been using since the late 70's. Basically same maple body (but stained in this case), has strings through body and rosewood board. There was no rotary switch with Bill Lawrence's caps and partial phase settings like the L6S.
This had 2 large black plastic pickups that appeared to be totally sealed with epoxy. These were also designed by B.L. and sounded extreamly thin and rather sterile IMHO. (unlike some of the great pup's he is currently making)
I have since changed the pup's. the bridge is an active Bartolini E90, middle is a hot rail wired in parallel, the neck is a super cool pup that Steve Blucher made for me, based on Dimarzio's multibucker. It's 2 single sized 'buckers side by side. This one has a P-90 esque voiced single sized 'bucker close to the neck and a PAF voiced 'bucker on the bridge side of the bucker. Very cool tones. These helped a good bit, but it's still not as warm or throaty as a nice mahogany body.

I remember the L6-S also sounded more on the sterile side with it's B.L. pup's.

Here is a blues tune I recorded with the L6 a while back

Blues clip overdriven tone (http://www.harryj.net/blues.mp3)

Audio Clip (http://www.harryj.net/l6.mp3) short clean

Harry Jacobson
www.harryj.net (http://www.harryj.net)

[c_mac]

If you ever sell, I would like one for sentimental reasons. Just don't want to pay a small fortune for it.

Larry

In my quest to make it sound better I've have done a few irreversible mods like routing out the middle for another pickup.

[paintguy]

That's cool. I would do mods if I felt it really needed it too.That being said, I would like a stock one.

[rollyfoster]

wow, I was expecting more positive feedback... I really like this guitar a lot. mine's a 74 and it's beat to hell, but i really like the small neck on it and the amount of different tones that come out of it. I've never had a problem with it sounding thin, but I also play through a Mark IV.

[stratzrus]

I had one during the seventies as well.

It was beautiful, and I enjoyed playing it, but after a while a few things bothered me enough to sell it.

My main concern was the lack of sustain. I wasn't playing it through a Mesa, I was playing it through a Tweed Bassman, and without modern pedals, notes high on the neck just died without ceremony.

In addition, it neither sounded like a LP or a Strat. This could be a good thing, but I didn't feel that it had a compelling unique voice either. It sounded somewhat like my Ovation Breadwinner, the guitar that preceeded it, and was only kept two months.

I'm sorry not to be able to say glowing things about the L6-S, but it just didn't work for me, although it was a major improvement over the Breadwinner. I had hoped to use it as a Jazz Fusion guitar, but that singing voice just wasn't there.

stratzrus

[karma1]

I also had one back in the 70's - a cherry sunburst model. I bought it used right after my Strat was stolen. Being a big Santana fan, I was seduced by the fact that he was endorsing them. It was a decent guitar, but being a Fender player back in those days, I found it hard to adjust to and sold it after a year or two to buy a Telecaster Custom. Wouldn't mind having one now, though.

A few years ago, I came across a humbucker from an L6S and I put it into the neck position of a Les Paul copy I used to have. It sounded awesome. I did some research and found that they were designed by Bill Lawrence especially for that guitar, and were supposedly the hottest thing out at the time.

[Marty s Horne]

I bought a black one with ebony(?) board in '75 from Sam Ash and used it for 9 years. I liked the feel of the neck (didn't like the maple necked ones) and liked the variety of tones with the 6 way rotary.

[martmouse]

2 things - ditto stratbch's keef response - Keith Richards' guitar is an L-5S, which is really a different beast entirely. As for the L-6, I have never owned one, but I have played and worked on several. I remember that my first bandmate had one that we all loved, but it was 1980, we were all starting high school, we were mesmerized by anything that said "Gibson", and thought everything sounded great through a Peavey solid-state amp. (Nothing against Peavey, just that my tastes have changed...).

As for your comment about the wiring, I was a pro repairman for about ten years (c. 1983 to 1993), and one of the greatest challenges I had was when a guy brought in an L6 that had been converted to a toggle switch, handed me it and a pile of parts, and said that when the rotary switch failed, he had it all ripped out and the toggle put in because the repairman couldn't figure out how to wire it. Could I put it back to stock?

All I can say is that it took a while, but I did it (with a rotary switch from my local Radio Shack). The repair department at Gibson was immensely helpful in therms of providing schematics and diagrams, though this was in about 1991 - I have found them a little less helpful lately. I think that you should be able to find a schematic (and maybe a diagram) on their website. I wish I'd kept the one I had, I'd scan it and send it to you.

Happy hunting,
Martmouse

[Marty s Horne]

Nice tones Harry; not as warm as a Les Paul or as sweet as a vintage strat but with great playing like that it doesn't matter.

[HarryJ]

Nice tones Harry; not as warm as a Les Paul or as sweet as a vintage strat but with great playing like that it doesn't matter.

Hey thanks Marty :-)
Yeah the L6 kinna has it's own voice

HJ

[noises ten]

I bought 2 cherry colored ones, both L6-S deluxes for $300 for the pair about 5 yrs ago.. The one I kept has Rio Grande Pup's in it that give it a very unique darker character.. I like it a lot... I actually sold it once and tracked the guy down and bought it back... I had it refretted, and the nut recut to get a little wider string spacing... Sounds great with the bright switch engaged on just about every amp I have played it through..

I saw one at a guitar show this weekend for $1000.

[rwe333]

Keith's is an L5-S, black.

That guitar SO rawks.
Perhaps I gotta look into the Matte/Saul version - yeah!