.A couple of years ago, I started looking into the rare guitars Gibson made in the '70s. The Norlin-era was not fondly looked at over the years, but has been getting a second look now that they are all well past vintage collectable status, and are gaining in value.
Firat I found a Gibson Marauder, which was kind of their attempt at making a Telecaster Deluxe. It's much more interesting than that. The stock pickups were what made it so.
Then I found a very rare (and very odd) Gibson Corvus, and decided to give the Marauder some company.
One of the other guitars from that era was the L-6s
Played by this guy.
... and also this guy, before pausing to throw the TV out of his window.
Those Gibsons cost a couple grand now, and I can't justify spending that kind of loot on something that will be in the back end of my Norlin collection.
Then this showed up online! a Japanese copy of a Gibson L-6s
You just never know what you're gonna get from Guitar Center, as they fail to reveal many details and often have limited pictures. But once they dropped the price nearly in half, I jumped on it, and now it joins my pack of Norlin inspired oddities! Sounds and plays great, but also has a bit of its own identity thanks to the talents and traits of Matsumoku Industries, Japan. They were under contract with American companies to make everything from sewing machines to kitchen cabinets and their guitars were crafted quite well, as they were using computers to lathe the bodies at exact specifications way back 50 years ago! The electronics were often cheap crap, but that made it okay to make upgrades, as you really weren't going to devalue one of these for the vintage market.
It's 50 years old, and cost me a little over $300!
