Apart from the switch from the script to the "block" Gibson logo on the headstock, the most significant change in subsequent years was the introduction of an electric L-5.
Today the standard model of the L-5 is the L-5 CES, the electric version designed to minimize the feedback that well-carved archtops are prone to when amplified.
The Wes Montgomery model has a single "Classic 57" pickup in the neck position, and a parallel bracing supporting the top.
The Byrdland guitar has a thin L-5-style body and originally came with a narrower neck that featured a relatively short 23 1/2-inch scale length to aid in playing difficult chords.
Unlike the L-5 which had a solid carved spruce top and solid maple sides and back, the ES-5 body was constructed of pressed laminated wood to prevent feedback, Gibson also felt that the best tonewoods were not necessary in an electric model and pressed laminated wood would produce a more affordable to manufacture model and thus could land in many more players hands than the carved instruments.
Contemporary guitarists who play and have played an L-5 on notable recordings as well as live include Tuck Andress from Tuck and Patti, Melvin Sparks, Lee Ritenour, George Van Eps, and Howard Roberts (who used his L-5 to record the opening bars of the iconic theme for The Twilight Zone).
Comedian and singer George Gobel had a special version of the Gibson L-5 archtop guitar custom designed and gifted to him by his friend Milton Berle in 1958, the "L-5CT" (cutaway, thin), featuring diminished dimensions of neck scale (24 3/4") and body depth (2 3/8"), befitting his own small stature, and a cherry red finish (for optimal appearance on Gobel's new color TV show).
It featured the same thinline body of the L-5CT, but the new-for-1961 "florentine" cutaway shape, Super 400-style fretboard inlays, and a unique knight/shield crest design on the headstock.
Gibson produced another model called a "Crest" in 1969–70, but this was a different type of instrument, similar to an ES-330, but with a rosewood body and floating pickups.
It was used by Pat Martino, Paul Simon and, from 1973 to 1976, by Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad (he is seen with the guitar in cover photographs on the band's 1975 live album Caught in the Act); and a custom-made single-pickup version was made for Ronnie Wood, who loaned it to Keith Richards for his 1988 tour with the X-Pensive Winos.
The upper cutaway is purely cosmetic, since the neck base or heel prevents higher access to the frets.
Byrdland (1957–)(thinline, narrower neck, 23+1⁄2" short-scale version)L5-S solid-body guitar (1972–1980s)L-5 Lee Ritenour Signature (2003–)[15]