The popularity of the L6-S gradually dropped after 1974, despite high-profile endorsements from the likes of Al Di Meola and Carlos Santana.
Pat Martino, John McLaughlin, Keith Richards, Tom Johnston, Paul Stanley, Mike Oldfield, Dave Davies, Brad Delp, Rich Williams, Bob Mothersbaugh, Bob Casale, Martha Davis of The Motels, Allison Robertson, Angus Young and Prince also used the model during this period.
The current L6S neck does not feature the unique "narrow at the nut and wider near the body" taper of the 1970s guitar, but a conventional Gibson shape.
The L6-S Custom has a six way rotary selector switch, complete with "chicken head" pointer knob.
The capacitor serves to limit the low end response of the neck pickup, and also phase delays the signal from that pickup, resulting in a fuller tone, not too unlike the #2 and #4 switch positions on a Fender Stratocaster guitar.
Finishes; Natural Maple, Ebony, Wine Red & Purple Sparkle.
Punkrocker 'Claus Danger' from the Scandinavian garage-rock scene, has been using an all black 1978 version since 1996 for both concerts and recording sessions around the world.
Additionally, 490T/498R Alnico split-coil humbuckers are now used, a six- position switch, a standard Tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece.
Now, instead, according to the Gibson literature, the series in-phase, series out of phase, and parallel out of phase positions have been deleted in favor of 3 new split-coil positions utilizing "four-conductor split-coil wiring" resulting in these selections: bridge humbucker, bridge single coil, both single, both humbucking, neck single and neck humbucking.
[2] This provides more pleasant selections, but eliminates the previous more radical special-purpose settings of the original Bill Lawrence design.
Each L6S is now setup on the Plek machine, resulting in consistently good action direct from the factory.