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When did Eddie Lang switch from the L4 to the L5?
L50EF15
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‘Lo all. I asked this question over on the Acoustic Guitar Forum, and someone posited that Lang might have alternated between the two depending on the session. Listening to his work with Venuti, it sounds like the L4; more bass, less cutting tone.
Then there are things like The Blue Guitars sessions with Lonnie Johnson, or pieces like April Kisses that sound like the L5; you can hear how it cuts and projects.
Anybody have any ideas on this question?
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No idea I'm afraid - but interesting question.
I've been waiting for @Lango-Django to respond to this one. If I were on Millionaire, he'd be my Eddie Lang lifeline.
That’s a good question. Wish I had a better answer.
We know that Eddie used an L-5 in the “King of Jazz” movie which was filmed in the summer of 1929…
Once upon a time I had an archive of magazine articles and sheet music about Lang, but due to getting older I wanted to pass it along to the younger generation, so I gave it all away to a young fella out in Iowa who lurks at this site. He seems as nutty about Lang as I am… wish I could remember his name….?
Anyway there was an August 1985 issue of guitar player magazine in that trove talked a lot about this subject..
In the summer of 1928 (if I’m not mistaken?) Eddie got a special tour of the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, MI.
Eddie wanted to buy two L-5’s, and whoever was Gibson’s master luthier at that time—- Lloyd Loar—-? I’m not sure.
Anyway this guy and Eddie spent an afternoon together during which the two of them went through the warehouse tapping blanks for tops backs and sides to find the perfect tone.
(BTW, how would you do that kind of tapping and what would you be listening for? I would love to learn more about this from Holo and Baumgarter and all our other illustrious luthiers.)
Anyway, the wood for both guitars was chosen, ie maple back and sides and spruce top I believe.
The only difference between the two finished guitars was that one had block inlays and the other had dots.
Eddie’s beautiful young wife Kitty remembered in later life that when the big box from Gibson was delivered to their apartment in NYC (in 1929? I think.) she was delighted to find that there was also a beautiful Gibson ukulele in the box for her… she and Eddie had met back when she was a chorus girl looking for uke lessons!
Will
PS Damn, I just stumbled on this article which covers our subject in exhaustive detail, far better than my version…
Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."
Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
Wow! Those string gauges seem brutal! It's like he just bumped all the strings down a notch and then added a bass guitar string for the "sixth" string.
Yeah, once I tried putting those guages on my old archtop.
I played a gig with them and it felt like my hand was crippled forever.
After the gig I wound up hanging out into the wee hours with my friends Steve B. and Jeff Healey.
We got lit and decided to jam along with Steve B’s vast 78 collection.
So I played my banjo and Jeff played my guitar.
He was soon swearing at those strings and ithat was the only time I ever actually managed to out-play him!
Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."
Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
Thanks all! I had settled on 1927 as the dividing line, based on listening to various recordings. The linked article makes me think that reasonable, or maybe 1928.
I wonder about the back/sides materials of pre-1930 L-5s. I recently got to play a 1929 example with birch--and the luthier who restored it says that it's not unique. (BTW, it is an incredible instrument, lively and responsive and very playable.) On the other hand, the prewargibsonl-5.com site says that by 1925 the L-5 had maple back/sides. I don't doubt that Lang could have hand-picked maple for a custom build, but I wonder what the specs for production L-5s were in 1928.
Further digging suggests that the usual materials for early L-5s was spruce top, maple rims, and birch back.