1970 Gibson L-4CNT
The tenor guitar was a clear anachronism by the 1960s,
yet somehow it survived in the catalog pages of a couple of prominent guitar
manufacturers. Gibson catalogued no less than three tenor guitar models through
1966 and continued to build them until 1971, while Martin continued to offer a
single tenor model into the 1980s. Demand must have been quite low, judging by
the number of surviving tenors from this period, but apparently it remained
above zero.
Gibson’s standard tenor models in the 1960s included two
flat-tops and an electric archtop, the ETG-150. Acoustic archtop tenors were
built from 1934 to 1957 in the form of the TG-50, a mid-grade model that was
accompanied in the late 1930s by the more expensive TG-7. Gibson was always
willing to accept custom orders for tenor versions of other models – there’s
even a few tenor solidbodies from the 1960s out there – but, naturally, they
represent a very small proportion of the Gibson tenors built.
This guitar is therefore particularly unusual, not only
as a custom order but also for its age. Gibson built the L-4C from 1949 to 1971,
continuing to offer the cutaway version long after the non-cutaway L-4 was
discontinued in 1956. It was the company’s most expensive 16” acoustic archtop,
more ornate than the L-50 and L-48 but smaller than the 17”-wide L-7, L-12 and
L-5. A natural finish was offered from the beginning on the L-4C, though it cost
more than a sunburst. Like all of Gibson’s mid-grade archtops, the L-4C was
produced in diminishing numbers throughout the 1960s as players turned more and
more to electric instruments.
Starting in 1948, Gibson offered an integral pickguard
with floating pickup. This could be fitted to archtop models at the factory
(sometimes as a standard feature, as on the L-7E) or sold separately to
electrify an existing acoustic guitar. Described in catalogs as simply a
“guardplate-pickup”, it has since become associated with the man who designed
it: Gibson president Ted McCarty. The “McCarty” pickguard was offered with every
combination of nickel and gold hardware, single or double pickups, and shaped
for a cutaway or non-cutaway guitar. It contained integral tone and volume
controls as well. The entire unit was suspended above the guitar’s top, leaving
the acoustic tone more or less unchanged, though the magnetic pickups did
require the use of nickel or similarly magnetic strings. Several other
manufacturers built floating pickups – particularly DeArmond – and several built
similar pickguards with integrated floating pickups – such as Epiphone – but the
“McCarty” unit remains one of the best known and appreciated.
This guitar has a number of
features that must have been custom-ordered, not least of which is the tenor
neck. The existence of a 4-pole “McCarty” pickup doesn’t surprise me, but it’s
rare enough that I cannot find a single picture of another one. The tailpiece is
quite different from that found on a standard L-4C: it uses a simpler trapeze
(probably taken from an ETG-150) but incorporates a rosewood and pearloid badge
modified from the Trini Lopez and Barney Kessel models. There is also the
engraved truss rod cover; I’m not sure who Sister Kate is, but I like to think
the instrument was christened after an old
jazz standard. The
guitar appears to be entirely original and in very clean condition, with just
minor signs of play wear.