Tag Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I have interest in a 1968 Johnny Smith but with one thing that seems to be wrong. I own a 1972 JS now, and have owned several from the 60s in the past. All of them have had the top of the Neck/fingerboard (where it attaches to the body) built into the neck, and not floating above the neck as on L5s and most other jazz guitars. I had read long ago where JS wanted this feature to increase sustain in the upper registers. (Makes sense) Well this particular JS has the fingerboard floating above the top, like on an L5. All other construction methods seem to be standard JS. (25" scale length, 3" body depth,X braced, proper headstock, pup etc,etc. My question is did Gibson actually make some like this, or is it a repair or a re-necked guitar? It sounds fantastic, and like youb would expect, seems to resonate acoustically better than a stock JS, but loses a little of the punch that I think the neck into body design adds. Soi tonally, it sits somewhere between a JS and an L5. very cool, but they want pretty much top dollar for it, which I am not going to pay unless its the way Gibson made it. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Here is the best pic I could get of it. You can see right at the 17th fret the fingerboard raises up off the top, where normal JSs stay right on the top to the end of the fingerboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimR56 Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 To me it seems more likely that it came from the factory that way originally. Could have been a custom order detail, I suppose. If the entire neck and headstock look to be correct for a JS and correct for the period, it's harder to imagine that somebody re-necked it that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tag Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 To me it seems more likely that it came from the factory that way originally. Could have been a custom order detail, I suppose. If the entire neck and headstock look to be correct for a JS and correct for the period, it's harder to imagine that somebody re-necked it that way. Thanks, I appreciate it! I ended up trading my Johnny Smith for it. It seems like everything concerning the neck is stock, and for some reason or another, (which could very well be the raised fingerboard)it sounds absolutely amazing. More responsive and alive, and I have owned quite a few JSs. Very cool guitar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimR56 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Thanks, I appreciate it! I ended up trading my Johnny Smith for it. It seems like everything concerning the neck is stock, and for some reason or another, (which could very well be the raised fingerboard)it sounds absolutely amazing. More responsive and alive, and I have owned quite a few JSs. Very cool guitar! Glad to hear it! I've had quite a few Gibson jazz guitars, but only one J.S. It was a '62, which I sold a couple of years ago (photos here: http://www.archtop.com/ac_62js.html ) If you'd care to post any photos of any of yours, I'm all eyes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.