J45 finish

[beekun]

I have a 61 J45, S#27047 with a natural finish - looks like a J50. I've only seen one other 45 finished like this. Just wondering if there's any chance Gibson ever did a natural finish on a 45. I bought this ax off the original owner in 1971 or so for $105. There was a huge, thick, plastic pick guard on it that I removed. When I realized I was going to wear a hole in it I inlaid a sweet homemade mahogany guard. This guitar has some seriously great tone and has aged wonderfully.

Just curious regarding the finish.

[E-minor7]

I thought a natural sloped shouldered 45 shaped G. pr definition was a J-50.

 

But Gibson used a red paint in their cherryburst around 1962, which over time faded to almost nothing. That combined with an aged lacquer could have effect toward warm 'nonness'.

 

I've seen vintage Hummingbirds where you hardly could tell the difference.

[zombywoof]

As far as I know, Gibson applied their pickguards over the finished top. So if you removed the original pickguard evidence of a burst would have been there. While those pickguards covered a lot of territory, they were not all that thick. That does not happen until a couple of years after that guitar was made.

 

The one thing I would check on with a post-1960 Gibson is the bridge plate. Sometime in the early 1960s Gibson went to a larger, thicker maple plywood pad. I always figured this had something to do with the ADJ bridge becoming standard. Point is, if you are going to change out the bridge I would also get rid of the larger bridge plate (if there) at the same time.