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Gibson Classical C-1


Daniel Rad

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Hi all,

I am new to the forum here. So it begins with a long story. I currently play a strat and was a previous les paul user. Recently my 81 year old uncle told me a story about him playing some guitar and a few gigs back in 1966 and 1967. He told me about an old Gibson Classical guitar he owned. It was played from 1965-1968 and was put back in the case whenever it wasn't played and it went around coffeehouses and homes and parties. Then he loaned this guitar to his best friend who took it to Vietnam from 1968-1971. Upon return my Uncle had began working a vigorous job of hard labor and it was time consuming. Therefore outside of some playing in 1972 and a few occasions in the 1980's the guitar had not been played and therefore had not been restrung since 1968.l He eventually let me play this guitar. The old strings still on it I played an e chord and it simply sounded a half step down, so I tune it up and it stays in tune like a dream, play it a little bit and as soon as he saw the smile on my face he told me to borrow it he asked me to put new strings on it and clean it up a bit. And how grateful I am for this. So about the guitar: it is a 1961 Gibson Classical C-1 Bound spruce top, bound mahogany sides and body, rosewood finger board, classical style headstock, frets with very little wear and one bonus that might be a lifesaver, the tuning gears are completely metal which leads me to believe they won't crumble upon string removal. The guitar is in pristine condition other than needing new strings. Holds tune, sounds great. My question here is when dealing with vintage classical guitars such as this what kind of strings would benefit this guitar?

What kind of products as far as cleaners should I avoid? Any advice here would be greatly appreciated. The gears of tuners are some kind of metal but the tuning keys are kluson style plastic or maybe ivory who knows. Would these break easily and what kind of precautions should I take here?

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Nice story. It sounds like you appreciate the guitar and won't pawn it like my son did with the 1975 Fender Acoustic I handed down to him.

 

Not knowing what your guitar experience is, I would suggest lessons. I just started lessons at age 61 and they are really helping.

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