MJB51 Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Hi All Newbie here so thanks for having me! I like to restore old guitars (mostly parlors) and I recently bought what I thought was a Gibson dreadnought. It had a missing brace and a cracked brace, a few top cracks and no serial number or label. Missing binding on the neck and top. It also has an eye screw in the top of the headpiece for hanging I assume. I should have known better but I thought the cheap price was due to the work it needed. After consulting with some friends on another forum they assured me it was a forgery. I'm attaching some pics. Live and learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allie Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Hi All Newbie here so thanks for having me! I like to restore old guitars (mostly parlors) and I recently bought what I thought was a Gibson dreadnought. It had a missing brace and a cracked brace, a few top cracks and no serial number or label. Missing binding on the neck and top. It also has an eye screw in the top of the headpiece for hanging I assume. I should have known better but I thought the cheap price was due to the work it needed. After consulting with some friends on another forum they assured me it was a forgery. I'm attaching some pics. Live and learn. I'm sorry to hear this, I hope you didn't spend much for it. That being said...how does it play? sound? is it going in the stable? or out to pasture? Good luck with whatever you do with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 . Ouch! Not even close. That's a pretty bad looking counterfeit. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJB51 Posted November 27, 2015 Author Share Posted November 27, 2015 I only paid $200 for it and it is solid wood top and back. Action is good and it sounded good. Thats part of what fooled me. I thought it had that Gibson dreadnought sound. I contacted the guy that sold it to me. He was probably fooled himself and got it when his grandfather passed away. I'm trying to renegotiate the price since I can no longer restore it and sell it as a Gibson. If not I'll take the Gibson logo off it and sell it. Thanks for the commiserations Allie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatbaroque Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 I don't think it's a Gibson Hummingbird or a Gibson Dove....may be a Gibson Vulture?? Sorry mate..but you must have a sense of humor to share it with us.......I can see the eye hook catching on though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 There's nothing Gibson about that one. Absolutely nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 ... I'm trying to renegotiate the price since I can no longer restore it and sell it as a Gibson. If not I'll take the Gibson logo off it and sell it. ... Sorry for your bad buy. I think what you said is the way to go. Sadly not everyone is as honest as you are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 I had two like that in the late 80s. It was the only time in my life I physically threw a fully functioning guitar in the dumpster. Both of them. In one toss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allie Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 I had two like that in the late 80s. It was the only time in my life I physically threw a fully functioning guitar in the dumpster. Both of them. In one toss. On a lighter note...I'm sure you probably made some dumpster diver very happy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allie Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 I only paid $200 for it and it is solid wood top and back. Action is good and it sounded good. Thats part of what fooled me. I thought it had that Gibson dreadnought sound. I contacted the guy that sold it to me. He was probably fooled himself and got it when his grandfather passed away. I'm trying to renegotiate the price since I can no longer restore it and sell it as a Gibson. If not I'll take the Gibson logo off it and sell it. Thanks for the commiserations Allie. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 Major owie. I have been riding with the angels when it comes to trash can and Mom & Pop music shop backroom finds. Many times the instruments I scrounge up have no labels, logo or anything to tell you what they are. You can only go on features. Putting them back in playing condition though can sometimes involve a bit of a leap of faith. But I am the luckiest SOB in the world when it comes to these kinds of guitars. To me, considering the amount of work this guitar needs is not overwhelming, it might make the perfect candidate for donating to Guitars for Vets or some other worthy cause. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJB51 Posted November 28, 2015 Author Share Posted November 28, 2015 A donation might be in order. Good idea. I too have been very lucky this years finding projects. I restored a 1920's Regal parlor that I bought for $20. I also found an 1895 August Pollmann parlor that is worth about 10 times what I paid now that it is restored. Solid Brazilian Rosewood. I'm not complaining! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 A donation might be in order. Good idea. I too have been very lucky this years finding projects. I restored a 1920's Regal parlor that I bought for $20. I also found an 1895 August Pollmann parlor that is worth about 10 times what I paid now that it is restored. Solid Brazilian Rosewood. I'm not complaining! I know the feeling. My last trash can find was a late 1930s fixed bridge Regal X braced jumbo 12 string. My heart literally skipped a beat when I saw the coke bottle headstock. Very few of these survived. The one before that came out of the back room of a small Mom & Pop store - a 14 fret, solid headstock 1930s Oscar Schmidt-made jumbo. Not as cheap as I usually find them - paid $225 for that one with a hardshell case. Before that a mid-1930s Schmidt "Westbrook" Stella for $50 and a late 1930s Regal Recording King which I initially grabbed for $30 just intending to snag the incredibly rare "valve cover" Kluson tuners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJB51 Posted November 28, 2015 Author Share Posted November 28, 2015 I consider these old damaged guitars "orphans" just waiting to find a new home. Consider how much music has been played on a 100 year old guitar and how many hands have held it. Quite a history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 I consider these old damaged guitars "orphans" just waiting to find a new home. Consider how much music has been played on a 100 year old guitar and how many hands have held it. Quite a history. That's one of the things that sucks a lot of us into the vintage market. I got hooked when I bought my 1948-1950 J-45 back in 1966, even though that would be the equivalent of buying a 1998 or so guitar today. The J-45 had been rode hard and put away wet: jackhole in the rim, pickwear around the soundhole, frets worn down, finger divots up and down the fretboard, and several loose braces. I figure the guy traded it in on a new guitar, having worn that one out. I couldn't imagine how you put that much wear on a 15-20 year old guitar, but it had to be someone who gigged it constantly. Given all the honky-tonk roadhouses around Jackson, Mississippi at the time, it wasn't much of a stretch to imagine how the guitar got so worn. I bought my 1947 L-7 from the grandson of the original owner, so I knew its history, and knew it had been gigged for decades. The guitar and case stank of cigarette smoke, so you knew it didn't get its wear from playing in church on Sunday. Old guitars almost always have a story to tell, whether they're beat to a pulp, or under-the-bed guitars like the near-perfect 1968 ES 335-12 I bought a few years ago. They're hard to beat for pure character, even if a modern Gibson is often a better musical instrument. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 I did my first salvage job in the 1960s in wood shop in high school. I had two Schmidt 12 strings - one with a destroyed (and partially missing) body but a good neck and the other with a decent body but a neck that was twisted beyond belief. I did not have a clue what I was doing but managed to get one guitar together from the pair. These days I have gotten far more picky about what I take in. Had to. I must have had ten ca. 1900 Regal parlors in the house at one time. Most were given to me. It just got overwhelming. I ended up giving most of them to a friend who was starting a store and wanted guitars to help train his folks in repairs. But occasionally I will lapse such as taking in that mid-1930s Regal archtop. Only reason was the odd combination of specs appealed top me - 00 size body, f holes, 14 frets, slot head, and bracing tucked under the kerfing. If nothing else it came with a vintage Epiphone case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 Hi All Newbie here so thanks for having me! I like to restore old guitars (mostly parlors) and I recently bought what I thought was a Gibson dreadnought. It had a missing brace and a cracked brace, a few top cracks and no serial number or label. Missing binding on the neck and top. It also has an eye screw in the top of the headpiece for hanging I assume. I should have known better but I thought the cheap price was due to the work it needed. After consulting with some friends on another forum they assured me it was a forgery. I'm attaching some pics. Live and learn. Not a Norlin? The headstock reminds me of something we have seen in these very pages. I see bottleneck guitar lessons in its future! Fail at that and a bit of bongo playing, then neck resetting practice and brace reglue practice.... Christmas gift for the mother-in-law? BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 I see bottleneck guitar lessons in its future! BluesKing777. And while you're on that riff, have you seen this? slide nut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 And while you're on that riff, have you seen this? slide nut Thanks Nick, I haven't seen that make\model. Looks good with some resolved issues - I have an earlier StewMac one, which needed a card shim on the fretboard side to stop making dents, and did put it a bit out of wack for tuning. I spend a fair bit of time with my Dobro strings raised to learn lappie, but I prefer fretting notes as well ALA Bob J so gave up. ( and found fretboard dent...) BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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