littlejohnny Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 O.k. I gather all my knowledge about acoustic guitars from this place, and I barely have anything to contribute, but here's the thing. In the world of modern Gibsons there are two bracing patterns used on roundshoulder dreads. Guess this explanation of this patterns has been posted here a hundred times, but for those who don't know it, here it comes again: My main question is, what style of x-bracing did gibson use back in the day. From my limited understanding, the advanced jumbo and the j-35 had the advanced x-bracing, what about the j-45, is there a transition year, and what about the early flyers? A different bracing all together? Any insight on this matter is much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-1854Me Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 Seeing as you're the former West Germany , you could not possibly do better than contacting Rudy Blazer and Willi Henkes, down in Tuebingen, who are among the top experts in vintage Gibsons: http://www.antique-acoustics.de/en/reparaturen.htm Fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldCowboy Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 The man speaks wisely! I could tell you stuff, but I defer☺ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpbiii Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 O.k. I gather all my knowledge about acoustic guitars from this place, and I barely have anything to contribute, but here's the thing. In the world of modern Gibsons there are two bracing patterns used on roundshoulder dreads. Guess this explanation of this patterns has been posted here a hundred times, but for those who don't know it, here it comes again: My main question is, what style of x-bracing did gibson use back in the day. From my limited understanding, the advanced jumbo and the j-35 had the advanced x-bracing, what about the j-45, is there a transition year, and what about the early flyers? A different bracing all together? Any insight on this matter is much appreciated. Here is how it all stated. '36 AJ '36 J-35 Trojan '43 J-45 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitar Fundi Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 Something that was explained to me once and I am not an "in the know" expert, but the early Gibson's sound board wood was of trees that were older/denser trees and they needed to be braced lighter also and that you can't really duplicate the early Gibson's without that wood which does not exist. So, bracing was changed to deal with different available top wood characteristics and not to re-voice the guitars. Evidently Adi wood is as close as you can get... just repeating info, but it sounds like it has credence to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pittgibson45 Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 So, is the pic showing that the J-45 started with the standard X brace? In my own oversimplified version of the story, the standard X was one of the things that changed when the 45 was introduced. That always made me wonder why reissues and TV J-45's are often made with the advanced bracing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 From the picture. The early 45 is standard x with scalloped. Timbers from that era were already old just was and is a better guitar all around. My 40s j45s are the same. My l2 isx standard no lacking volume or tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpbiii Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 So, is the pic showing that the J-45 started with the standard X brace? In my own oversimplified version of the story, the standard X was one of the things that changed when the 45 was introduced. That always made me wonder why reissues and TV J-45's are often made with the advanced bracing. Here is a picture of the guitar itself -- certainly one of the best condition old J-45 currently in existence. Gibson experimented with x-brace angles and tone bars (two and three) now and then in the 30s. The body shape for the J-45 first appeared on the AJ in 1936, but the scale length is different. Remember lots of things effect tone and stability -- brace angle, number of braces, brace width and carving, and top thickness. If all things were equal, based on the size, number and scalloping of the braces, you would expect the 43 J-45 to be a stronger guitar than the earlier one. That is resoundingly not the case! Note also the J-45 braces are also tapered. John Arnold -- legendary luthier -- attributes the reduction in strength to that feature. There is general agreement that older guitar sound better with age. Most think that has to do with the aging process itself, and not the materials. Early J-45 tops could be red spruce, Sitka spruce and even mahogany. We have six J-45s and SJs from 1943 to 1953. I can see no differences in the general bracing from that period. Best, -Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlejohnny Posted December 9, 2016 Author Share Posted December 9, 2016 Seeing as you're the former West Germany , you could not possibly do better than contacting Rudy Blazer and Willi Henkes, down in Tuebingen, who are among the top experts in vintage Gibsons: http://www.antique-acoustics.de/en/reparaturen.htm Fred O.k. I'll do that and let you know what I find out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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