Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

New to the Forum


Seventies-Fan

Recommended Posts

Hello to all, I've just been approved/accepted to the community forum and couldn't wait to get in here and say hello from Idaho! (USA)

I'm very pleased to join, and I'm happy to have an opportunity to get to know you all.

 

About me: I'll be 62 years old next summer, I've lived in some interesting places, raised a family, empty nesters now. Music has always been my first love, gotta have it every day :)

I feel fortunate to have grown up with all the great music from the 60's and 70's and by a stroke of luck, I was introduced to the guitar at the age of 6.

 

My Father had an interest in guitar when he was in the Air Force (Korean War), and so in 1962 my Mother went out and bought him a brand new Gibson ES-125, and as luck would have it, my Father didn't really have the time to pick it back up, and wasn't interested in playing anymore, and so at the age of 6, that beauty went into my bedroom and became mine.

That is how my interest in guitar began.

 

I suspect I'm much like most people who love guitars, and over the years you end up with different ones, and sell or even trade them occasionally. Well I foolishly traded that 1962 Gibson in 1975 for another guitar, and that was the only Gibson I've ever owned.

 

Over the last number of years, I have bought a number of inexpensive (but nice) guitars and have enjoyed getting to experience the variations in tonewoods and voices, and the feel of different necks etc. Fun to do and didn't have to spend a fortune!

 

A little over a week ago, I was surfing Craigslist "Musical Instruments" and I saw an AD that read "Gibson Jumbo Flat-Top $250.00" there were NO pictures, and of course my first thought was "That's a scam"! And so I dismissed it and kept scrolling. Well for some reason I couldn't get it out of my mind, and so I went back to the AD and looked at the phone number, which appeared to be local, and so I called the number.

 

The man said he was the original owner, and bought it brand new in Salem Oregon. I asked him what the Model was, and he said he didn't know! I asked him to look into the sound hole and read the label inside and so he went and looked, and reported back that there was no label, just a small ink mark on the trim inside, and he couldn't tell what it said because the ink had kinda run together.

 

I knew I had to go see it immediately, and he agreed to let me come have a look. When I got to his house, he invited me in and the guitar was laying on the dining table in it's case with the lid open. Since I was not up to speed on Vintage Gibson guitars, I couldn't read the ink mark either and so I still didn't know what I was looking at, but I bought it and took it home and have since discovered what a treasure I had found!

 

The man who sold the guitar to me told me that he had a friend who was an accomplished player, and the two of them had agreed to both purchase new guitars and that his friend would teach him how to play, but according to the man, it never happened and he never learned to play, and so this Gibson sat in it's case, basically unplayed until I found it!

 

What it turned out to be (to the best of my research) is a 1967 Gibson SJ (Southern Jumbo) Tobacco Sunburst in it's original case with original hang tag included!

Once I had time to process what I was looking at, I was stunned! There weren't even any scratches on the pickguard, it was like this thing had been in a time capsule for 50 years!

 

Spruce Top, Honduras Red Mahogany Back/Sides, Rosewood fingerboard/Bridge (adjustable w/Rosewood Saddle).

There is the Nitro checking on it, but not nearly as bad as some I've seen since I've been looking. The neck is perfectly straight and flat (he stored it w/tension released).

I oiled the tuners a bit, put a fresh set of Elixir light gauge 80/20 Phosphor Bronze on it, and am completely blown away!

 

I have seen articles that mention that some of the early examples had 4 piece tops in some cases, and I believe this one also has a 4 pc. top on it, which seemed odd for the year.

There is some gorgeous flaming of some sort on the face of the guitar down below the bridge, it changes with the angle of light!

The serial number on the back of the headstock is impressed into the wood, and also has ink in the impression. The number is: 044636

 

I would love to hear any and all input about this guitar, I've only had it briefly but love the action and the tone!

 

Cheers!

post-89253-073185400 1514403408_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome aboard Senenties Fan. msp_thumbup.gif Very nice find indeed. Congrats. Have you tried calling Gibson Customer Service and giving them the serial number to see if they have a record on it? When I got my Gold Top I did and they gave me feed back with whatever I wanted to know. It may be worth a try. Gibson Customer Service is: 1-800-4GIBSON or Email them at: service@gibson.com you should be able to get the year it was made and how much it was new, the model. Good luck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome, Seventies-Fan.

 

A 1967 Gibson SJ is worth around $2,500 or so in the condition you describe.

 

You did very well in that purchase, good sir.

 

:)

 

Thank you sparquelito, I'm happy to have obtained this great old guitar, it really is amazing to look at it and to know how many years it's been silent!

I plan to enjoy it, and treat it well and eventually my son can take it over!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello

I was 63 last June.

What an amazing guitar, many congratulations!

Post your story again in the acoustic section of this forum and you should get many replies.

For pictures; join a photo-hosting site, upload pics to that then use the link they give and paste that into our posts (if you get what I mean).

Photobucket now charges, so most of us use Imgur, Postimage, sites like that. Free.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome to the asylum...

 

I am a child of the late 60s/70s too, (you're about 1 year ahead of me on the age scale)... we were blessed to grow up with the music we had, compared to some of the sheee-ite that we hear today...

 

 

Anyway loved your intro/story.. While it is too bad you can't take back that sale of your dad's gibson, (we have ALL made the same decision at one point. Mine was my first telecaster, (69 blonde)... had I held on to that, I can't imagine what the worth would be today.) The SJ score more than made up for the ES-125 sale from so many years ago. That my friend was a FIND and then some.

 

Enjoy your stay, and by all means, keep on rockin..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

jdgm, kid-blast

 

Thank you for the welcome! It appears that there are a number of us in my age group here! That's pretty great :)

 

Here is something unusual... I could tell by examination, that my guitar has a 4 pc top! I had heard that was done on early examples, but not for one made in 1967.

I contacted Gibson and provided them with serial# and photos, and the response was that it was very interesting and unusual, and that a veteran repair tech said he had never seen one (of that vintage I'm assuming).

 

They wondered if it might have been a "Second" and asked if there was a stamp on the back of the headstock, but there isn't anything except the serial#, so it's not a second.

A bit of intrigue! It sounds great and even though the additional seams are visible up close, they aren't very noticeable.

 

Any Theories?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome aboard Senenties Fan. msp_thumbup.gif Very nice find indeed. Congrats. Have you tried calling Gibson Customer Service and giving them the serial number to see if they have a record on it? When I got my Gold Top I did and they gave me feed back with whatever I wanted to know. It may be worth a try. Gibson Customer Service is: 1-800-4GIBSON or Email them at: service@gibson.com you should be able to get the year it was made and how much it was new, the model. Good luck.

 

Hi Herman, I did call Gibson and sent them pics and serial #, threw them for a loop it seems. They have never seen a 4 pc top on a 1967 Southern Jumbo before...

They didn't really have any other information on it, so I'll just be happy to have it :)

 

Thanks,

-Keith

Link to comment
Share on other sites

jdgm, kid-blast

 

Thank you for the welcome! It appears that there are a number of us in my age group here! That's pretty great :)

 

Here is something unusual... I could tell by examination, that my guitar has a 4 pc top! I had heard that was done on early examples, but not for one made in 1967.

I contacted Gibson and provided them with serial# and photos, and the response was that it was very interesting and unusual, and that a veteran repair tech said he had never seen one (of that vintage I'm assuming).

 

They wondered if it might have been a "Second" and asked if there was a stamp on the back of the headstock, but there isn't anything except the serial#, so it's not a second.

A bit of intrigue! It sounds great and even though the additional seams are visible up close, they aren't very noticeable.

 

Any Theories?

 

it does sound unusual.. but my only theory would just be a guess that back then, they probably didn't have a lot of concern over these kind of details, and just used what was ever available... One of my pals has a Heritage les paul from the early 80s, with a once piece top.. he called Heritage in Kalamazoo with a question about the stock pickups, and just for the heck of it asked them about the top, and the fact it was clearly one piece. the answer was "probably a cleaner piece of wood than normal, that who ever used it decided just go with that instead of the usual two pieces. Really nothing special about it."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

it does sound unusual.. but my only theory would just be a guess that back then, they probably didn't have a lot of concern over these kind of details, and just used what was ever available... One of my pals has a Heritage les paul from the early 80s, with a once piece top.. he called Heritage in Kalamazoo with a question about the stock pickups, and just for the heck of it asked them about the top, and the fact it was clearly one piece. the answer was "probably a cleaner piece of wood than normal, that who ever used it decided just go with that instead of the usual two pieces. Really nothing special about it."

 

 

Yes thanks, I agree I'm sure they probably did use whatever, and occasionally did a little mix-and-matching! Along those lines of thought, I've considered the possibility that maybe they had this pretty top set of Spruce with some flame that didn't quite cover the top, but the Sunburst conceals the seams of the additional top pieces pretty well, and so they actually ended up with a pretty gorgeous looking top.

I was looking at other square shoulder 60's examples on e-bay just to see the photo's and I thought one of them I saw could have possibly had a 4 pc top, so mine probably isn't just a one-off...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...