zeebee Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 Good Day, My first posting on this forum, precipitated by my acquisition of a wonderful all original '59 J50 yesterday. This thing blows me away even though its never so much as had a setup. So many questions......... these adjustable saddles are way cool but I doubt they do much for tone. The original plastic pins are warped and turned soft. Otherwise its in great condition. But the sound..wow.I finally know what all the hoopla is regarding vintage. I look forward to tapping into your knowledge and experience base.....this is gonna be fun. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarstrummer Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 Welcome to the forum. Enjoy your new guitar. It sounds like a great one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLiveSoundGuy Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 Welcome to the forum zeebee. You join a long list of fellow Canadians here. Hope you enjoy your J50 as well as the forum. Let me be the first to recommend either Bob Colosi for pins, nuts. and saddles. I and others here have also had decent luck with some pins we found on ebay. Also StewMac is great for replacement parts of all types. Welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Pup Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 Welcome ZeeBee. Sounds like you found a sweet J-50. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 It's a bit hard to find on his site but I recall that Colosi makes a replacement saddle for the adjustable saddle guitars. It's a non adjustable saddle that is thicker to fit the slot. Toss the adjustable in your case's tool box to save for posterity. As far as 'vintageness' goes. Saddles, pins and nut replacements do not affect the vintageness of a guitar... as long as, in the case of the nut, the installation is done well. These are 'wear items' that are expected to be replaced. Kind of like a vintage car's value isn't reduced by new brakes and tires. But... since this is an adjustable saddle guitar and getting identical replacements is nigh on impossible, save the adjustable hardware for when this beast is retired... which is probably never. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Player Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 Got any photos????? We love looking at the old girls! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 welcome fellow canuck! yes post pix! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeebee Posted July 17, 2008 Author Share Posted July 17, 2008 Funny you should mention Bob...I spoke to him this morning.....great guy, selling good products..........anyway he tells me it would take him about a month to import a bone large enough to fit the ceramic saddle beast on there now. He suggested various options and pointed out the risk/reward thing. He was gracious enough to mention one of his competitors offers a tusq replacement unit. How many guys have the "class" to direct a customer to a competitor if it may be in their best interest. I'll mull over options for as long as it takes to make a decision. No rush as it still sounds better than anything I've ever strummed. Thanks for the comments I'll post pics in the next day or so....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 Funny you should mention Bob...I spoke to him this morning.....great guy' date=' selling good products..........anyway he tells me it would take him about a month to import a bone large enough to fit the ceramic saddle beast on there now. He suggested various options and pointed out the risk/reward thing. He was gracious enough to mention one of his competitors offers a tusq replacement unit. How many guys have the "class" to direct a customer to a competitor if it may be in their best interest. I'll mull over options for as long as it takes to make a decision. No rush as it still sounds better than anything I've ever strummed.Thanks for the comments I'll post pics in the next day or so.......[/quote'] Maybe it was his competitor where I saw it. I was looking for one for my Epi a year ago or so. I never got around to ordering it. Maybe I ought to get around to it. You got a link to that 'competitor' with 1/4" thick saddles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeebee Posted July 17, 2008 Author Share Posted July 17, 2008 Gotta an email enquiry out to GraphTech....I'll let you know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jefleppard Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 welcome, winterpegger! seems the commonwealthy are takin' ovah. this is a great place for all answers from every possible POV. oh yes, of course....we need pics. yes, yes, we love pics...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilliangirl Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 Welcome to the forum, Zeebee! I'm jealous that you've got that guitar. One of my fav singer/songwriters, Gillian Welch, owns a 1956 J50. You don't find too many vintage Gibsons in Canada it seems. Anyway, enjoy your guitar and post pics if you can! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeebee Posted July 17, 2008 Author Share Posted July 17, 2008 Will post pics in next few days...I'm in the middle of a household move this weekend......but thanks for the warm welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeebee Posted July 17, 2008 Author Share Posted July 17, 2008 Took a quick break from packin.lets see if this works...sorry for poor quality, on the run http://photoshare.shaw.ca/view/13879475809-1216344667-60895/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jefleppard Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 Took a quick break from packin.lets see if this works...sorry for poor quality' date=' on the run http://photoshare.shaw.ca/view/13879475809-1216344667-60895/ [/quote'] lol! we are all cut from the same cloth, aren't we? guitar players. outside of anything life threatening, there is always time for our little wooden friends. she's a beauty, btw. how would you describe it tone-wise? what are the woods? it has been said here that the adj bridge is a tone killer but the opposite has also been said. what do you think? congrats on the new box and good luck with the move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemply Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 Congrats on the J50! Your right there is something about that vintage sound! I was thinking the same thing about the loss of tone with the saddle bridged acoustics! Actually I was consdering ripping it out and putting a non saddled bridge in? eeepp! I had done some reading up on the 60's era Gibson Acoustics and really couldn't find much about the addition of saddles other than they put 'em on because they could?! There was no mysterious reason why some models were saddled and other were not. However, the main concensus seemed to be that the saddles will affect tone in some way. I would really like to hear a more descriptive sound report if you get the chance! Thanks! Enjoy you nice acquisition! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemply Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 She looks to be in fine shape... someone loved that guitar. I really couldn't tell by the photo but do you have adjustable saddles on your bridge or did I misunderstand your previous post? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnt Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 Hi Zeebee welcome to the forum. The lions are on tea break but the gladiators available for advice, decapitation etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeebee Posted July 18, 2008 Author Share Posted July 18, 2008 It has the adjustable saddle....ceramic. Poses a dilemna as it sounds great now as is ( the geet is 100% original) but.......I've heard it can be even better with a saddle swap. I'll wait and put off the decision because as I've said...very playable as is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GottaBeGibson Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 Here's the GraphTech Tusq replacement for the adjustable saddle: Tusq adjustable saddle for Gibsons I would suggest however, that if you like the sound of it now, leave the original saddle in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeebee Posted July 19, 2008 Author Share Posted July 19, 2008 Congrats on the J50! Your right there is something about that vintage sound! I was thinking the same thing about the loss of tone with the saddle bridged acoustics! Actually I was consdering ripping it out and putting a non saddled bridge in? eeepp! I had done some reading up on the 60's era Gibson Acoustics and really couldn't find much about the addition of saddles other than they put 'em on because they could?! There was no mysterious reason why some models were saddled and other were not. However' date=' the main concensus seemed to be that the saddles will affect tone in some way. I would really like to hear a more descriptive sound report if you get the chance! Thanks! Enjoy you nice acquisition![/quote'] Gibby likely hired a snot nosed engineering grad who then walked into Mr gibby's office and plunked down 100 pages of "look at them numbers and graphs" OR PERHAPS........, the blind project leader of the Les Paul project got confused after goin for a piss and ended up in the acoustic room............either way a true engineering/executive decision FU. And now they've left me and countless others holdin the bag and trying to decide if we should pursue heritage over tone......the bastards. Theres no doubt this led up to the Nixon era. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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