Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

Help identify Gibson J40 vintage guitar


coda

Recommended Posts

I purchased this Gibson J40 when I graduated college in 1973. It looks, sounds and plays great. It is currently receiving some TLC from luthier John Thayer of Bremerton, WA who is resetting the neck, reworking the fretboard and rebuilding the bridge. This guitar came with a pinned bridge, I was under the impression they were not manufactured with pinned bridges. Was this a modification to the original instrument? The Serial no. 614244 is stamped on the back of the headstock and "Made in the USA" is below it. There is an orange and white rectangular label beneath the sound hole indicating it was crafted in Kalamazoo. With solid mahogany back and sides and a spruce top that gets tighter every year this guitar really projects great tone. Any information regarding it's creation would be appreciated. Thanks, Brian Grad http://s944.photobucket.com/albums/ad285/bhgrad1/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

I purchased this Gibson J40 when I graduated college in 1973. It looks, sounds and plays great. It is currently receiving some TLC from luthier John Thayer of Bremerton, WA who is resetting the neck, reworking the fretboard and rebuilding the bridge. This guitar came with a pinned bridge, I was under the impression they were not manufactured with pinned bridges. Was this a modification to the original instrument? The Serial no. 614244 is stamped on the back of the headstock and "Made in the USA" is below it. There is an orange and white rectangular label beneath the sound hole indicating it was crafted in Kalamazoo. With solid mahogany back and sides and a spruce top that gets tighter every year this guitar really projects great tone. Any information regarding it's creation would be appreciated. Thanks, Brian Grad http://s944.photobucket.com/albums/ad285/bhgrad1/

 

 

I recently bought a 1971/1972 J-40 in San Francisco. From what I have read, Gibson introduced the line as a "no frills," stripped down dreadnought in 1971 until the early 80s. Mine has the pinless bridge, and is currently having the neck reset.

This was a great option for me, since I couldn't afford a 2000-plus j-45 or a Hummingbird. The resale value for the J-40 is not as high (around or under 1000 bucks), but I'm not a collector, so it doesn't bother me.

 

Here's a bit more info:

 

http://www.ehow.com/about_5367927_gibson-guitar-information.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...
  • 8 years later...

Well,

I have a 1973 J40 with the same symtoms. I had to do the following:

Remove the bindings, cheap cellulose binding. Use a heat gun carefully.

Separate the back with the help of the heat gun

Clean the top from old glue and re-glue it back and make sure it is positioned correct.

Use super glue to close cracks.

After I did that, I realized the stable was shifted. It is now in tune.

Glue back the back.

I went with two 3x7mm, black and white vinyl binding. Not original, but this model was the cheap of the cheapest Gibson produced. But I love it.

Oh, re gloss with cellulose lacquer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...