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Norlin J-45


ol fred

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Good to see it went for $620 since I have one that fits that description almost exactly. Also good to see what appears to be an accurate description.

 

 

Another thing I noted was that this guitar had damage to the upper rim where strap buttons had been screwed through the side in the past, similar to our recent discussions on this forum. It clearly did not go well, as in one case, the screw obviously tore out through the side as a result of loading, resulting in a larger hole.

 

I still think this is a dumb idea, even with an internal backing block. With the small backing blocks we've seen installed, what may happen is that you will tear out an even larger chunk of the side at some point.

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I would say most anyone who has owned or played Norlin era J-45s would understand this completely. Sad but true.

 

 

Hey, I resembled that statement (yes sadly ... and notice the pass tense)! 35 years ago (having suffered a theft of my guitar and a couple of years without), I was strolling the mall and saw a J45 Deluxe in the window of a record store (a second with no case) and thought "WOW what a nice Gibson!". Well not so nice tonewise as it turned out (it looked good and playability was really guite nice) but it served me well and made me a Gibson man so perhaps it was $300 well spent. So now I have a few really wonderful Gibsons and a beater (said J45) that is worth twice what I paid for it. So this POS turned me on to Gibsons. If it had been a Martin POS 2nd, I'd be on the Martin board now and wouldn't know all you fine folks.

 

All's well that ends well

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Hey, I resembled that statement (yes sadly ... and notice the pass tense)!

 

Yea, me too. I bought a '72 J-40 new, and we also had a 70s J-45 Deluxe and a J-45. The J-45 came with a snake rattler in it -- that was kind of cool,except for the snake I guess. The Deluxe had the double X brace -- one of the worst guitar bracing ideas ever.

 

Later I traded both the J-45s for a 1931 L-2 -- one of the best sounding guitars ever built by Gibson and anyone else too. Finger pickers come to my house to worship that guitar.

 

So indeed -- all's well that end well. And of course we do have four other J-45s -- '42, '43, '43, '52 -- and they are fine indeed.

 

Let's pick,

 

-Tom

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Yea, me too. I bought a '72 J-40 new, and we also had a 70s J-45 Deluxe and a J-45. The J-45 came with a snake rattler in it -- that was kind of cool,except for the snake I guess. The Deluxe had the double X brace -- one of the worst guitar bracing ideas ever.

 

Later I traded both the J-45s for a 1931 L-2 -- one of the best sounding guitars ever built by Gibson and anyone else too. Finger pickers come to my house to worship that guitar.

 

So indeed -- all's well that end well. And of course we do have four other J-45s -- '42, '43, '43, '52 -- and they are fine indeed.

 

Let's pick,

 

-Tom

 

Good to see the above post and JDD707's posts. In the early 70s, I too saw a Gibson (an SJ Deluxe)in a window and scraped my money together, borrowed some from my girl friend at the time, and traded in a guitar I had so I could buy that reasonably priced Gibson so I could own a far better guitar than I'd ever owned so far in my young guitar playing journey. It never let me down either and so much for its double bracing...it always sounded (and still sounds) great. True, it went through numerous threats to self destruct through the years...but, an authorized Gibson station or person always got it back to playability...with a neck bending heat press, fixing it when it started to collapse, fixing its cracks (Norlin issues) plus...reattaching its headstock when I accidently dropped it while someone was photographing me with it; and Gibson helping me fix a hole in its back when a carjack in my trunk acidently went through the soft shell case I originally had for it when I took it to a place to play..(its own history of war stories...those two were my own fault...but, also evidence of my playing that guitar and never hesitating to take it out with me as a player needing a workhorse guitar.)

 

While I now have a ton of other guitars (mostly Gibsons and some vintage Epiphones) that Norlin Gibson SJ was the initial building block of 'em with my later obtainig guitars that supplemented it, gave me options to it, or improved upon it. Still play the SJ sometimes and it still produces.

 

QM aka Jazzman Jeff

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As a veteran Norlin-victim, it took me over 25 years and 25.ooo dollars plus 12 non-Norlins to get around the trauma.

 

Still glad whenever I hear people speak positively about their one of a kind Norlins.

 

And it happens more often than you would think.

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I am kinda in the same boat as others here in that the first new Gibsons I ever looked at were those made in the 1970s. Not having any kind of expendable cash in the 1960s I could not afford new Gibsons (or any decent make) so bought used guitars. Ya'll need to remember that at the time music stores would take in something like a 1950s Fender tweed twin amp on trade and then stash it in the basemnt because they did not want something that they did not have a hope of selling taking up floor space. I could not tell you the year most the guitars I played were made other than a decade because it was pretty tough to figure it out. It was not a big deal though. All that mattered was whether you liked the guitar and could afford it.

 

Finally in the early 1970s I was making enough scratch to actually go look at new guitars. So off goes I thinking it will finally be nice to own something that was not all worn out looking. Over the weeks I played a few Gibsons and every time left scratching my head wondering what had happened to have made things go so terribly wrong in Kalamazoo. 50 or so years down the road, the newest Gibson I have ever owned was made in 1960 and is a J-200 (which is now my wife's guitar).

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As a veteran Norlin-victim, it took me over 25 years and 25.ooo dollars plus 12 non-Norlins to get around the trauma.

 

Still glad whenever I hear people speak positively about their one of a kind Norlins.

 

And it happens more often than you would think.

 

 

Universal Law my friend. Nobody ever seems to own a dog of a guitar - it is always the next guy's guitar that sucks.

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Still glad whenever I hear people speak positively about their one of a kind Norlins.

 

And it happens more often than you would think.

 

That is certainly a legitimate point. It can happen for any number of reasons.

 

First is a reason we often forget -- there are some forms of music and some environments where "good" guitars are more than is needed. For some applications, lesser guitars are fine and even preferred.

 

Second, when talking about the guitars of the 1970s in general, the average quality was historically low, but the sound quality of individual instruments could be surprisingly high. For some reason, there are some jewels out there -- although you need to search and listen to find them.

 

Finally, some of these guitars can be souped up to become good, or even great, guitars. A lot of early 70s Martins had their bridgeplates replaced and braces scalloped, and became killers. I don't have any similar specific experiences with Gibsons from the same period, but is probably also true. The main problem is that these instruments were over-built, so some wood can be removed without destabilization.

 

Let's pick,

 

-Tom

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Zomb and Tom – You you probably know I like stories from way back when. . .

From before people really knew anything about acoustics and yet some (a chosen few) did.

 

Z – Not sure I got it. Did you actually purchase a Gibson back then or did you jump brand.

 

T – The story about these few insighters getting' their interiour shaved is gold.

Read about 60's-folkies doin' it, , , aired a few posts on the topic and even shared thoughts with EA behind curtain here.

Always wonder if it would be necessary to remove the back or if thin arm could make their way through the sound hole - Must be mighty difficult to steer. Talked to more than one luthier about it and they both mentioned so called finger-planers if working though the hole. Recommended back removal though. A daring game it would be – maybe one should send the Inspired By Texan 64 to an eager doctor.

Or oneself try to step by step sand on a sunny day next summer.

 

Regarding good Norlin's, of course there'll be some well driven in tanks out there. In fact I met one last year – not loud, but good and very gibsonesque singing.

 

And you are right. In some situations the tight voice from 'xactly that type of instrument is the thing – still not in acoustic face to face jams, if you aks me.

 

I hereby send a thought to Weller and the guy from The Low Anthem. They seem strongly loyal to theirs.

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Nope. I did not buy a new guitar that day nor did I turn my Back on Gibsons. I just figured I would stick with older Gibsons. There were plenty of them around so no need to worry. Same thing with Fender electrics. Scary thing though is I had my 1930s L-00 with me in case I needed some trade bait.

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Always wonder if it would be necessary to remove the back or if thin arm could make their way through the sound hole - Must be mighty difficult to steer.

 

 

Shaving the braces is normally done through the sound hole -- it is amazing how much can be accomplished without removing the back. That does not necessarily mean the arm goes through the hole.

 

Best,

 

-Tom

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Shaving the braces is normally done through the sound hole -- it is amazing how much can be accomplished without removing the back. That does not necessarily mean the arm goes through the hole.

Which means a tool of some kind, maybe more.

Could you under these circumstances reveal which ?

 

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Which means a tool of some kind, maybe more.

Could you under these circumstances reveal which ?

 

 

 

Generally, either very sharp wood carving knives, or very small planes known as "finger planes". You can get them from any good luthier supply source. The planes come in a variety of configurations with different sole shapes for different applications, such as carving arched backs or tops made from thicker flat stock.

 

You "wear" the plane on your index finger, which fits inside a recess in the top of the plane. You may need to reach through the soundhole, but you generally only have to insert part of your forearm. Spruce carves really easily, so you only need very sharp tools and "educated" fingers.

 

Most people who do instrument repair have also created a variety of shop-made knives, chisels, and jigs for working in tight places. Model-makers do the same thing.

 

Watch Dan Erlewine's videos sometime to get an idea of the clever tools and work practices luthiers devise for working in tight places.

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