Boyd

Sounds just like my 1965 J-50. Sorry, too lazy to dig the case out of the closet and get the serial number, LOL. But it checked out as 1965 and it came from Guitar Center who said it was 1965 as well. It has the 1-11/16" nut with a skinny neck carve (which I like), the rosewood adjustable saddle and thick pickguard. Took these when I bought it (2015?), ended up swapping the tuners for new Kluson replicas, just couldn't get the originals to work smooth enough.

I love the way mine sounds. I posted a link to an old thread above, that thread has some videos that apparently compare the sound to other guitars (I haven't watched them). https://forum.gibson.com/topic/166944-gibson-1967-j45-adj-vs-new-historic-1942-banner-j45/

Wow, that looks like a good deal, considering the fact that prices on that model went up a few hundred dollars since I got mine in 2021! But, of course, you wanted the red wine J-45 and perhaps that sells for a premium over the J-50?

Interesting observation. I also have a 2008 J-50 Modern Classic. AFAIK, the neck on that guitar is the same as a J-45 standard. I've A-B'ed the 60's re-issue and Modern Classic quite a bit and think the necks are very similar aside from nut width - certainly not "much deeper". But maybe there's a difference between the J-50 and J-45 re-issues? I recall that they raised the price of the 60's original series a few years ago - shortly after I bought mine. I got mine used at Guitar Center for $1,700 and it could have passed for new. It's interesting to see that you feel $1,900 was a good price today for a guitar with "its share of dings". Guess that's just the result of Gibson's price increases. About a year after I got mine, the bridge started separating from the body on one side. It's not going anywhere because of the bolts for the adjustable saddle and it doesn't seem to affect the sound. But eventually I'll need to get it fixed. IIRC, there's another thread somewhere here about a recent model Gibson with a lifted bridge. Hopefully these are just exceptions to the rule. Glad you're having fun with the new guitar, still really love mine although haven't had much time to play it recently.

I don't know anything about the 2006 custom shop J45, but like I said, I have a 2020 J-50 version of the same guitar and also a "real" 1965 J-50. Visually, it's clearly a tribute to the 60's guitars, I think it's very handsome. The adjustable bridge is also very faithful (aside from the tusq). Nice replicas of period-correct Kluson tuners as well. But that's about as far as the similarities go. The pickguard is the same shape but much thinner plastic (personally, I think the thick pickguard on my real 1965 J-50 looks cool). The neck on the 2020 re-issue is not "slightly" different from my real 1965 guitar - it's dramatically different. The nut width is the same, but the shape is not at all similar. However, I know necks were in a state of change during the period 1960-1969. But the internal construction of the 2020 re-issue is completely different from the real 1965 guitar - it's basically the same as the current J-45 Standard inside. IMO, this is a good thing. I found another thread about this guitar here https://forum.gibson.com/topic/166944-gibson-1967-j45-adj-vs-new-historic-1942-banner-j45/

Nothing wrong with changing tuners! I find the Rotomatics really ugly and got tired of looking at them. I also replaced the original Kluson tuners on my real 1965 J-50 with replicas that look identical but operate much more smoothly. To be clear - not suggesting that changing the tuners make that guitar a bad deal or anything. Was just observing that they might have been changed. Or not. 🙂

Are those Golden Age tuners? Did Gibson ever put those (or any open back tuners like this) on the J-45? No idea, but somebody may have done a tuner swap. Looking at the front of the headstock, I can almost imagine seeing a "bullseye" around a couple pegs like the ones that are left after removing the stock Rotomatic tuners. But that could also just be my imagination. 🙂 I know there are others here who like the Golden Age tuners, but I put them on my 2008 J-50 a number of years ago and they looked great. But was never happy with the way they operated, very stiff and not a high enough gear ratio for my taste. Finally swapped them out again for Kluson 3-on-a-strip closed tuners which were a big improvement.

I have the J-50 version from 2020 and really like it (IIRC, they have discontinued the J-50 version now). Have posted about it a few times, such as the link below. I like the sound of the tusq saddle and adjustable bridge myself. I would ignore comments about the "real" 1960's Gibsons with adjustable saddles. Their construction was completely different from the re-issues, they had a heavy wood plate under the bridge which dampens the sound. But the re-issues are built just like any othe modern gibson but they just have the different style bridge. Also, don't attach too much significance to the narrower neck. It's true that the nut is more narrow, but the carve of the neck is very similar to the standard neck on modern Gibsons. If I was blindfolded, not sure if I could tell the difference myself. https://forum.gibson.com/topic/178597-okay-okay-okay/?do=findComment&comment=2210145

You're posting this in the acoustic guitar forum. Shipping will be very different for a telecaster (I have one) and an acoustic. The telecaster could certainly survive rough treatment and humidity changes better than an acoustic. Might want to post this in an electric guitar forum....

Is it a J-50 Deluxe or just a plain J-50? I don't know if there's any difference, but my 1974 J-50 Deluxe (purchased new) has the batwing pickguard. I think I've seen some J-50's with teardrop guards, but they were much older. We have discussed the newer Gibson natural J-45's before. To me, it doesn't quite look like a J-50. The lack of a batwing pickguard and black nut are obvious differences. But it also appears to have some kind of pearl inlaid headstock logo. I don't recall ever seeing that on a J-50, it seems too fancy. When you add the big chrome rotomatic tuners, the overall effect looks really ugly to me.

Another Truman baby here, although the first president I was really aware of was Eisenhower.

I got my 1974 J-50 new and took very poor care of it. After it became unplayable I had a luthier fix it up around 2013 and he did a great job. When I picked it up I asked if there were any problems and he said the only problem was, he didn't want to give it back. 🤣 My son in law liked it so much, he's had it on permanent loan for many years now. But here are a few old pictures, you can barely see the label inside. It has some nasty stains, probably from kids and cats who liked putting things into it over the years. I checked and old receipt, and its serial number also begins with "A". The original tuners were a mess, one was broken and they were all very stiff from the start so I replaced them with the Gibson in this photo which I got at Guitar Center before I knew there were nice replicas of the originals available elsewhere. Here's what the originals looked like though.

I can't make much sense of these photos, sorry. But, FWIW, I have a 2020 60's original J-50 that I bought in 2021 in 'like new" condition. About a year ago, the bridge began to lift on one side. This guitar has the new version of the adjustable bridge/saddle, so it's securely bolted in place and isn't going anywhere. Haven't done anything about it yet since it doesn't seem to affect the sound or playability, but one day will deal with it. Your experience makes me wonder if the cure would be worse than the disease though!

I was a camp counselor as a college freshman and one of my assignments was the craft shop, where they had a peg board with labels for each tool. Just for fun, we put half of the hammers facing in one direction and the others facing the opposite way, then labelled them right-handed and left-handed. It was pretty funny, all the "right-hand" hammers would get snatched up immediately when the kids came in and most of the left ones would remain. Kids would come up and ask if it was OK to use a left hammer if they were right handed, we'd say, "well, I don't know, the balance is gonna be WAY off..." The best part of it was, if we needed a hammer ourselves, there were always plenty. Eventually we let everyone in on the joke. Have been taking a break from guitar for the past few months and got a Yamaha P-125 digital piano (had an earlier version about 30 years ago and they have come a long way, it feels and sounds like a grand piano). I studied classical piano for almost 10 years but quit in college. Kept playing on and off over the years, but my old digital keyboard became really bad and I completely quit about 15 years ago. Anyway, slowly getting back into it, and pleased that the muscle memory is still there. But that's a whole different right hand, left hand thing. As a "righty", of course I favor that. But you also really depend on the left hand and putting them both together is the real challenge.

Maybe look for one of their 50's original J-50's or J-45's? I think it's the same guitar with a fatter neck (fatter than the J-45 standard). They also include a pickup which makes them a bit more expensive. There are a few threads about them here and the owners seemed really happy. I prefer the skinnier neck, so they wouldn't be for me. The "wannabe dentist" thing went over my head too. 🤣