Mr.Woody

Hi all, My J-45 is being worked on this week at 3rd Coast in Chicago. It's a warranty-covered bridge re-glue. Just curious how stuff like this affects resale? Do you disclose those things in the listing? Is it like it never happened? Do you have to lower the price? Not currently looking to sell, but i've never had warranty work done before and it made me curious 🙂

Nope, they didn't even mention it when I told them. Seems they weren't worried at all. Just wish I could find a good use for the other COA display part

I emailed them about my "1942 J-45 Legend" not having one, and after sending in a copy of my receipt and a couple pictures/video, they made one for me and sent it out free of charge. In fact, they sent me the wrong one first, so now I have an extra one laying around for someone else's guitar lol

This is outstanding!!!!

I bought this and still have it. The grain in the bridge is distinctive and runs nice and parallel with the bridge. Also the top grain flares out just a hair just south of the bridge. I love it.

I don't remember how it happened, but the other night I found some pictures of my guitar on the Chicago Music Exchange website. I took a real close look at the top grain, but more so the bridge grain and it's for sure mine. I bought the guitar new in 2019, and this was the last one of the run they had in stock. I felt like a proud Papa who stumbled upon pictures of my kids that I hadn't seen before. Mine is the J-45 in the top left in this phot, and the left side in the next photo. These were taken from this blog post from sometime late 2018/early 2019: https://www.chicagomusicexchange.com/blogs/news/gibson-montana-limited-acoustic-guitars-at-chicago-music-exchange I may email them and see if they have any other nice shots of it!!! Anyone else ever have this happen?

Well, I just sent an email over to Vince Wynne at Gibson. He helped me previously when I was trying to obtain a COA for my guitar, so it seemed smart to just continue that email thread with him. Hopefully he'll point me in the right direction. Anyway, I did make a video to share with Vince along with the pictures just so he can see it. Thanks again for all the help guys. I'm feeling better about this, and even played for a little while tonight......man that guitar sounds great!!!!

Thanks everyone. This really is helpful. Unfortunately I'm on night shift 7p-7a 7 days a week right now, so I haven't quite fit the call in. I do have tomorrow off, but my sleep hours don't quite line up with CME store hours. I suppose it'll have to wait a few weeks until this job ends. Thanks again!!!!

Thanks guys. That is helpful info. I wonder if CME falls in that category, it if I would do better somewhere else. Any recommendations in the Chicagoland area?

So, while practicing this morning, I discovered that the bridge has started lifting on my Legend J-45. I bought it new from Chicago Music Exchange so I know it will be covered under warranty and backed by both Gibson and CME, but I'm just super disappointed / sad /frustrated / anxious about it. I really love this guitar, and I'm not sure was having it fixed will do to the sound. I also don't really want them to refinish the top. I love the way the burst looks and even the fact that it has scratches on it from me. I know it needs to be done, but just wish it didn't happen to begin with. I've taken great care of it, left it in the case when not playing it, kept it humidified, heck, I think I've even started wiping down the strings more often LOL all that to say I've taken care of this guitar like I've never taken care of a guitar before. So many questions I have about this now. Will this do anything to the value? Do you think they would end up changing anything on it, or just removing the bridge and re gluing it? Do you think it will change the sound? Etc. Can you guys ease my mind on this a little bit? Here's a couple pictures, let me know if you can't see them. It's not terrible, but I guess it never is right when it starts.

Yeah, my newer Legend (1942) has the largest neck I've ever held. Well north of 1", though I haven't measured it. The J-45 Vintage does have a similar, though (if I remember correctly) slightly smaller neck.

We were discussing this in another thread, and the question came up about which J-45s do NOT have the pearl dots on the bridge. Mine, a 1942 J-45 Legend from CME, does not, but I'm curious about others. Here's mine. Let me know if this picture doesn't show up.

I just started looking and it seems like pretty much all J-45's do. Am I right in this? Seems odd that they would have this particular model without them. I don't particularly like the pearl dots, so I guess it works out.

Yeah, my "1942 J-45 Legend" was a model that was originally only for the Japanese market. It looks like CME " bought out" the rights to order this model for their store? Not sure why, but it is the only Banner style J-45 I've seen without the 2 pearl dots on the bridge beside the pins (The new J-35 reissue is the same) When I did research on it prior to buying, the only demos/reviews were from Japan.

Here's this one!

I really love the Lyric in my J-45. Used it at church today into the Venue DI with all the controls at noon (flat) and it sounded GREAT!!! Doing some recording with it tonight and again, it sounds great.

Oh, also for anyone curious about Crowder, here's "Ray" his SJ. It's looking more and more beat up 🙂

OP here: Wow, thanks for these replies!!! I'll check some of these out for sure. Yeah, i'm looking for artist who pretty much ONLY use J-45's the way Willie uses Trigger. And more specifically, I'm looking for modern artists more so than "vintage" artists 😉 On the flip side, i'm looking for people who mainly use Banners lol but that seems to be a small crowd. Paul Simon: I guess i'm completely wrong about that one. Not sure where I heard that. Sean Watkins: I knew he used to use the 50's J-45, but hasn't he been using the LG-2 that Jackson Browne (e?) gave him (see video about 5:30 in)? I haven't seen him with a Banner yet. And of course the J-50 and the SJ both count 🙂 Also, David Crowder has 2 old Gibsons. One is a 1948 SJ and one is a 1946 J-45.

I know the J-45 is ubiquitous, but I didn't become a real Gibson fan until 3 years ago, so I'm not familiar with artists who are known for their use of a J-45 acoustic. More specifically, are there well-know artists who ONLY use J-45's and not other model acoustics? For instance, I'm aware that Paul Simon used J-45s for a long time before moving on to something else (Martins?), and James Taylor used his J-50 (close enough) before moving onto Olson. Thanks so much!!

Well, here's an updated version of an earlier post.

I created this backing track so others could use it for singing / playing. Play or sing over it and post back here 🙂 I don't know how to insert youtube videos, so here's a link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn6rB0-F6ww Here's the lead sheet https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CGCUfgX9ZzRTsFOL7L5HwFg4Bs0Av2Kf/view?usp=sharing

I'm now a firm believer in the dirty strings theory (or science). This Thursday will be 1 year with the same set of strings on my J-45, and I've really grown fond of the sound. They are NOT dead sounding, but nice. I'm a music major and play guitar every day. Since day 1, I've been using the GHS fast fret product to clean the strings. Maybe not EVERY time I play, but most times I play. BUT I've never really wiped them down after using it. A couple days ago, I finally decided to use a terry cloth towel to wipe the stings down after using the fast fret. The towel didn't show any signs of dirt/filth, but the strings suddenly sounded and felt brand new. The string squeak that faded after the first few weeks of playing was suddenly back along with more top end. I guess the fast fret made sure the strings didn't get TOO dirty, but it didn't really clean them out like the terry cloth. I'm hoping to make a video comparing them to a video when they were first put on. Not sure there will be much of a difference now..... really amazed.

Well, i can trade you my J-45 WITH COA for yours 🙂 heck, i'll even pick it up local

Thanks so much. I actually ended up re-recording it as I forgot my intro (required for class), and I wasn't super happy with the vocals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFIrX-8us6E

Well, I could take a picture of my wife holding my guitar, then put THAT in the frame. Then it'd be my 2 favorite things in the world in 1 picture 🙂