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Nadov22

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  1. I came across this SJ, Cherry Burst, serial 832384, guitar online being sold at a Guitar Center in their vintage department, on the East Coast. I am in Northern California. Occasionally, someone at the large retailer makes a pricing error, and a fine deal can be had. The serial dates the guitar to 1967 or 1969. After viewing photos, speaking with a person at the store, and feeling fairly satisfied, I ordered the instrument for $1200. Initially, upon receiving it, I was disappointed to pick it up and find it heavy. I put fresh Martin mediums on it, and was blown away by the crisp D-18 like highs, and classic Gibson low end response, and the overall playability of the guitar. Stoked right? Errr, wait. After more closely inspecting, I found that the bridge had been replaced, not uncommon as we know many disliked the adj. bridge, and the headstock appears refinished, missing the crown in the middle. The headstock has a volute, and I learned that some 69’s did have this feature as the model/design transitioned into 1970. The back has an unmatched center stripe, lighter in color than the two pieces of wood it divides. Finally, the binding on both the body and neck is black, it has parallelogram inlays that seem to have been repaired, and I detected some water damage staining inside the guitar on the unfinished grains. There is no sticker or detectable stamp inside. There is no “Made in USA” stamp into the wood on the headstock. The serial is hard to make out but detectable, and does not look altered/tampered with/etc. At this point, I realize some of you are thinking that a greedy hillbilly tried to turn a Japanese clunker into an SJ (I have also entertained this notion), but my trusted local luthier, who worked on Jerry Garcia’s guitars for years, doesn’t think so. And going back to the tone and feel, neither do I. For reference, I also own a 1934 L4, 1990 Advanced Jumbo, 1957 ES225, 1970 D-35, and other great instruments. Not that those details alone are definitive, but it matters to know it when you hear/feel it. John’s analysis (the luthier) is that the guitar was badly damaged, like run over on a rainy day kind of damaged, and the aforementioned hillbilly (not greedy this time) repaired it himself or had his cousin do it. This would explain the black binding work, which is a little heavy handed, water stains, and refinished-ish neck. And even if it’s a natural fact, it still doesn’t verify the production year. The only factory black binding on these guitars I know of is found on the SJ Deluxe model from the 70’s, but those had single rectangular inlays, not parallelogram like this one. There you have it. Is Sherlock Holmes still around or did Moriarty actually get him that last time? PLEASE. HELP, Confounded Gibson Enthusiast
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