ksdaddy

Def B-15

You're right, it would typically be stamped on the center brace but I suppose it could be faint or dirty.

It's a B-25 if it has X bracing. If ladder bracing, then an LG-1. At first glance, the color of the sunburst and the belly-down bridge with rosewood saddle made me think 1969. The serial number is 1968 according to a reliable source on the web.

I looked at the “warning” and it made no sense to me how it got there. It also made no sense as to.... who the “guest” was that PUT it there. So I removed it. Not sure if it was okay to do or not, but I saw no reason for it to be there in the first place.

It's going to last a long, long time. Every year or so I would take it apart, clean and oil the threads on the saddle screws, and keep using it. It will look old and funky but it's not like it's ever going to rot through. And if it gets to the point where the aesthetics are too bad for you, just buy a new bridge and put the old one in the case pocket so you keep the original part, for whatever value that may have in the future. It's all good. Use it, try to wear it out. Bet ya can't.

I have one guitar that is like that. Which is why I never play it. Last time I tried to clean my Telecaster it didn't play right for two months. Shock to the system. Kinda like when the Ewell family showed up in the courtroom scrubbed clean (To Kill a Mockingbird).

The pores will fill up with finger grunge in time. No worries.

It's an ES-330.

Pretty sure the 70s arched backs were the same as the 90s Gospels. Got no proof other than a 1976 music store memory and the brief ownership of a ‘93 Bozeman Gospel.

A couple years ago I bought a 1973 JG0 (bare bones square shoulder dread) cheap on ebay that was a disaster. Slathered in varnish, cracked peghead, no frets left. Oh, and all the bad features of the era from Day One. The cracked peghead had not been disclosed and I returned it. I should have kept it, glued the crack, refretted it and played it. It weighed about as much as a business letter in a #10 envelope and SHOOK when played. I was stupid.

Beginning in the early 60s there was a steady flow of changes that people didn't like, and some things were reversed. Some not. Skinny necks from 1965-69 or so. Heavier bracing, double X bracing beginning in 1971, switch from a 17 degree peghead to 14 from 1965 to 1973, things like that. In retrospect, Gibson went downhill design-wise beginning a lot earlier than most Gibson fans care to admit. People are quick to blame the Norlin era. True, many bad things took place, but the best Les Pauls I have ever played were 1979-80 models from Norlin Nashville. My only LP is a sandwich body 71. Can't get more Norlin than that. Beginning around 1983 they did truly try to change the acoustics for the better. And in my opinion, they did. Bozeman gets all the credit but Nashville brought the build quality up a huge amount. I'm rambling. There are things I would look for in a 70s Gibson. Twisted neck. Truss rod that doesn't do anything. Shallow neck angle. Rotting binding. Having said all that, the 70s necks were mega-comfortable. I would hesitate to buy a 70s Gibson online but if you try one in person and it's structurally sound (see previous statement) and you LIKE it, buy it and ignore the "experts".

I've owned two or three of them. Made in Vietnam or Indonesia in the 60s/70s.

Troll alert.

Most all Gibson bridges went from belly-up to belly-down in 1968 or so. The rosewood saddle is typical of that period as well.

A walnut colored EB-2 was the first Gibson I ever owned. I bought it in 1976 for $10. Unfortunately the headstock didn't come with it.

EB-2

I can only offer my two cents. Put mediums on it. 13-56. Yes, you may have to have the truss rod adjusted. Trust me. It may be a tish tougher to play but the tone improvement will far outweigh that.

I had a dozen stands here. Sold them all on Facebook for $20 or $25 for the entire lot. Pure trash.

Not really but this site is always a help: http://www.guitarhq.com/gibson5.html#melody Any of them. I've never played a bad one. I rehabilitated a junk 1964. The only metal left on it was the frets and truss rod. I gave it the Cadillac treatment, Schallers, Dimarzio Super Distortion, gold Schaller fine tuner bridge, all gold hardware, spared no expense. It was one of the best playing guitars I ever owned. Yes, I dumped a bunch of money into it but it had to be good to begin with. Bling didn't fix anything. It was spot on from Day One. Always The Melody Makers have much thinner bodies and also the narrower headstock. They were also more likely to be seen in a 3/4 scale for young players. They truly were an entry level Gibson that just happened to be rock solid, legit, and viable 60 years later.

Looks real to me. The serial number puts it in the early 70s but that's a gray area at best, as far as getting it closer. I wouldn't get too hung up on the inside label. Someone probably found some in a drawer somewhere and was told to use them. I'm not well versed enough in 335s to know this (or not) but I'm not sure the stop tailpiece was used during that time. It may have been but seems like most of the ones I've seen had trapeze or had been converted. The knobs have been changed and it wouldn't have had that case. Looks sweet though.

lol sorry

I've seen some Kalamazoo Doves from around 1980 that were tobacco sunburst.

My brother bought a used Kay 3500 (circa 1960) at a second hand store around 1962 or 63. In 1964 he got a Holiday electric and soon afterwards moved up to a Fender Mustang, at which point he gave me the Kay. I was 7 or so. This is my brother Paul: Once a year or so, my father would slap on a set of Black Diamond medium strings on it. Child abuse, plain and simple. My brother had the Mustang, my father had a Gibson Southerner Jumbo, and I had a medieval torture device. This guitar never should have existed. The neck was too narrow for a child learning to play. My stumps mashed down on two strings at once. The strings were very high and I think Dad made a new bone nut for it, which I'm sure was a horrible fit. I carried it around anyway. I still have the strap by the way. I never did learn to play this colossal POS. I wish I could go back in time, cut a new nut for it and install some silk n steels. In early '74 my brother gave me a Harmony archtop, which at least WORKED. The Kay hung around until 1977 when I stripped it down, meaning to refinish it. I never did, and it delaminated in the basement. It went in the trash. I sought redemption years later when I did neck resets and basic restoration on TWO Kay 3500s.

Here's the guard on my 1989. It's a replacement, installed in 2007. I put about 7 coats of lacquer on it, which may only be delaying the inevitible. Amazingly, the lacquer hasn't popped loose, peeled, etc. Not recommending this, by the way, just stating what I did 11 years ago. I've done many dumb things. Here's the guard on my 2000. I think it looks like refried dog turd. If I had the opportunity to get a 'good' guard, I probably would. I bet someday people will look on a rubbed out J200 guards as a badge of honor like a worn maple Fender fretboard. People eat Tide pods too.

For me, it comes down to what I want to play at that moment. It's abundantly clear that I have a few guitars that are larger than life and sound like the gates of heaven swinging open with cherubs descending from the sky with trumpets blaring, but sometimes I just want to hear a certain sound or have a particular feel. Sometimes I purposely select one to play that just has a different voice. Sometimes we want Ginger, sometimes Mary Ann, and maybe sometimes we want Mrs. Howell to be our Sugar Momma. For the above mentioned (albeit weak) analogy and for the same reason steak is offered anywhere from raw to burnt, I would never turn my nose up at a double braced Gibson. It could be just what I want to hear at that moment. I would be MORE likely to turn my nose up at it for structural reasons tied to that era...the shallow neck set, rotten binding, 70s neck twist, things like that. A year ago I bought (and returned) a 1973 JG0, which was the cheapest square body Gibson ever made. No body binding, one quick thin spray of clearcoat, basically whatever wood they had on hand and wanted to get rid of. I returned it because the seller failed to point out the unrepaired headstock crack and the coat of varnish someone slathered over the whole guitar with a 4" brush. The frets had been filed flat too. I sometimes wish I had just refretted it and fixed the headstock because it did have a nice rumble that I could feel in my ribs. Oh well.