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Looks like my '01 too. Madagascar rosewood bridge and fingerboard. It was featured prominently in the ads of the day, showing a nice natural finish SJ-200 with the streaky fingerboard. Mine did not have a pickup in it either. Fred
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Don't rely on the serial numbers from that period too heavily. As mentioned, some of those got recycled, and the '66 and '69 SNs notoriously double-used. I spent about a week or so trying to sort out an ES-355 with one of those doubled-up SNs, a few years ago, and eventually as able to get it sorted as a '66. Read up on that aspect a bit more. Fred
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It's actually illegal to date a J-50 in most states. Except maybe Alabama and Alaska...... 🙂 Sorry -- someone had to say it! Based on the features and the serial number your guitar comes up as either a '66 or a '69. The transition from round-shouldered to square-shouldered is not necessarily all that clear either. I think all will agree a '70s-era J-45/50 has square-shoulders, but some '68s show up with square and some '69s with round. Here's a round '68 at Gary's https://www.gbase.com/gear/gibson-j-50-1968-2 Here's a square somewhere else: Here's a '67 at Gary's: Your bridge looks a bit more like the later '60s to me than the mid-'60s. Don't forget -- the other "dreadnaught" stablemates in the Gibson line, the SJ and CW, had been square-shouldered since the earlier '60s. Mixing of parts is/was not uncommon in manufacturing of guitars. My inclination is to say '67, but I would not be too dogmatic on that. Fred
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Fake fake fake
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Goodness sakes.... A truss rod cover. The TRCs with the wide white border are what was used on the SJ-200s in the 1950s. That's why they have the wide borders on them. I suppose that's why Gibson equipped this "1957 SJ-200" with the wide-white-border TRC. Poorly executed, yes, but the correct look. Below is an example from 1952 Fred 4
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Congratulations, Bruce -- I'm glad that you've finally obtained the guitar we've all been reading about in your posts here and on AGF for so long! It looks like a beautiful guitar! Fred
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Wow, that is a beauty, Bruce! Fred
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Yeah, I've been wondering about this change too, moving from a 12" to a "more comfortable" 16" radius. The rounder geometry of the fingerboard was ALWAYS one of the things I loved about Gibsons; to me they felt so comfortable, like an old pair of jeans. Much as I love Larrivee guitars, for example, one of the things I never could really get was the flat fingerboard. Jean came from a classical player's background and so tended to go for the flatter f-board design element, while Gibson had the tighter 12-ish inch radius. Fred
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Just for reference' sake, Jeff, many of the mid-'90s Gospels that I have seen (and I did own a '94 for a while), were not dark-stained at all: they had the (very pleasing!) virtually natural finish mahogany neck, back and sides. So, that, as an anecdotal thing..... 🙂 Fred
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My '56 J-185 has a body depth at the butt of 4 and 15/16". Fred
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Nice job!! Now I wish you lived down the street.... 🙂 (Glad you didn't do the AM radio-sanitized version....) Fred
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Hi, and welcome to the written portion of the Forum! 🙂 For your dilemma, I would suggest that the third guitar is the obvious choice. Sound usually wins, in my book, over aesthetics, except in extreme cases. (That said, the second off-centre burst is pretty goofy though.) The light-coloured wood that was used for the bridge and (to a lesser extent) on the fretboard on example #3 is kind of cool, I think. It reminds me a bit of the gumwood and beanwood that was used on some of the 1940s-era Gibsons for bridges and fingerboards. So I'd recommend "go with the Third J-45". Fred
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Dang -- that was very nice, Sal!! Just great! Fred
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Wow, Tom -- that sounds like a cool and unusual acquisition! Looking forward to a fuller report in a few weeks! Best, Fred
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I had on '07 J-185TV, serialed in early April 2007, and it was a True Vintage for sure. The label, however, just said "J-185". It came with that (ultra-hefty) TV case. Fred