j45nick

The originals were plastic, and probably would have been white, but might have (rarely) been black. Size should be the same as other Gibson flat tops from that period, but I can't tell you the dimensions. You might go on Bob Colosi's website for more info. Just click on the products tab, and go from there. Elderly Instruments carries Antique Acoustics vintage repro bridge pins, including ones designed to fit your guitar. Bob Colosi

Huh. J-45 12. Not to be picky, but wouldn't that technically be the equivalent of an early B-45 12?

It is a gorgeous guitar. Interesting that it has wood internal side stays, rather than the fabric ones Gibson seemed to use on some other models in the 1930s. Tom Barnwell's 1943 FON 910 rosewood banner SJ has similar wooden stays. I've always thought the side stays were there to mitigate cracking. Maybe Gibson thought rosewood was more vulnerable to this than mahogany. In the late 1940's, Gibson seems to have dropped the fabric side stay and gone to wooden ones, as seen in your NL. Both of my 1950 J-45s have wooden side stays. Modern Gibsons, other than historic re-issues like the Legend series, generally have no internal side stays. This does save a bit of weight, if the guitar rims are the same thickness with or without stays. I have no vintage Martins for comparison, but there are those here who have 1930s Martins and Gibson who might offer comments on this particular construction detail.

If it s a script logo (like cursive writing, with a highly-stylized G) rather than the "modern" block Gibson logo, and assuming the label is a white oval, it is probably from very early 1946. The last serial number from 1945 was apparently 98650.

This is an excellent guitar to learn to play on, and is a really good guitar in general. The headstock details confirm the rest of it. You are missing four of the six ferrules or bushing in the headstock. Those are easily replaced, but getting the right size is important. You may be able to get the required missing parts from Germany, if that is easier than the US for you. International shipments are still moving every day, however, so that should not be too much of an obstacle. Since a fair number of Gibsons were exported to SA, there may also be one or more luthiers or repair technicians there who have not only experience with them, but access to vintage and new parts. You should use light gauge strings on this. They are typically listed by the gauge of the lightest to heaviest string, and will typically be .012-.053 for light strings. Start with either phosphor bronze or 80-20 bronze to get the feel for the tone you like, once you get the guitar in playing condition I don't know if there is a good guitar repair person in Pretoria or not, but there is probably an online guitar community in SA that can help you out in locating someone. You do not want someone with little or no experience in vintage Gibsons doing any work for you if possible. You may be surprised to find a fairly large community of owners of vintage Gibsons in SA. Whether it was because of aggressive marketing or an importer who really stepped up, I'm not sure. There are actually members here with a fair amount of knowledge about the history of vintage Gibsons and Martins in South Africa. Good luck with this. You will find helpful folks on this forum. Family guitars are great heirlooms. You would surprised at how many stories we hear similar to yours. In your case, you are lucky because it is a good guitar, and appears unmolested and in generally good condition. Do some parts research online. stewmac.com and elderly.com. Elderly carrys some of the best repro vintage parts for your guitar. Ironically, they are made in Germany. by Antique Acoustics. On the Elderly website, the tuner buttons you want are their SKU AAB1-cream. They are exact repros of what is missing on your tuners. They are by Antique Acoustics Your tuners (capstans), as you call them are Klusons. I have two 1950 J-45s from early in 1950, and both originally had the same tuners as your guitar. They usually need flushing out with a mild solvent to clean them, followed by a shot of dry lubricant through that lubricating hole in the back cover of each tuning mechanism. The bridge pins could be anything you find locally in the short run, provided they fit all the way down into the pin holes, but are not really loose. The correct pins and endpin from the Elderly website, once again by Antique Acoustics, are their part number AAPS2-PS. the original pins might have been black or white, but that doesn't matter. Elderly does not carry the correct headstock bushings for your tuners, These are a bit harder to find , but a luthier or repair person who has been in business for more than a few years proably has some, or has access to them. On stewmac.com, the correct headstock bushings for your tuners are part number 0738-N. Stewmac.com also has truss rod covers (the missing bell-shaped pate on the front of the headstock) that will fit, but the original on yours would be black with no white border. The size is the same. For reference, their part number is 1210. There are other sources for most if not all of these parts.

To reiterate, a guitar of this age will have bumps and bruises. These are all part of its character, and do not detract from either its value or its functionality as a musical instrument. The only apparent damage is the crack in the top across the corner of the lower bout. That is fairly common, and often results from the guitar being dropped or falling onto its side. Structurally, it is in the best possible place, as the kerfing that supports the top on the inside gives a lot of support to that corner. At the most, a repair guy will clean that crack out and glue it. It may or may not require a small backing cleat in the inside. The missing plastic trussrod cover on the front of the headstock is easily replaced. A close-up photo of the front of the headstock will tell us what parts you might need for repair and re-installation of the tuners (the capstans, as you call them). Period-correct bridgepins and heel pin are also easy to come by. Direct, period-correct replacements for every missing or damaged part I see on that guitar are readily available, and we can give you sources for them.

This does not appear to be a J-45. The stamp on the inside back appears to say LG-1, which is also supported by the lack of an inside centerline backstrip. Measure across the widest part of the guitar. If it is an LG, that measurement will be about 14.25" (just over 360mm). If it is a J-45, the same measurement will be about 16" (about 406mm). If the first four digits of the number stamped on the neck block are 5733 or 5233, the guitar is a 1950. Generally, the guitar appears to be in very nice condition, and does not require any restoration. Everything I see is original. The crumbled-off tuner buttons are easily replaced, and the tuners themselves are easily reconditioned, The broken -off heel pin--really common, as these were just plastic-- is easily punched out from the inside with a pin punch by just pushing on the end of the pin from the inside, and identical replacements are readily available. Do not try to remove it from the outside. The hole for that pin is tapered, and the remains of the old pin must be pushed out from the inside. Do not let anyone talk you into any "restoration". A qualified luthier can inspect it and determine what repairs, if any, are required to put it into good playing condition. We can help guide you through that. The Made in USA stamp on the back of the headstock indicates an export model, which is supported by your location. A surprising number of Gibsons were exported to South Africa in the years after WW2. This is a family heirloom, and looks like a nice guitar. An LG-1 is not on the same level of value as a J-45 from the same period, but still has significant value as a family treasure and a really nice guitar.

Sal, I like your take on this. It is not nearly as dark as either the original electric Soundgarden version or Cornell's acoustic version. Your description of your current situation explains a lot about your earlier cryptic remarks about difficult life changes. Hang in there, my friend. Things can be difficult, even bleak at times. But life is still worth living. Music helps us get through it all.

If you still have the original tuners, it is easy to replace the crumbled original buttons with near-perfect replicas. No reason to throw the original tuners away.

Here's some pretty cool context on several versions of "House of the Rising Sun" that influenced me. House of the Rising Sun I love this song, and probably play it at least once a week. It comes out a bit different every time I play it. That's part of the beauty of it.

Looks great! And welcome aboard.

This is a case where I would go for a modern re-issue with vintage specs. Madagascar rosewood in place of Brazilian would be a reasonable trade-off.

It is a bit odd, for sure. Maybe if I didn't know what the "right" way was, I would not feel that way. But it still looks unnatural to my eye.

Gorgeous, but a bit rich for my blood. I've always admired these. Some of the first "modern" Gibsons.

That makes my hair stand on end. In a good way.

Historically, Gibson and Martin have been the dominant two names in the US steel-string acoustical guitar market. They were pretty much the only two guitar brands (other than Guild) you would consider when I started playing in the mid-1960s. Guild had its own following, and when it came to 12-strings, the bullet-proof Guilds might have been slightly more favored in the "folk" circles I was involved in. The folk rock group I worked with in the early 1970s featured a Hummingbird and a Martin dread for guitars. Most folkies and acoustic blues artists in the 1950s through 1970s played either Gibson or Martin acoustics, if they could afford them. All you have to do is look at album jackets and PR photos from that period to get the feel for it. When I bought my first beat-up old J-45 in 1966, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I still feel that way 55 years later.

Got rid of a lot of hair, too. I need to do that, someday.

Not a bargain. Might be fairly priced. The damage in the neck area would need to be investigated. Not the original bridge, probably not the original finish on the top, either. Nice pickguard.

I'd say you hit the jackpot.

Congratulations, and welcome. A J-45 is a great way to begin your Gibson journey.

When Gibson re-topped my first 1950 J-45 in 1968 ( I know exactly when it was done, because I'm the one who sent it back to Gibson), the installed a belly-down adj bridge. Pretty sure some of the last slope-J's (1968-early 1969?) might have that bridge as well. The OP's bridge looks a bit different from mine: no pearl dots , fat fixed saddle. The photo of the '72 Blue Ridge in Fabulous Flat Tops has a similar bridge to the OP's J-50, but doesn't look like a fat saddle. I always associate the "natural" headstock face with the 1970's, but don't know if that is a hard and fast rule/ You do think of 70s guitars as having the square label which probably would have said J-50 DeLuxe on it. My knowledge of square shoulder models of the 70s is very limited, however.

If you blow the photo up and look carefully, it is because some pins are fully inserted, and a couple are sticking up and tilted , probably due to a string ball end pulling up into the pinhole in the bridgeplate.

I'm guessing you're right. Congratulations.

The good thing is that a guitar does not have to be "collectible" in order to be a really good musical instrument. My re-topped and otherwise non-stock 1950 may no longer be collectible in any true sense, but it is still a really nice musical instrument. If you are looking for a player guitar rather than a collectible guitar, an LG-1 may be a good choice if you are looking for that dry, quick-decay effect that is often a part of great Americana and traditional music. That's especially true if it comes at a great price. You get a vintage Gibson and a good guitar for less money than you would normally expect to pay.

It certainly looks like a Green Bullet. The guts of those have apparently changed a number of times over the years, but it's hard to miss that distinctive case. I had a family friend back in the 1950s who was a big ham operator, and used one of these on a stand. My late father-in-law, who was the communications officer for a Marine squadron of B-25s in the Pacific during WW2, used one in his ham rig as well. They are really distinctive, and were very popular with ham operators. Apparently, they were first marketed as vocal mics back in the late 1940's and early 1950s. The relative fragility of the crystal element probably makes them less than perfect on the road, but they are cheap enough to carry spares. This one has a great vintage tone, cracking a bit and a bit brittle at the top end --perfect for blues harp--but we don't know the rest of the recording set-up. I see a couple of these in that studio. Somebody there is a fan of vintage tone. You wonder if this one is vintage, or modern.