j45nick

Sal, that was awesome. What guitar are you using for the slide? This is a superb arrangement, by the way.

Yeah, but the case was extra. Probably another $5.

The Legend was a really good price, but that's a two year old listing.

Yep. Not many people want to trade down, or trade at all for that matter.

Use the blade as a pull scraper, with light pressure, pulling horizontally, like a drawknife. You may need to tilt it a tiny bit at the top in the direction you are pulling. Use a fresh blade, and move it so you don't take more than a couple of strokes on one section of blade. You can do the same thing with a utility knife blade, but they are harder to hold. I do this so much I buy the razor blades in packages of 100 or more.

Looks good! You might try using a single-edge razor blade as a scraper, for better control than sandpaper. You can actually hold it with the thumb and index finger of each hand and use it like a miniature cabinet scraper. This is a similar technique to what I've seen in videos of Bozeman workers scraping lacquer off bindings after the bodies are sprayed, but they do it with one hand. Two hands gives better control until you get the technique down. Just keep the blade almost perpendicular to the surface.

All I can suggest is to scour forum noticeboards, reverb, craigslist, ebay. Go online and identify small specialist dealers such as boutiqueguitarshop.com. Many of these smaller dealers also list on reverb and ebay. I have bought a 2006 Martin 000-28 EC and a 1947 Gibson L-7 from individuals on craiglist-- both within a few hours of driving time from my home in FL--as well as passing on a few that I should not have passed on, such as one-owner but poorly-maintained 1948 SJ. Unlike a lot of folks, I have had good luck with ebay buys from smaller dealers and individuals, including my L-OO Legend, a near-pristine 1968 ES- 335 12, a mint-condition 1959 Historic ES-335, and my near-mint 2006 1943 SJ re-issue. Another really good source can be guitar shows, although those may or may not be happening right now. There is one in Orlando, FL every year, and others in NC, I believe. Still another is the used and vintage section of guitarcenter.com, which can have some surprisingly good deals from time to time. What you are looking for is out there. You need patience, and perseverance.

My L-OO Legend is not for sale or trade.

Really, you are doing yourself a disservice here, and are in serious danger of embarrassing yourself. Anyone who has been on this forum for any period of time would know this. Em7 is, if anything, understating his qualifications to make the statements he does. He doesn't need to justify himself to you, and most of us here understand that. Listen, and learn.

It's Gibson. 'Nuf said.

It looks pretty decent with the new rosette taped in place. You can shape 1/8" thick pieces of spruce to reinforce the area under the damaged parts of the rosette before gluing it in. I would probably just use Tite-Bond (sparingly) for that job. If you want to go more "authentic" you could use Titebond liquid hide glue. I haven't used that, and my luthier turns up his nose at it, but it is hide glue. I suspect Gibson just used hide glue for everything back when your guitar was built. I might experiment with the liquid hide glue on some scrap to see how it handles, and maybe use it for the whole job if you like the way it handles and the color it dries to. Experiment to see if it dries hard enough to sand well. Regular Titebond doesn't get really hard, but it does sand OK after it is fully cured. Its glue line isn't a bad color.

It looks legit in that photo. Sal's and Dave F's caveats apply.

Generally, I suspect the trim should be a tiny bit proud, and sanded down ( or preferably scraped with a cabinet scraper, for better control) to be flush with the surrounding area of the top after the glue cures. I would look for a video on stewmac about installing binding and trim, to see what they suggest for an adhesive. You may have to back-fill from inside after the trim cures, and before scraping flush, if I'm interpreting what I am seeing in the photos correctly. It looks like the routed recess goes all the way through the top in places. There is probably a risk of part of the narrow area of top between the trim and the soundhole breaking off otherwise. Ross Teigen back-filled the damaged pinholes in the bridgeplate of my 1950 J-45 with epoxy filler that was almost the same color as spruce or maple. It would probably not have looked close enough in color on the top of the guitar, but it was fine for a back-fill on the inside. You would do that back-fill with the guitar lying on its face, with the guitar supported by something like a piece of ply with a 4"+ hole cut in it, set on sawhorses. It the epoxy is thick enough, you might not have to go through those contortions, and could backfill and then just lay it on its face to make sure the epoxy stays in place while it cures. This is all picky work, but you can do it.

I just used the top of my head if there was nothing else hard around.

Yes, 2008, 225th day of the year, 11th guitar stamped that day.

Thanks for the clarification on the tuners. Did your '65 also have the screw-on pickguard, like this one?

1965. The last digit 1 is just a mechanical misalignment of one of the wheels of the stamping device. Tuners look to have been replaced. It looks like a plastic bridge.

Tom, that worked pretty well!

Barcus Berry apparently did/does a lot of variations on this pickup concept for any number of types of instruments, including cellos, violins, etc. This is just based on a short internet search, I have no experience with them. I have not looked at the actual mechanics of the installation to understand how they might have "damaged" JT's J50

That's ok, we understood what you meant. Even solid-body guitars react to changes in ambient humidity, which could have been part of the problem. If your solution did the job, I would keep some packing behind the body to maintain the proper relationship between neck and body in the case. I would probably used a folded cotton towel. You might even over-compensate a bit, so that the neck doesn't contact the rest at all, to see it the corrects out the rest of the problem. Then, just block the body properly after that. It may help to store the case upright, or on one edge, if you have been laying it flat. I store all my guitars upright and one edge, but all of my cases fit pretty well, too.

Looking at this bridge carefully in the new video, plus JCV's video from 1970, it seems likely that is the original bridge, filled and re-routed for a fixed saddle. The one adj bridge I have is the belly-down version, so the set-up is slightly different. In the new video, there are two filled holes in the bridge wings that I don't understand. They may be related to the pickup arrangement that JT implied had ruined the guitar. In any case, if you had replaced the bridge, it would probably not have those filled holes in it. Before you ask, JCV's video is not high resolution enough to say definitively if those holes were there in 1970. They are not exactly where the adjusting screws for the adj saddle would have been, at least compared to my adj bridge.

Thanks for that, JC! So the adj has been removed. I wonder if it is a completely new bridge? In the newer video, he talks about someone ruining the guitar with some modifications involving a type of pickup I am unfamiliar with, and having to have work done on the guitar to remedy that.

That was interesting. The J-50 is pretty clearly mid 60s. For some reason, I thought it had an adj bridge back then, but if it did, it doesn't anymore. I tried to find a photo of the guitar that would be definitive about this, but haven't had any success.

Very nice, BK. You may have found a new genre to take on. And Happy New Year!

It's the other way around. That crack was more than likely caused by the pickguard. It's the kind of crack that needs attention by someone knowledgeable, A proper repair of a crack in that location--which is not unusual-- is not trivial. As ZW says, it appears to be a 1970s Hummingbird. The trussrod cover is not original, but is easily replaced. It should have a serial number embossed on the back of the headstock. That will pin down the year.