j45nick

If I were going to Nashville, a trip to Gruhn Guitars would be at the top of my list, whether or not I had any questions for him. Vintage guitars are an obsession. You look at one, it its scratches, dings, and wear, and you want to ask it "where have you been, and what has happened to you over your decades of life that brought you here today, in this condition?" It's hard to know which are more interesting: the ones that have survived in near-pristine condition, or the ones that show a mark for every day of their existence. I love both kinds, and everything in between. I had the great good fortune to buy a 1950 J-45 from its original owner almost exactly a year ago. Fortunately, he was able to write the guitar's story for me, from saving his money to buy it as a young teenager to putting it away under the bed for decades when he went to work in the mills, finally pulling it out to sell to help his grandson finish school. That's a guitar I will never let go. The fact that it has perfect J-45 tone and character doesn't hurt, either. Shiny and new is all well and good, but vintage is about character, and characters. George Gruhn is one of those characters.

I agree with you 100%. I've never had one on an acoustic (other than my carbon fiber travel guitar), and have no desire for one.

I looked more closely, and the Dove and 1950's J-50 have strap buttons at the neck heel. On the other ones in the Sweetwater photos, what looks sort of like a strap button at the neck heel is a reflection. That gorgeous case with the purple lining is just like the redline case that came with my L-OO Legend. It isn't branded.

I don't think any of these vintage models come with strap buttons other than the tailblock endpin. Other strap buttons are usually an owner installation on conventional acoustics. A tailblock endpin of some type has always been standard on Gibson acoustics, and most acoustics other than classicals.

From the front, the new one looks exactly like my 1943 SJ re-issue. So Dave, what do you find the tonal differences to be between your rosewood and 'hog SJs?

There have been a number of good mahogany SJ re-issues over the years . I have a "1943 Southern Jumbo" re-issue done in 2006 for Fuller's Vintage that has almost identical specs to the new 1942 SJ, except that it is obviously mahogany B&S and does not have a cooked Adi top. Same wide nut, slightly different tuners, same almost everything else, down to the 19 frets, bridge design, etc. Neither of these is a totally authentic repro, since both have a bound fretboard and a white heel cap, which are post-war features. Still an awfully nice guitar.

Those are both the 1942 J-45 models. An original probably would have been 1.75" at the nut. The measured neck depths on both of those is virtually identical to the analogous depths on both of my 1950 J-45s. Depending on the sectional shape, those should be really nice necks. However, it's the rosewood 1942 SJ and the 1936 AJ that have me salivating over this series right now. I'd like to play both. I'd also like to compare the 1936 AJ to the '37 D-28 Authentic, even though it isn't exactly apples to apples. One of those three is on my near-term bucket list

It's amazing the degree of variation on these numbers, but it is very difficult to measure them precisely with the tuners installed, even using a digital caliper. I had thought that these holes would be drilled as part of the neck-carving CNC process. Obviously, any finish sanding of the headstock sides after the holes are drilled can change the position relative to the side of the headstock, but these changes should still be at sub-millimeter level. I am curious at potential differences in headstock shapes here. We know the 1930's guitars have a narrower shape, and I believe guitars such as the J-200 (and maybe Dove and 'bird) have larger headstocks. The question really applies to slope-J's and their smaller-bodied LG-style counterparts. Are the at least nominally the same?

Yes, but these re-issues are copies of the FON 910 batch of banner SJs, which were rosewood back & sides. One member here has one of the original ones. That descriptive text is just copied boilerplate with an error in it. It is correct on the Gibson website, I believe. What we do not know on that particular model is the neck profile. I've read some specs that say it is the Luthiers Choice, which is wide at the nut put has a relatively shallow sectional shape. I would be interested in swapping my 1943 SJ re-issue and cash for the rosewood SJ model, if the neck profile is right. I have two other 1950 J-45s to cover the hog slope-J perspective pretty effectively. Rosewood is another matter.

Where legal, pot is cheaper in this country than those cigarette prices. Hmmm......

That reminds me of when I had to bribe a Suez Canal pilot with two cartons of Marlboros to keep the pilot boat from ramming into my boat taking him off. Never been so glad to get out of a country in my life. Your customs and immigration guys are some of the toughest in the world. They confiscated about $600 worth of New Zealand beef and lamb off my boat when we came into the country, plus a jar of NZ honey. I wouldn't dream of trying to get a guitar past them. Losing that would be a lot worse than a losing a few hundred dollars of meat. Plus I'd probably end up in the slammer. You don't mess with those guys.

I have no idea where I might find a willing customer for such a thing.

Here's a discussion. Be aware that he is coming at this from a northern hemisphere approach, where the end of the year is in the middle of winter. The opposite holds for the southern hemisphere, so you have to change the seasonally-based references to reflect that. Just remember that December is the middle of summer down under. tree rings

They should be the same as on others with the "standard" headstock shape and size, like the J-45. Pretty sure the necks are interchangeable on those two lines. On the J-45 plans, measuring from the CL of the string post to the nearest point on the side of the headstock, distances of ALL posts to the side is just under 15mm. Transverse distance between post 1 and 6 is 41.5mm, between 2 and 5 is 42.5mm, 3 and 4 is 44.5mm. That is a slight anomaly, and may just be a drawing error. I don't think these are cad drawings, but could be wrong on that. However, measuring on my untouched 1950 J-45, you get slightly different numbers from post to side, but on the fractional millimeter order. Also, on that guitar the 1-6 spacing is about 37.5, and the 3-4 is about 44.5. These are not easy to measure accurately with the tuners on the guitar. Remember that there is slop in the tuning posts, so you might get slightly different results with no string tension vs tension. The guitars I measured, as opposed to the plans, have string tension. I also discovered that the headstock shape on the plans has less "arc" on the sides than on either my modern or vintage slope-J headstocks, which are almost identical in plan view, but very slightly different from as-drawn. For example, the side arc on either side of the headstock on the drawings is about 2mm, but it is 3+ on the actual guitars. If you let me know what you are trying to figure out, I can try to do this more precisely.

I like the guitar a lot, even more so after hearing Greg demo it. That's a pretty good demonstration of the mids bias you see in a lot of J-45s, but man, does it have a voice! Greg does know how to bring out the best in a J-45: start out gentle, and if doesn't respond like you want, put the spurs to it. It may have been NOS because of the VOS finish. Not everyone takes to that. If you don't care for it, some judicious work with Virtuoso cleaner and polish will bring it up in a significant way without being overdone.

Jinder, I can see and hear why you bought that particular AJ. Wow!

Congratulations! That's not a model I've heard of before: a standard with a VOS finish and red spruce top? That also looks like a custom shop decal on the back of the neck, which I've never seen on a "standard". I wonder if it was a special order, either by a dealer or a customer? So it was NOS? What year is it? Hope you got the right deal on it, but it looks like a keeper in any case. I love my J-45s.

Go figure....

That would make a good boat/travel guitar because of its size, but it probably won't be as robust or tuning-stable in that environment as my carbon fiber CA Cargo guitar, which just has a gig bag. it is a cute little guy. Specs say nut width is 1 9/16". I wonder if that is actually correct? My little CA has a 1 3/4" nut, which is one reason I love it.

It looks like it may need a serious clean-up from the photos of the headstock face, but it's hard to judge much else from the photos. Zombywoof may comment on the originality of the tuners, since he is more familiar than most on these. Any way you look at it, it's a nice guitar. Give us the serial number, and we can probably pin down the date for you.

I thought about the wood glue angle last night. That would probably work. If you don't have a precision glue syringe, a drop on the end of a toothpick might do. Clean up any mess on the headstock face a bit with a damp (but not wet) rag. I'd give it a chance to set up overnight before installing the screw.

"Historic ladder bracing". Also checked scale length last night. I believe it is 22 3/4". This is a very scaled-down guitar, and is likely to have tone to match. The youtube videos I saw reflected this.

You can try that, but this is the basic issue with using a sliver of wood to fill the hole: you're making the hole asymmetrical, and it may be difficult to get the screw to go in straight. Take a tiny sliver of toothpick and put it in one side, and see if that does enough to get the screw to wedge into it and bite. It may take only a tiny piece. It may be easier to carve the toothpick end down to a sliver (but still attached), stick it into the hole, then slice it flush with a razor blade. This is the reason I usually end up with just a tiny drop of glue in the hole instead. The toothpick trick works fine with larger screws in larger holes, but these are tiny screws in tiny holes. If you end up using glue in any way, you may need to mask off carefully to avoid getting it on the headstock face. Having said that, it is worth trying a tiny sliver of wood, filling only a small portion of the hole. It doesn't take much to get a small screw to bite enough to stay in place.

Based on those numbers, I'd say he is reaching more than a little. What's the scale length on those?

That's a lot of money for a tiny ladder-braced guitar, any way you look at it.