j45nick

Clarification that they have changed the serial number system, yet again. It would be nice to know the new format. I guess all ES production is now in Memphis. That makes sense, but I like the " '59-335, Nashville, Tennessee, USA" label on guitars like mine from the old Custom, Art, and Historic shop in Nashville.

The information I quoted above is still what is on the Gibson website, so maybe you'll get some new info from customer service.

A photograph would help.

It is possible that with the change in Gibson serial number formats a couple of years ago, changes have been made for custom shop re-issues as well. Starting in 1995, the ES-335 Historic models format used to be A-MYRRR, where M was the model year being re-issued, Y was the production year, and RRR was the individual guitar's place in the sequence for that year. My 2009 Nashville-built '59 Historic re-issue, for example, has serial number that is formatted A-99xxx. The xxx is a three digit number that could in theory range from 001 to 999 for any given year. The problem with that format is that numbers could repeat every 10 years, so maybe they've changed the format to address that problem. You may need to contact Gibson customer support. This info used to be available (and may still be) at: Gibson.com/en-us/Support/SerialNumberSearch/ Sorry I don't have the time to search for you right now.

Condition and originality are everything. As far as the Reverb listings goes, you can ignore the one in Japan: they ask ridiculous amounts of money. As a reference, one of the rarest banner SJ's--a beautiful rosewood-bodied one from the fabled FON 910 batch-- sold for about what they are asking for the one linked by Jedzep above. I inspected it a couple of years ago, and it was in excellent vintage condition. As Jedzep says, unless you have a luthier who is an expert in working with vintage Gibsons and Martins, you should not have anyone work on it before you sell it. Those of us who collect and play vintage guitars prefer to make our own decisions about who works on them, and what is done to them. The guy who works on my guitars, who is one of the best around, says he spends a large percentage of his time undoing previous "repairs." He would rather work on one that has never been touched, no matter how bad it is.

Outstanding, Sal!

The L-00 Legend has 1 3/4" nut and 2 3/8" bridge spacing. Those are "true" vintage specs, which seem to be what you like. The only other conventional flat top I have with specs close to that is 000-28 EC, with 1 3/4" nut and 2 1/4" bridge spacing. It also has a V-neck profile, but nowhere near as pronounced as the L-OO. Other Gibsons I have, no matter what the nut width--and I have those from 1 9/16" to 1.78" at the nut--are 2 1/8"-2 3/16" bridge spacing. I can't say I have a specific preference, although the narrowest nut is tight in the first position. That guitar also happens to be the easiest to fret, which may be abetted by those 1960's jumbo frets. Interesting, the L-00 Legend has fairly fat frets, unlike typical skinny vintage frets. Those frets may have been a custom order. Not sure I could ever play a mandolin, but I've never tried. I watch Chris Thile, and all I can think is "how does he do that?"

You do realize the 1 11/16" nut is only about .8mm narrower than the modern Gibson 1.725" standard, right? And that the J-45 Vintage has that same 1.725" nut? I know you can feel the difference, but that doesn't make the 1 11/16" nut unplayable.

Great news! I wish I could find deals like that.

The nut looks pretty crude as well: square-cut. I don't know much about 1970's Gibsons, but a lot of things just don't look right. Better photos might help, so we can see details in an undistorted fashion.

One word for both songs and performances: Awesome! That's the real deal. Some great, great songs have come out of Rodney's old 12-fret L-OO.

BK, the high-level professional sailing world is pretty small. Probably only a few thousand or so of us make a full-time living out of it in one way or another. My days as a high-level competitor were limited and are pretty much over, but I work in race management in one case, and as a technical advisor to an America's Cup team in the other. In both cases, we are funded by billionaires (Larry Ellison, Sir James Ratcliffe) who own professional sports teams and events as a hobby. Unfortunately, neither of them plays guitar, to the best of my knowledge. But their Iargesse in funding their hobbies enables me to buy guitars from time to time.

Not directly, although the guy who is my direct boss in SailGP is the tactician on Wild Oats. A lot of guys I work with are sailing on various boats in the fleet.

Great to hear, BK!

I believe in 1985 Gibson was still owned by Norlin, before Henry bought the company and before Ren was involved. As I understand it, all production at that time was in Nashville. Generally speaking the Norlin era was not known as Gibson's finest hour. Others here will know more than I do about this.

Your son is a lucky boy! My first guitar was a $5 Mexican-made nylon-string guitar converted to steel strings. It's a wonder I kept playing after that one. When I gave my guitar-playing great-nephew a nice graduation check a few years ago, he "wisely" went out and spent the money on a new Strat. Hope he keeps that one.

Merry Christmas, Sal, and I hope you have a better 2020! This, too, shall pass. Merry Christmas to all, and wishing you the opportunity to play your guitars a lot over the holidays. I know I intend to.

Leonard, that guitar is pretty amazing. Ren's signature under the top is something to treasure. I wonder why they refer to that as the "bathtub" logo in the notes on the neck?

I use DR Sunbeam PB lights on all my Gibson flat tops, including my L-OO Legend. I happen to like the warmer tones of PB's compared to 80/20 or monel.

I can't believe you guys still have "swamp cooler" air conditioning. Last time I saw one of those was when I was in high school in the Arizona desert, 55 years ago. Modern mini-split systems aren't cheap, but they are easy to install and would work well in your environment.

Maybe just as well to wait until the guitar is fully re-humidified and settled in. First thing is to get the patient fully stabilized before letting the sawbones do anything. Humidity here now is 68%. Guitars sound like you are playing them underwater. You can tell the humidity is high when the guitars go almost a half step sharp overnight.

You done well, BK. Saved another couple of fine guitars from the dustbin of history.

Whole bunch of talent, and a whole raft of Gibson Goodness in that video. I like Sam Bush's shirt with the Gibson logo.

It looks like an LG-1 (one-piece back with no centerline cleat), most likely from the early 1950's (19-fret neck, slot-through saddle). The slot-through bridge has had additional fastenings added at some point, and may or may not be original. The pickguard is not original, and what we can see of the tuners says those are not original either. The white trussrod cover on the headstock is not original, either. It woul dhave been black, not white. This was Gibson's entry-level flat top in this period. If you look inside the soundhole, towards the neck block just forward of the soundhole, it may have an ink-stamped factory order number, which probably would have been four digits, followed by a space, followed by another digit (or maybe two digits). The FON might also have a letter prefix. Only a first-hand inspection can authenticate it, but the underlying configuration looks correct.

Nice one, Red! Thanks for that, and a Merry Christmas to you (and you, and you, and you, and you...) and yours. Lots of nice touches there, including the Hofner and J-160 homages to the boys from Liverpool. Loved the MIDI as well. And of course, the J-45 is … legendary.