j45nick

Strange story which could be true, but the provenance is a bit shaky in my book.

That's a good summary.

You are looking at a very small percentage of Tom's collection. And he plays them all (but not at the same time).

Exactly. I don't think you want to re-finish a rare guitar that has collector value, but for other instruments, go for your life. At the same time, it is impossible to predict what will become a collectible, so I think you have to put a lot of thought to any irreversible changes you make to a guitar that are not essential for purposes of playability. I had an odd situation in that my well-worn late-40's J-45 ended up being re-topped by Gibson in the late 60's and came as the then-current cherryburst, which I hated so much I stripped and re-shot with clear, making it a "J-50". A couple of years ago, I found a guy (Ross Teigen) who is adept at finishes, so he stripped the clear top (which had actually mellowed beautifully over 40 years) and re-created the original late 40's 'burst from and old photo. While all these changes destroyed the guitar's "collector" value, it still pleases me to have it look like a new version of its 65-year-old self. If I could unwind the clock 45 years, I would have prevented Gibson from re-topping the guitar in the first place, and would just have the well-worn 1948 J-45 I bought in 1966. Or maybe I should have left the Gibson late-60's cherryburst in place, since a lot of people now value that finish But hindsight is great stuff.

The downside of the better pickguard adhesion on your Epi is that it may make it more difficult to replace, remove, or re-position the pickguard, as a lot of people here do.

All depends on how much snap is still in your whip.....

I'd call that a nice family portrait. And just ignore MiloD. He's just an old fart, unlike us whippersnappers still under 70...... (66 here) Welcome aboard.

Nice job! Looks like you've made a silk purse out of the proverbial sow's ear. What you have effectively created is essentially one of the very rare mahogany-topped 1942 banner LG-2's. Well done. Should be a sweet guitar.

There are other picks with this general configuration that look more like a regular flatpick with a thumb loop on the back. I would think you could grab that like a regular flat pick for strumming if you wanted, just by adding your index finger to the grip instead of relying on the thumb alone. After you started this dicussion, I dug out my thumb and finger picks for the first time in almsost 40 years. It's actually how I started playing way back when, and I was astonished at how quickly it came back, how natural it felt, and how good it made my guitars sound, with the notes standing out in a way I haven't been able to get yet with fingers alone. Not sure how much I'm going to use them, as I can see a real risk for tearing up the tops of my guitars with them while I'm re-learning. You can strum with a thumbpick, but probably not as aggressively as with a flat pick without risking the pick hanging on the upstroke or the back of the thumb loop catching. Getting the pick the right length and fit, and a lot of practice, seem to be the keys here. Since I've just started down this path again, take anything I say with a grain of salt. By the way, I am using Dunlop plastic thumb picks of various lengths, and shifting a bit between the Dunlop and National metal fingerpicks. I assume they ones I am using, which are all more than 40 years old, are essentially the same as what is available now.

Someone here recently had a link in one of the thumbpick threads.

I like it! What's that guitar you are playing? You know there are thumbpicks that look exactly like a flatpick with a metal fingerloop rivited to it, right?

That serial number, coupled with the date on the sales slip, makes it almost certainly a 1970 or 1971. There was a lot of re-use of serial numbers or factory order numbers in this period. I'm not sure what that other D-prefix number is in light of the date on the sales slip. It's the number stamped on the back of the headstock here that is most important, assuming there is no label inside the guitar..

Are the back and sides of this guitar rosewood, or mahogany? The modern era J-60 (1990's) was a square-shoulder dread like yours, but with rosewood back and sides, essentially designed a Gibson version of a D-28. I had not realized that they might have made these in the 70's as well. Your guitar looks like a J-50, and if the back and sides are mahogany rather than rosewood, I would say that's what it is, despite what it says on the bill of sale. If they are rosewood, then I've learned something new about Gibson guitars from the 1970's. We will need a picture of the back if you aren't familiar with the visual difference between rosewood and mahogany.

If it's a 1970 guitar, it may have a five- or six-digit number stamped/embossed on the back of the headstock, near the top, with "made in USA" stamped below it. A photograph of the instrument would be helpful.

Probably the eyeglass ones as well, since most lenses are plastic.

The cloth you use may be as important as the polish. When we are trying to buff out scratches, we tend to use a fair amount of force, and may end up adding more scratches if we aren't careful. I'm still looking for the best cloths for this. I got a package of microfiber cloths, but I don't know if that is the way to go, and I haven't given them a try yet. I do use the Virtuoso Cleaner for this, but I've seen my luthier use very fine automotive-type (I think) buffing compounds, very carefully. A lot depends on the age and general condition of the finish.

My link I was a mere babe in arms when your guitar was built, so my memory of it going out the door is a bit fuzzy...... However, the website below is a good but not infallible reference for dating Gibsons using the serial number or FON. My link

Well, it could be. This guitar was built in 1948, and Orwell's novel "1984" was first published in 1949. (Cue the theme from "The Twilight Zone".......)

Most likely 1948, by that FON. It's just coincidence that the FON is an anagram of the year of construction in this case.

Many Americans have a short memory when it comes to the history of wars. Of course, there WERE pre-war round-shoulder rosewood jumbos by Gibson. They just happened to be long-scale AJ's, not short-scale J-45's. Maybe that's what has Gibson marketing confused.

This is discussed on page 48 of Fabulous Flat-Tops. The authors note the controversy over the wood species, but seem to come down reasonably firmly on the side of Brazilian for these 300 1936-1939 AJ's, although they recognize it is different in color and grain from the Brazilian used by Martin in this period. Gibson obviously had access to Brazilian, and used plenty of it for fretboards and bridges. I had the good fortune to examine a pre-war D-45 last week, which is undergoing significant conservation work. The wood in that guitar pretty much epitomized the pre-war Martin Brazilian we are familiar with, being plain-sawn rather than quarter-sawn, and having a warm brown, almost reddish hue, as opposed to the "cooler" brown of most Indian rosewood we see. A lot of the color, of course depends on the fillers and/or stain used before the clear finish is applied.

This should be a fun controlled experiment. Switch between saddles using the same set of strings. Then, try a different type of string, repeating the experiment. Repeat until thoroughly confused. Remember to also try a variety of flat picks (if that's what you use) with each combination. Seriously, the rosewood saddle generally has a more mellow tone and the bone a brighter tone, like the difference between a good mock-tortoise flatpick and a plastic one. The problem is, there are a LOT of variables here, and you have to find the combination that produces the tone you really like. For some of us, this is a lifetime exercise, often involving multiple guitars as well. Generally speaking, the saddle/string/pick experiment is a lot cheaper--and no less rewarding--than the guitar/saddle/string/pick experiment.

That's a really nice re-issue, right down to the 19-fret board. I wish Gibson did that on all of these reissue-style guitars, as it exposes the entire sound hold rosette--minus the part covered by the pickguard, of course. Also wish they would do away with that Custom Shop decal on an otherwise clean guitar.

Very nice indeed! I never knew this model had been re-issued. It's certainly very popular in its vintage form. And by the way, welcome aboard. As you probably know, there are lots of UK members on this forum.