[21 years old...]

weird. i get, "video unavailable" both when i try to watch it embedded in the forum post and also if i follow the link out to youtube.

something's hosed somewhere.

[21 years old...]

It looks like the video got yanked.

[70's Hummingbird - worth the trouble?]

I don't think he's too far off on the numbers. I had a 76 Hummingbird - it didn't have any personal meaning to me other than i bought it at a shop thinking it was a good buy. i spent a good deal of money getting it fixed up for similar issues to yours and i ended up never really bonding with it, the sound, the looks, the feel of the neck - it just never worked for me.

I sold it for about what i paid for it ~$2k and essentially ate the cost of the repairs (~<$2k). I took it as a good learning opportunity.

My guitar needed a neck reset, and fretboard leveling (the neck had a twist to it), a refret, a new bridge/saddle, and a number of top, back,side cracks glued and cleated. It hadn't been abused, it was just an old guitar from an era that didn't necessarily produce great instruments consistently.

As someone who just likes to play and sometime purchase guitars (i'm not buying and flipping them) i'll just stay away from the Norlin era. It's not that i wouldn't get a guitar from that time period again if the opportunity was there - but i wouldn't put anything into it outside of a setup.

[iPad App for Guitar Tabs]

Do you guys use an app you like to keep your guitar tabs and sheet music organized and available? I use an ipad and have been looking around. Seems like forescore and unrealbook are recommended pretty highly but i can't make heads or tails of all the features.

I want to be able to organize and use PDFs and chordpro / tab formatted song, be able to have them live on dropbox/icloud etc and be available offline.

Support for chordpro/tab seems to be unclear. Forscore sounds great but it doesn't appear to support guitar tabs.

Is there any clear winner here?

[Gibson LPC deep scratches, need advice]

I bet that's from steel wool. hopefully someone will have some advice on how to address it.

I wouldn't do this without someone who knows what they're doing tell you to but perhaps work it with 0000 steel wool and then a polishing paste and cloth.

[Best years for the Gibson J-45?]

I'd look for an early 50s one maybe - but it'd be worth playing a ton of them.

FWIW, i bought a 76 Hummingbird. Big mistake. If you read up some more you'll find that the late 60s/70s/80s were tough times on consistency and quality. That doesn't mean there aren't great guitars from that Gibson era but you've kind of gotta know what you're doing.

I did not.

[Mid 2000s hummingbird questions]

I have a J-45 built to TV spec that preceded the TV series J-45 by a few months. there are a few other people on the forum that have ones similar to mine.

My guitar was built in late 2008 and i think the TV series came out the following year - 2009. I don't know if the J-45, HB, and SJ-200 all came out at the same time or not but it was pretty close. I'm no expert on the different runs they've done but i think the Historic Collection preceded TV, and then "Vintage" came after TV. 

From my looking around also I've found that the label color means something - but doesn't necessarily mean anything.

 

EDIT: On the orange label of my guitar is simply says, "J-45" It's got an Adi top, the same burst and coloring as the TV did a few months later, the vintage tuners and a factory bone nut. The headstock has the script logo and the "only a gibson is good enough" stamp. No custom shop logo on the back of the headstock - and it's a great guitar.

[Hercules Guitar Stand Failure]

I had this problem with 3 or 4 stands a few years back. i can't remember if i found the thread you linked or just emailed them but they were great about it. I spoke to someone on the phone, i might have sent them a picture of my stands, they shipped out replacements for all of them the next day and recommended that i disassemble the old ones before disposing of them and keep the guitar hanger part as i might be able to use it elsewhere.

 

2 thumbs up and i've continued to buy their products. I've also used these stands for ~10 years for a variety of guitars, including new and old gibsons and i've never had any finish problems.

 

I am based in the US.

[Maui Wowie]

Maui SJ-200:

 

[J200 action adjustment]

Check out this post for a pic of what drathbun's talking about - he helped me with mine last year. sounds like basically the same thing you're talking about:

 

http://forums.gibson.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=250374#post250374

 

That thread has my situation and outcome in it. still gives me heartburn thinking about it, but it's all worked out very well in the end. gibson's great!

[SJ200, Dove or Hummingbird?]

hi there jinder - my guitar was built as a warranty replacement for a custom shop SJ-200. The story of the whole thing is buried somewhere here on the forums. The pickguard was a little something extra they came up with. When i opened the case i felt like a kid on christmas.

[SJ200, Dove or Hummingbird?]

I have this kinda blingy SJ-200. Some of you have seen it before; i posted some pics after i got it. It was a warranty replacement of a fantastic instrument. I've only had it a few months but it's settled in quite nicely. Running 13s and after a professional setup it's like butter. I don't play it that much though, i'm kind of afraid of it. I have a J45 and that gets the time.

 

I had to vote for an SJ-200 for the best bling though, no question!