Dave F

Earlier this year I fell into a deal on an AJ for $285! It had a few issues I was able to fix, bought a new case and sold it a couple weeks later for $1600. Knowing how to or what it would take to correct minor issues can land you some great deals. Pawn shops on EBay are a great source. They usually don’t care as long as they make money. I see AJ’s between 1200-1800 quite often.

I had a '51 for a while but sold it. I was looking for a birth year ('52) guitar and this one was a '51 model that was sold in '52 within a month of my birthday. bought from the original owner's family. It still had the receipt in the case. It had the Gibson thump with no sustain. Some like that about the ladder bracing. Many like the ladder bracing when a pu is added. I find the small body x-bracing more to my liking but I seldom plug-in nowadays. Still looking for that great birth year guitar. I also recently had a '52 ES-150 but I didn't bond with it. I think it's going to take a J45, J185, J200, 000-28 or D28. Here's some of my small bodies. LG2/L1/L00/NLRWLC/CJ165RW.

I keep a Gibson C1 and C400 around to bang on but lately I just pick up a uke.

At 6/32” I’d be getting out the slide.

As Brad mentioned https://www.allparts.com/products/pc-0739-p-90-pickup-cover-set-with-ears

Good job Buc!

Here's the one I had. Solid carved Spruce top, even the braces were part of the carve, maple back and sides. Still had the Lifton case in great condition. It looks like they used great material but the workmanship was not always the greatest. I doubt if you can find one without a loose neck. The dovetails joints were very loose, they relied on the glue. It was great sounding guitar. I was going to have the neck joint rebuilt and rest and steam press the neck straight. I loved the look and sound. If you ever look for one, check out the neck joint and neck bow. No truss rods.

I took it to my Luthier to get a couple things fixed. He fell in love with it and talked me out of it. He added a pu and uses it for gigging. It was a closet queen, looked brand new.

I have turned the individual saddles around to move the range. I don't know if this helps the direction you're needing to move.

Bob said he was hooked on the F-chord for this album. Personally, I have not listened to the album but I'm imagining all the songs have an F-chord? Most of the tablatures I see include the F-chord

I'm in agreement with all the comments. Although age-wise it may be vintage, but not as a collectible vintage. Regardless if the '2' is a non issues at this stage of its life, it does affect value. Personally I would value it between 800-1000 then subtract any needed repairs. The neck and crack repairs could get up into the 500-600 range, then when you're done you still have an $800 guitar. If it talks to you go for it, but I would suggest trying out other options as suggested. If you want to stay in the 800-1000 range a used J15. The 1000-1400 range a J45. Other brands that are vintage guitars such a Harmony can be had fairly reasonably. I picked up a Kalamazoo for $250. A Harmony Cremona for $350. Some of our members are really big into the older other brands. As with anything, do your homework, analyze the condition in relationship to it's value and repair cost and listen to your ears. Just on what you showed us, I would pass on this one unless I could get it for $400. Have fun with the search! Dave

Sounds like you’re headed toward Dylan’s Nashville Skyline.

Not a 350. Maybe a 125 modified a bit.

I believe the last one recently passed away. Not for sure.

Medley - finger pickin' style - Waylon Jennings 'Just To Satisfy You' / Stones 'Satisfaction' on a '42 LG1

Not sure but it looks like a Gibson Chet Atkins SST You're 3rd photo shows it's a Chet model. Here's one on EBay https://www.ebay.com/i/163771284896?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=163771284896&targetid=541454087172&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1017751&poi=&campaignid=1881946470&mkgroupid=74094014870&rlsatarget=pla-541454087172&abcId=1139336&merchantid=8354074&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwq-Dq5-44wIVgp6fCh0NrwSTEAQYDiABEgKC7_D_BwE

I don’t know if it’s still true but at one time that was top seller in the world

Varies a lot. The first few years the Legend was supposed to be a close replica of Eldon's guitar all the way down to the saw marks on the braces. It was ink marked on the neck block using today's numbering system. The trim was dyed to look aged. VOS finished. Aged buttons. Then Gibson came out with the shiny, bright trimmed, orange labeled "1942 J-45 Legend" with the custom shop decal which does not look the same. that was originally built for the Japanese market. The older ones were selling new around $6K when they came out. Most used ones are in the 3500-5000 range with some exceptions. I'm not sure on the newer ones.

Refin Banner should be had for a little less. I'd go for both as a package deal and get the prices down. Nothing wrong with having both but you should expect that suggestion from this forum 😉 Here's a vintage '42-'43 J45 Banner with a Legend and a vintage '42 LG1 with it's reissue.

I had a custom L00 built and I like my action very low. I instructed the luthier to overset my neck so that when the action is lowered, there is still plenty of saddle exposed and the the height of the strings above the body is more desirable. If I take a perfect neck set (the top of the frets even with the top of the bridge (not the saddle) and lower the action to my preference, there's not a lot of saddle above the bridge. And if the neck is underset as Buc mentioned, there's not enough saddle to lower the action to my preference. Throw on top of that the tapered bridges that are higher on the bass side by design and you get a new twist. I've own a few AJ's and they all had the tapered bridge. Most Martins have this too. I understand the concept to have the bass strings higher so they have room to vibrate without buzzing the frets while doing heavy strumming to achieve louder output such as in bluegrass. bands.

Here's my '66 and '04

Mick was on Brad's album a year or two ago. Supposingly they're best friends.

When you figure out the 4 ribbon thing let me know. These are both custom shop but only one has the 4 ribbon.

a couple more shots

Right click on your image, select Copy image address, come back to this forum, click the Insert other media in the lower right corner, paste your URL in the box and you'll have the pictures loaded. Nice looking! The fretboard looks dark, is it ebony?