fab432

That should have been my first question. Seriously the seller is an older lady and she told me it was her son’s guitar and when he went away to college he didn’t take the guitar and just left it under the bed. Stayed there until she decided to sell it as he is no longer interested in playing guitar. This would account for the superb condition of the guitar.

From another post Currently, white labels denote standard models and orange labels denote "Custom Shop" or limited runs. The custom shop guitars are typically standard models made in the same shop by the same people, but have specs that are non-standard in some way, i.e. different tuners, different burst colors, different nut and saddle material, different tonewoods, different electronics, etc. Many of the limited runs are made in quantities of 50 -150 and as someone has already mentioned they are typically sold at Gibson's Five Star dealers.

I actually did search but not using the best question. I think once I have the guitar I’ll probably leave it as is.

Most certainly will do. I’m hopefully picking it up this coming week. It’s a natural standard J 45 kept under the bed these past 8 years.

Many thanks. That is all I needed to know. It has all the other elements check out. Serial Number on back of the head stock, Made in U.S.A. - white oval label etc

Hello, I’m considering buying a 2010 J 45. With so many fakes out there I thought I’d get a second opinion before making sale. The serial number checks out to year and make. And it comes with the booklet and inspection card. The actual headstock logo looks off to me but could be a result of the photo taken. Any thoughts or observations would be welcomed and appreciated. I tried to add pictures but every time I resized the pictures exceeded the max size allowable. Any tips on posting pictures?

Hello, I’m considering buying a 2010 J 45. With so many fakes out there I thought I’d get a second opinion before making sale. The serial number checks out to year and make. And it comes with the booklet and inspection card. The actual headstock logo looks off to me but could be a result of the photo taken. Any thoughts or observations would be welcomed and appreciated. I tried to add pictures but every time I resized the pictures exceeded the max size allowable. Any tips on posting pictures?

Agreed

Thank you - definitely 1929 however the dot markers on the fretboard imply the neck is from 1930?

The guitar width is 13 5/8ths. Can’t match the FON / serial number to a date that makes sense. I suppose it’s possible that the body was built in 1929 (late) and the neck was made in 1930. That would account for the added dot markers. Any one else think that’s possible?

Looking a bit harder at the pictures this might be a 1930 L0. The neck has position dots at frets 3, 5, 7, 9, 12 and 15 and the 1929 woukd have those dots only at the 5th, 7th and 9th frets?

Thanks to all for the info so far. The seller indicated the serial number (FON?) is 9247 but I can’t get that to a 1929 date? Haven’t seen the guitar in person yet. Asking price is in the $3500 range.

https://imgur.com/gallery/jJOWWvA Looking at this 1929 LO. I’ve always liked the body style but don’t know too much about them. I’m assuming the bridge, saddle, nut and tuners are original. No name on the headstock. Partial label on the inside. No cracks some play wear on the top and the low position frets well worn. Made In USA stamped on the back of the headstock. Does this look like a mahogany top back and sides? No idea what a good offer price would be? Any help there would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

You guessed it. The previous owner had installed an under the bridge pick up and the black strip on the neck block is a Velcro strip. I took the strings off so I could get the battery pack out so I could take a pic of the FON

https://imgur.com/gallery/je97jkt I hope the pics are added via the link. Should be front and back of the headstock and the FON number. Now that I have a pic of the FON and can enlarge it, it could be 728 which would align with the year 1947.

I just checked my guitar and the tuners do in fact say Kluson down the center of the cover.

Thanks for the reply. I’ve tried to post pics but it seems all my pics are too large to be allowed on the site? The tuners are individual Kluson tuners with Gibson down the centre of the back cover. They have white plastic buttons. The headstock is 3” wide from point to point at the top of the headstock and I would describe a slim taper.

Hello, I have what appears to be a 1948 SJ. The FON number inked on the neck block is 328. Of course this does not line up with the FON number quides I have seen. The guitar has a bound fingerboard, block style Gibson logo, 19 frets, belly down bridge, original tuners, and trapezoidal in lays . The top was replaced at Gibson in the mid 70’s. No paperwork on that but the pick guard is from that era and there is an extra support behind the bridge which was apparently done at Gibson for a couple of years in the mid 1970’s. Has anyone seen a 3 digit FON on a 1948 guitar?

Added a new link to the pics

https://imgur.com/gallery/4xXDQaa hopefully this will work

Here is the story and I’ll add the other pics in subsequent posts. I was looking to purchase a 1970’s Les Paul and came across one being sold on eBay. I must admit it looked sketchy and there was very little info about it. The Gibson logo didn’t look right, the serial number was smudged, the guitar had been refinished etc etc. The only thing that caught my eye was in the cut away there was a piece of wood insert into it to compensate for the radius. I thought on 70’s Les Pauls this is covered over with the binding. I knew 50’s Les Pauls had the wood insert but this was a long shot. So I ended up buying the guitar. It shipped from California to Toronto during an unbelievable cold snap. When I received the guitar I let it acclimatize to the home environment for 12 hours. When I unpacked it and opened the case the entire finish was off the guitar like broken pieces of glass. I’d never seen that before or since. Lots of other damage as well and I was really p’od. So after looking it over I contacted the repair shop in Nashville and agreed to send the guitar for an assessment. So the guitar arrived in Nashville and it was examined by the experts and lo and behold they tell me it’s a genuine 1956 Les Paul with a bunch of crap parts - knobs, tuners, pick guard etc. Very odd. So I asked them to completely restore it to factory specs and refinish it. This they did and it is now an amazing quitar. Quite a story. And I still have it.

Thanks that makes sense as that’s what the Les Paul was described as in the ad. An early 70’s issue. Turned out to be a ‘56 Les Paul. It’s odd that the case has a leather handle and is attached to the case by two buckles. The buckle attachments look to be quite old. Would 70’s cases have this buckle attachment?

Thank you!!!

Thanks that was easier than I thought !!!

https://imgur.com/a/gRttvqB Here are the pics of the case. I can confirm it is likely a Les Paul case. Not sure of the year but it may have come with a ‘56 Les Paul gold top?