cunningham26

I keep a pretty close eye on things but totally missed that in addition to the sheraton, they're putting out a 150th anniversary version of the zephyr with all the correct appointments- carousel knobs, NY mini buckers, correct tuners, cloud inlays. I've been looking at broadways and old elitists for a while and when i saw these come through for $1300 it was a pretty no brainer. anyone else seen these and have thoughts, or if someone's ahead of me in the game, any initial thoughts on fit and sound quality?

It seems like a songwriter custom with the maple and the weird inlays, but i cant seem to find any other image that have those exact inlays and further the headstocks on the customs had a little more ornamentation. not quite sure but that's a start for ya!

The good news is that to cover his ground on a good investment AND a piece of history, he only needs to go to one shop- Retrofret in NYC. There seems to be enough publicity and hype around bursts that I think they're going to remain inflated through another generation of guitar players. Even overpaying for this one would still likely be a good investment as it doesnt look as worn down as others. For historical significance and probably a good investment for the Antiques Roadshow set, I'd prefer this Lloyd Loar-signed master model L5. A steal compared to any 58-60 bursts these days

Don't forget that when you first replied "well i guess people can like different colors" he felt the need to reply back to tell you just how wrong you are because green doesn't jive with his brand of politics

nah looks bogus to me- has a vague slope/square shape, doesn't say humming bird on the TRC, looks like a scarf joint headstock. logo looks weird

With no new design work in the business model, and JC having fulfilled the mission aided by a big pandemic-era boom, Gibson has moved to being mostly a brand rather than an instrument pioneer or diving into guitar R&D. Cesar has made some good investments into brand creation that will keep folks buying les pauls.

JT since this got a random bump, per our back and forth in another thread, could it be that this is a war-era archtop not made by the gals? or is it assumed that all guitars coming out in those years were made by them?

Hey Paula I agree with the posts above- this seller essentially wants to sell you a used guitar with an expensive setup! A fresh set of strings on your AJ and you probably have a guitar every bit as good as the hummingbird for sale. My first acoustic was an epiphone hummingbird and it was lovely but i wouldnt overpay for one!

Is the myth that there were some gibson old timers too old for the war effort doing things the 1940's version of the old fashioned way? I feel like i've heard that before and attributed it more to the archtops that came out of that era with carved tops and 30's style logos. clearly buries the lead on the effort of the women on the factory floor cranking out banners.

swap it out and keep the plastic bridge pieces with it. This is a rare instance where modification will likely outweigh originality in terms of desirability- the plastic bridges are pretty universally panned.

values have increased considerably with the release of the Noel Gallagher signature, which is based on this era of J150. Prob explains the price on that Spanish one. Things seem to have normalized but they're still prob +$1000 on what you paid for yours, which can also just be then vs. now overall.

you could probably post around or pop into some guitar places and find someone with a tuner in the parts bin. or you just get some new tuners . easier to swap the whole tuner than try and find and replace one button

Most Caballeros have really skinny necks and nuts made for smaller hands as they were student models. So that along with a plastic bridge, they haven't had a TON of collectability. I had a '67 for a while that i traded evenly for an AC15- it had a crazy narrow nut that i just couldnt master. Yours could have a wider nut being from the early half of the 60s and be a little more towards the higher end of jeff's range. that said as an Epiphone guy that has caught the bug for a small-bodied vintage guitar that wont break the bank... you let me know if the other guitar (with a LOT more mojo) reminds you more of your uncle and if you're looking to sell that Epi.

how clean does the cutout on the pickguard look? if it looks a little homebrewed it's likely an L-50 that got electrified. If it's a es-125/135 the pickguard would have been designed and installed with the P90 in mind. I had to make a new one for my L48 that has a p90 installed right at the base of the neck and the existing placement left no room for the lower dog ear. non-script logo would also put it more in the '47 era but if that's the original finish, the banner/'46 years were a lot more orangey brown than later bumblebee years.

BB King's sig and Johnny Marr's jag sig are two examples of players that improved from the standard with their signature models. I dont think Gibson does a great job at this- they're rather put out a standard model with someone's name on it at 4x the cost- look no further than the NG j150 which was $8k and spec'd out for his 2005 that was selling for like $2500. The Marr jag is probably the perfect fender guitar and a huge improvement on both the originals and vague reissues over the years

I'll give it to you on your last point, you're ornery but you're not a troll or s**tposter. Im not a big swiftie but my better half is so i've heard all of her stuff. I think you're dead on for your impressions of her style of country, but she hasn't done a pop-country album in over ten years and has found a pretty solid songwriting voice especially in her pandemic albums. You can absolutely pick her songs out as hers if only because she uses the same writing conventions over and over. But i'd challenge you to listen to folklore and tell me it's facsimile pop-country from a pop diva. Lest we forget when you heard Into the Mystic or Both Sides Now or especially anything by Queen, that was the pop music of the time and older folks derided it as drivel. and to say it overtly for those in the back, trivializing any artist or performer to their looks and sex appeal is bullshit, thinking women can't play guitars or don't deserve a signature model is bullshit, and you're a crappy person if you bring that into this. for the record, I'd love to see a Dylan signature Nick Lucas in natural, and +1 the USA sheraton.

always something ornery to say about ms. swift accompanied with some photo i assume you get from a folder on your desktop called "tax returns 2000-2010"

photos will help- is there a lot of metal left on the frets or are they flat and low to the fingerboard? if the latter, you'll need a refret. otherwise you (or your local luthier) can file the frets to get the curve back- it's not super difficult with the right tools. as for the action you could raise the bridge a bit (purists wont like me saying that) and it could help. not sure what you mean on the bridge location. overall i'd say take it to a luthier for a competent setup and a fret dress. then you just have to worry about learning that jimmy reed

i think he's got that reputation in his neck of the woods, but in a 21st century way he's also done the work digitally to be the most relevant search when you google "sell old gibson guitar" which in itself is no easy task

i remember hitting him up for advice on here back in the day! great guy who has really figured out a way to buy and sell in the era of reverb and online sales- turns out being people-first still gets you ahead. awesome to see his success.

wear a mask- johns was nitrocellulose, and you're sanding polyurethane. slower and with a finer grit is probably going to yield better results but im not here to tell you how to manhandle your property!

even truly restored this isnt going to be a collectible thing. I would take it to a competent luthier to assess his handiwork. if it's lasted this long it's probably solid. If it's deemed as much, i'd leave it as it is, it's the character of the guitar now and a lasting tribute to grandpa's ingenuity and your aunts clumsiness.

not everyone wants a boring j50, or maybe they want accuracy during Yesterday in their Beatles cover band?

it's not really a matter of temperature, just the rapid change of temp and humidity. ease em in like a forum member into a warm bath

it's going to be so boring to see agnesi grinning ear to ear talking about how hendrix and ace frehly played coronets like it wasnt 60 years ago for a few months until they moved onto something better. now if they learned from their archtop run a few years back that there is a little market for 'em, and do a nicely spec'd zephyr, now we're cookin!