cunningham26

i LOVE that photo! MIT in '63, you were right in the thick of it with as Bob Dylan called it, the likes of Rick Von Schmidt and the rolling green pastures of Harvard

hi! sorry for the delay, this part of these forums can be a little quiet. You appear to have a modified ES-140T 3/4, a student-level guitar for smaller hand, produced in the late 50s. It would originally only have one pickup near the neck. They are a little bit collectible because of their small size- ive seen a few female singers play them and prefer them. It looks great but given the heavy modifications as-is probably not worth a ton. the range according to Reverb sits around $1500-2200, so i'd estimate this an 1000-1500 guitar on a good day. hope that helps!

your note on teardrop pickguards reminded me that we've hashed out this convo in a previous thread, so sorry to repeat myself but... i swapped the saddle on my adj for the bone one from philly luthier and that made a big diff- less thumpy , brighter high end. Since im relatively newer as the caretaker of this guitar, i didn't want to make-non reversible changes to it and the rosewood saddle sits in the case. all of these parts have been doing its thing to work together for 53 years, so unless something breaks down (e.g. mummy finger tuner buttons) i'm not a fan of modifying things for perceived gains. if it's not giving you the sound you want, maybe it's not the right guitar for you. I'd definitely check out the dss-17 or maybe this beard highball? at this point there are enough companies and folks building stuff that it seems a little funny to modify vs. get something custom

congrats on the acquisition of a great guitar! that looks like an epiphone broadway regent e252 from the 60s. pretty rare, so numbers are a little all over the place, but yours looks to be early 60s with a wider nut (easier playing) and in great shape. super cool guitar! should be pretty collectable.

flat back sounds more 50s to me but the finish looks more like those late 40s than the more bumblebee 50s models. definitely an L48. might have been crunched at some point and they replaced the back and refinned?

I was just looking at that as well, and comparing with this '67 at folkway. there's no Union Made on the label, but otherwise looks consistently inconsistent. headstock logo looks the same and you can almost see the grain on the folkway one- perhaps a sanded down headstock then stained? the serial on the back of the headstock puts it in '67, but it being imprinted over the finish doesnt seem right. Jinder's note about the neck heel is probably the most obvous thing that this isn't truly gibson, or if it was, it is no longer even close.

Looks legit, 70s norlin era with cracks in the top. like zomby said that latter part is the the issue and you'd want to see if they have been repaired and how well. Sight unseen I wouldnt pay more than maybe $1000 for it as it sits- plenty of those are clunkers when they aren't damaged, and a top crack isn't going to help

it's really incredible how far some grammar and a good attitude can get you with someone just trying to sell their stuff. The other side of the coin of what you describe are these old timers (probably like sgt pepper) that just respond to your email saying "call me on the phone 6-8am" and refuse to do anything digitally. I'd rather deal with someone that's a jerk that replies quickly by email than have to talk to someone on the phone

Because it's run by a bunch of SF hippies, the only outlet that isnt profit-driven, growth-focused, "going to be the amazon of..." aspiring marketplace killing their users by 1000 cuts is craigslist. it's practically a utility, and when it hits, it hits. got both my Gibsons from there, both screaming deals.

As others have said, amazing acquisition JT and I can't imagine what you must have felt when you first saw pics of it. Certainly found its rightful caretaker, and that's really really cool about your plans to have them be playable in a museum somewhere

There's a shortage on material for creating vinyl, and only a few pressing plants left to meet the demand, and so one more thing where you order something and receive it a few years later. The weird thing about records is that it really wouldnt be a problem if people defaulted to buying used... but instead decide to pay $25 for the seven millionth pressing of Rumours instead of getting a VG copy used for $10

guitars aren't an essential commodity, and Gibson guitars made in the USA by people with healthcare and out of pretty good quality components are even more of a luxury item. If after the last 18 months you are upset about price hikes on new gibson guitars, i dunno man go give money to a food bank or something

on second pass my guess is that this is an L50 refined and a p90 added, maybe by gibson, in the 50s

yea i dont know where they're getting 1946 from since they didnt say there's a FON or something, but non-adjustable p90 and carved back have it early, with that finish probably 40s. I don't think i'd speculate that anything is truly '46 unless it had the script logo, no banner. blurry for sure, but '46 seems to have some cache that make them a little more expensive, so i wouldnt claim it unless i was pretty certain.

this is an issue across all industries worldwide and has been since March 15th 2020 or so. Where have you been? also you've waited 90 days since your first order of arguable the hottest, newest, well-rated budget guitar on the market. go ask a us-based boutique builder to build you as much guitar as $800 will buy you and please report back with what they say, ill bring the popcorn

+1 on this- the royal tan looks like a couple of the later beatles ones but the VS looks like the orginals.

That should do it on showing any future buyers it was not modified. also anyone buying it should be aware that the only thing consistent about gibson is the inconsistency!

it seems like it was a good idea someone had in lockdown of like "all these people are just at home playing for themselves- they don't need to project outward, they just need to hear themselves play!" and then with r&d they're finally out just in time to be pretty much (and hopefully!) irrelevant to that purpose

having watched individual demos i think you're about right- aesthetically the same but that same epi/gibson gap. interesting you say the sound was trapped inside- that's definitely how i feel a lot of epi acoustics are that i've tried out. You can hear that someday they will sound great, but it's going to take years.

Has anyone come across a shootout video between the IBG Frontier vs. the MIUSA Frontier? Given the praise the IBG Hummingbird got i would love to hear/see how close the two frontier models really are

I first read it as a full-maple hummingdove in blue... a hummingjay?

Hopefully this user comes back to check this thread but probably found them elsewhere and this will be a lost cause- please don't put a big decal on the top of the guitar! While the intentions are good if it's a big decal on the top of the guitar or really anywhere on the guitar, it's going to to affect the sound of it and probably make the husband want to peel it off. proceed with caution!

back in my teenage years we believed tone was all in the fingers

that's a lot of roland cube!

nothing crazy special about it, nothing really detracting from it. if it sounds good and feels good, go for it! personally i'd want to see if they were gibson pickups- you could probably tell just hearing them played through a clean amp, but there's ways to confirm by opening it up. I'd offer the full asking $650 if they have gibsons, $500 if they dont- clearly he's pricing with the assumption that they are If you can't figure out if they are legit or not, just post photos here and trust the hairbrained opinions of strangers on the internet!