cunningham26

Looks very similar to this- I believe it's the same model, a TB-1 from around the late-teens early 1920s. TB (tenor banjo) with the numbers going up in quality, meaning 1 would be the bare bones lowest cost one. Oddly enough i came into my Vega tenor banjo from the same era in the exact way you did! my wife's grandfather played and I'm the only musical member of the family still kicking. My in-laws were cleaning their house recently and came across a wedding invitation from the 50's kindly asking Richard to "leave his banjo at home" so i guess it's not great for the singalong!

Wondering if there are any long-term thoughts of the IBG epiphones. I imagine that Anderton's shootout pretty well covers it- the hummingbird is a sleeper and others dont quite live up to their gibson namesakes. I wonder if the consensus is that these probably fall short of the masterbilts in terms of overall quality. but have the looks?

haha i thought the same thing!

This thread is incredible and in addition to being an awesome woman, she had great taste in guitars! congrats on having something so magical

anecdotally in the latest gibson tv collection episode with Cesar Gueikian they talk about how they took the same approach to this as they do the electric lines, which they then explain how they develop via 3d scans of dozens of originals. ain't nothing like the real thing but my guess is they are very close to an original spec- the 60s j45 has the adj bridge, narrow nut, and sonic boom pickguard while the 50s one is wide and has the normal bridge. it should feel the same but probably won't sound the same- they'll sound the way a 50s one did in the 50s

all the reverb ones have been marked sold. a store in CT got one and sold it at msrp- lucky buyer on that one!

wonderful review rs80 thanks for the side by side comparison with the original! glad you're liking yours- I'll probably keep my eyes peeled for a blonde once the market cools off a bit

the one that was at $8500 dropped to $7k pretty quickly. I have to hope that some of these guys that thought they could double their money are quickly realizing that the majority of people that wanted them (myself included) suffered from the sticker shock of the msrp, so the market of people willing to go well over that is a real longshot.

some of us like to have a little fun from time to time #stayyoung

I think that's the only song Gibson got license to use, so I think they felt like they'd get through youtube's restrictions on copyrighted material use. The other video JC posted had someone comment that they were basically making oasis noises that weren't quite oasis songs haha

Beautiful!

Guess i was right that it would make the standard j150s jump in their resale

i guess it's a good thing your aesthetic choices are in line with some of gibson's best guitars, even if it's going to hurt your wallet pretty considerably. i'd be in touch with retrofret, folkways, or tr crandall as they seem to specialize and aren't going to gouge you like some other rare guitar dealers.

as long as your are not the same diminutive frame of Noel, a j200 should look proportionally correct. he's a little man!

my L48 has got some hard wear on the upper bout

If that's the case there's an easy solution... buy both! I'd much rather have a decent sounding modern, comfortable neck player while performing than wrestle with something vintage, but maybe keep the old one around for when the time comes to record.

We're definitely a mess of enthusiasts with some good knowledge, but I'm no expert! I think moreso we can bring some resources on market insights vs. the personal opinions you've sought out. While the music store guy may have his hopes set on a rich person walking in not knowing what they're looking at... why would a rich person overpay for the absolute base model of Gibson acoustics in that era? It'd be a unicorn that wanted his first guitar to go along with his collection. I maintain my corvair/corvette analogy. As for condition, on an LG0 anything with structural issues or if it looked like it spent time at the bottom of the ocean would make it a $300-500 guitar. Excellent shape is great but the paint job on a corvair does not a corvette make. Depending on how eager you are to sell you might get $1000 on a good day but more likely $750 from a young person without a ton of cash that wants cheap entry to a gibson headstock. good luck in your sale, in this market i hope you get what you're looking for or more and come back to rub our noses in how wrong we were!

Sorry to hear JC but glad you've got another one in mind. I think I'll personally wait on a Richard Ashcroft J200 in blonde!

I would trust TR Crandall's work if my life depended on it... the repair are definitely factored into to cost, but it's supply and demand if that's the one for you. Personally i'd take the '54 J50 next to it on their inventory page at half the price and start playing early dylan songs immediately. good luck!

They just get the internet out to you?

bridge actually looks a bit wide to my eye, but it could definitely be the angle. my TRC on my '68 adj j45 is one ply black. As others have pointed out, this looks like it had a lot of work- new bridge, new tuners, new TRC, and back of the headstock's orange peel indicates that was resprayed at some point. My best guess is some transition model or 2nd that got a new bridge (spot the chips in the upper right of the bridge photo- looks like it may have been a bit of a hack-job and maybe someone didn't like the 2nd designation, so maybe sanded down the serial and resprayed the back?

at least he got a masterclass in No One is Interested in Your LG0 in Ten Simple Replies

Yea reverb used to have a better price guide but it's a bit of a mess breaking them up by year with limited data, but most transaction data they have show 500-800, so i'd go with the price guide shot above for sure!

People that ask for 3x the going price are doing so so they can tell their SO they're trying to downsize but dangit still no bites! an LG0 is a corvair, not a corvette. 67 makes it even less desirable because of the narrow nut- truly a student model intended for small hands and to be moved on from in time. Around my parts even in the current hot market, I wouldn't list it for more than $750 if i actually wanted to sell it

it's funny as a cyclist to see a thread like this where weight weenies are posting about how their tuners just feel like they're weighing them DOWN! Good on Martin for creating this idea that the lightest possible guitars are always the best sounding bar none. id say if it sounds amazing, keep that finish thicc and don't impose impossible standards onto your guitars!