zombywoof Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 After a year's wait I made the two hour trek over to the middle of nowhere Missouri to fetch my old Gibson. My repair guy is a wizard so I knew the guitar was in good hands and would come back fully repaired and in the best possible playing condition possible. But I was not expecting what I got. The FON on the guitar placed it at the beginning of a batch of J-50s made in 1942. But this was an odd one. Neither the top nor the back was made with book matched wood. The top may, in fact, have been one of the butt ugliest I have sever seen on any guitar. But this is Gibson so all bets are off. But it looked like one of those made Friday afternoon waiting for the weekend guitars. But when I opened the case what confronted me was one of the sweetest bursts I have seen. We had not even discussed doing this - only removing the thick overspray. But the repair guy said from what he saw when he got into it he was convinced the guitar had been a J-45 and that he could not let me walk out with it until it had been put right. As to the sound - after all the time and work, the guitar is stiff as board and needs to re-learn it is no longer a tree. But even so it has hands down the best low end I have ever heard on a Gibson or any other guitar for that matter. It is deep and percussive. The guitar is beautifully balanced and has an overall crisp sound and a lot of tonal clarity. This is the kind of guitar that will have you questioning why you bother owning any other. So without any more yapping from me - the before pic. And the after pic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del Nilppeznaf Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Wow thats some make over Zomby...looks a treat congrats, a fine restoration Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Congratulations ZW! Beautiful.... The old p/g was a shocker, wasn't it? Handmade? And it sounds like you had better get playing. BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted October 11, 2013 Author Share Posted October 11, 2013 This is not really a restoration. Some artistic license was taken and it is an assemblage of new and old parts. So the tuners are correct for a 1942 Gibson but the bushings are off a 1950s Gibson and stuff like that. The saving grace of the guitar is that the innards were not molested and so are as they were when the guitar rolled out of the factory. I swear the braces look like they were carved with a dull boy scout knife. It is amazing though how lightly built these guitars were. The pickguard and bridge that came with the guitar appear to have been off a Yamaha. The repair guy made the new bridge and fashioned the pickguard from some NOS material he had on hand. Not sure how he did it but he applied the firestripe himself. The guitar would have originally had a tortoise shell scratchplate but he thought the firestripe just looked better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountainpicker Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Wow, what great work. The mismatch of the top actually seems to add to the aesthetics of the burst for me. I bet you are just blown away. Congrats on this guitar and finding "the man" who did the work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MR GIBS Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Sure this repair guy is a wizard! Brilliant work! Congrats and play a lot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PickitPaul Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Very nice work, the burst looks great. Do you have any sound samples you could post? The description of the sound made me want to hear a sample. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 . Schwing ! Holy smokes . . . what a beautiful job. Zomby, your guy is very talented indeed - that is a gorgeous burst, and the bridge looks great. I'm guessing you'll be playin her a lot and she'll open up soon. Supremely impressed. What a stunner. Definitely worth the wait. Congrats. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted October 11, 2013 Author Share Posted October 11, 2013 Sorry to say I have never mastered the art of digital recording and posting. I really should just go out and buy one of those Zoom recorders or something. Just so long as it is simple. Keith George in Lawson, MO did the work. He is about as old school as it gets. His shop is just a two room shed next to his house. The place is so jammed with tools, instruments and parts (as well as shotguns and turkey feathers) you can hardly walk through it. But the guy is a wizard. I have heard that Martin guys call him "Doc." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
62burst Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Wow! So people *do* actually get their guitars back froml luthiers. Well, it looks just beautiful. Real nice 'burst on that one. I'm sure you'll enjoy waking it back up. Congrats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorrisrownSal Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Congratulations. What a great metamorphosis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Just love it when a classy old guitar gets saved - congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RusRob Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Just love it when a classy old guitar gets saved - congrats! I have to agree with that. Nothing I like better than to find an old broken guitar and bring it back to life. Inside every one I have done I write the note "A New Life" @zombywoof, It is hard to find a good repair guy that can spray a finish like that. You should make sure he has business and refer people to him, you want this guy around for a long time. Nice looking guitar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullmental Alpinist Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Now that is a beautiful "restoration." Very nice. And thanks for posting the luthier's name. It's nice to know who's good. What is the top wood, if I might show my ignorance. Is it spruce? FMA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 I'm curious as to why you went with what appears to be a slightly oversized and slightly different-shaped pickguard compared to an original one, since you had a new pickguard made........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted October 11, 2013 Author Share Posted October 11, 2013 What is the top wood, if I might show my ignorance. Is it spruce? The top is red spruce which was pretty standard. With the War Gibson and others could not longer get it so when their stock ran out in 1944 they switched over to Sitka. With the end of the War there just was no more Adi to be had so they stuck with Sitka. This is why the Adi used today is all secondary growth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jannusguy2 Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Really very nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted October 11, 2013 Author Share Posted October 11, 2013 Regarding the oversized pickguard - This was not really a restoration - more a repair and a facelift so I think Keith took a bit of artistic license. Since the size of the pickguard he made came down as low as the one that was on the guitar though I am assuming there is something he wanted needed to cover. He fashioned the pickguard out of some NOS material he dug up which I thought was cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullmental Alpinist Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 I don't want to step on any toes here (any more toes?), but I know there's a running gag on the forum about a "Clown Burst." I'm not privy to the details (before my time) but I can tell that your guitar definitely doesn't have a clown burst. It's nicely done. FMA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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