Donovan J45 Signature Model

[j45nick]

We lusted after American guitars and marvelled at university campus footage showing students protesting about Vietnam (or whatever) and these kids always had Martin or Gibson acoustics for the obligatory sing-along of We Shall Overcome or Blowin' In The Wind. It just didn't seem fair.

 

 

Yes, we did have them, and maybe it wasn't fair. But I bought my old J-45 in 1966 for $50 that I had to borrow from my sister. And I lusted after my room mate's D-18. I don't remember any of my college player friends having anything but a Gibson or a Martin, with the occasional Guild thrown in. We didn't really appreciate how lucky we were. My old J-45 was the most beat-up of the entire lot, but I was still proud to own it.

[Smurfbird]

fantastic. Gibsons everywhere. Falling over them to get to the toilet. Ouch, what's that? Oh, just a pre-war Martin! Don't mind it. And girls? Oh hi, can I go home with you?

[E-minor7]

fantastic. Gibsons everywhere. Falling over them to get to the toilet. Ouch, what's that? Oh, just a pre-war Martin! Don't mind it. And girls? Oh hi, can I go home with you?

 

The 1 hundred % precise picture of my life.

 

How could you tell, smurf. . .

 

 

 

[j45nick]

fantastic. Gibsons everywhere. Falling over them to get to the toilet. Ouch, what's that? Oh, just a pre-war Martin! Don't mind it. And girls? Oh hi, can I go home with you?

 

 

We wished, we wished. The girl part, that is.

 

Good guitars just were not that expensive back then. There wasn't a real collector's market, so my 1948-'50 J-45 was just a beat-up old guitar, the equivalent of someone buying a 1995 J-45 today. Lots of people would pass on such a guitar--too many dings and scratches, too much play wear. Nobody was obsessing over 19-fret necks, tapered headstocks, and nut widths. It never even occurred to us that those features mattered. It was just a Gibson, or a Martin.

 

Now you see pre-relic'd new guitars, and pay a premium for them. I just shake my head, as do others of my generation here. Just get Zombywoof cranked up sometime about this stuff, and stand back.

 

For some reason, when I was in college in New England, it was all Martins and Guilds, except for my J-45, which was sort of a curiosity. The year I was in college in Mississippi, it was all Gibsons. Southern vs. Northern mentality, maybe, even though all were northern-built guitars.

 

Maybe because all I was interested in was Gibsons and Martins, it was all I saw.

[kevbo82]

So true, everyone wants their new guitars to look old and vintage guitars to look new....I just don't get "the market" I have a belief that each guitar is different, and you can tell which ones play the best because they'll always be beat to crap (due to all that playing) I have two gibsons from 1962 (J50 and SG jr) I love them both, and they've both had the head stocks snapped off, and various other injuries, but that allowed me to afford those guitars at a realistic and reasonable price. These collector guitars bore me, if I somehow ended up with one I would sell it to a collector for an obscene price and buy myself a bunch of cheap players!

[Smurfbird]

Kevbo,

 

Yes, it is a bizarre paradox. Folks love old guitars but they want to buy them in pristine shape when such shape suggests either a dog that no one enjoyed playing or one that was never broken in because it was kept in the most sterile of environments. I've thought the same thing no eBay where stores sometimes dump their NOS. Yet, I did once manages to snag a brand new Dove for a mere $1600. It was not a dog, but I did end up selling it for $2200 a year later, since I never bonded with it.

 

I do, however, now think I was lucky. Chances are if a guitar has been sitting in a shop for years and no one has bought it, it's because other guitars in the shop seemed like better deals. Unless the shop we're talking about is some small out of the way place that rarely sells guitars of the Gibson/Martin caliber, I suppose.

[kevbo82]

Kevbo,

 

Yes, it is a bizarre paradox. Folks love old guitars but they want to buy them in pristine shape when such shape suggests either a dog that no one enjoyed playing or one that was never broken in because it was kept in the most sterile of environments. I've thought the same thing no eBay where stores sometimes dump their NOS. Yet, I did once manages to snag a brand new Dove for a mere $1600. It was not a dog, but I did end up selling it for $2200 a year later, since I never bonded with it.

 

I do, however, now think I was lucky. Chances are if a guitar has been sitting in a shop for years and no one has bought it, it's because other guitars in the shop seemed like better deals. Unless the shop we're talking about is some small out of the way place that rarely sells guitars of the Gibson/Martin caliber, I suppose.

I bought my 69 dove for $300! From the original owner who I think was a drug addict and needed to sell it. He lived in a one room apartment with NOTHING in it but a lawn chair and two guitars. Cried when he sold it to me, I couldn't get out of there fast enough loved it for a few years but couldn't live with the 1 9/16" nut, ended up selling it to get my 62 J50, so I basically paid $300 for my J50(at least that's how I like to think of it)

[Smurfbird]

I once wanted to furnish my living room with outdoor patio furniture but cooler heads prevailed.

 

Let's face it, why spend money on furniture that could be better spent on guitars?