lordmyatt Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 My vintage sunburst J35 has 2 things that are confusing. One is the gold block logo even though the peghead is definitely a J35(1936-1941) and not a J45 and the other thing is the FON is stamped into the back of the peghead and not inside the guitar on the neck block. I have owned it since 1977 and don't know it's history prior to that. All of the measurements are exactly what I found in the book Gibsons Fabulous Flat Top Guitars. My guitar plays and sounds incredible. Incidentally the FON appears to read G 9665 and I realize that the G should come after the numbers. Any help would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 My vintage sunburst J35 has 2 things that are confusing. One is the gold block logo even though the peghead is definitely a J35(1936-1941) and not a J45 and the other thing is the FON is stamped into the back of the peghead and not inside the guitar on the neck block. I have owned it since 1977 and don't know it's history prior to that. All of the measurements are exactly what I found in the book Gibsons Fabulous Flat Top Guitars. My guitar plays and sounds incredible. Incidentally the FON appears to read G 9665 and I realize that the G should come after the numbers. Any help would be appreciated. We need photos on this one to try to sort it out. Has the guitar ever been back to the factory for work? An overall front picture of the guitar, a close-up of the front of the headstock, and if possible, a close-up of the back of the headstock showing the serial number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 My vintage sunburst J35 has 2 things that are confusing. One is the gold block logo even though the peghead is definitely a J35(1936-1941) and not a J45 and the other thing is the FON is stamped into the back of the peghead and not inside the guitar on the neck block. I have owned it since 1977 and don't know it's history prior to that. All of the measurements are exactly what I found in the book Gibsons Fabulous Flat Top Guitars. My guitar plays and sounds incredible. Incidentally the FON appears to read G 9665 and I realize that the G should come after the numbers. Any help would be appreciated. Ya.. pictures need to be posted here.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordmyatt Posted January 19, 2015 Author Share Posted January 19, 2015 My vintage sunburst J35 has 2 things that are confusing. One is the gold block logo even though the peghead is definitely a J35(1936-1941) and not a J45 and the other thing is the FON is stamped into the back of the peghead and not inside the guitar on the neck block. I have owned it since 1977 and don't know it's history prior to that. All of the measurements are exactly what I found in the book Gibsons Fabulous Flat Top Guitars. My guitar plays and sounds incredible. Incidentally the FON appears to read G 9665 and I realize that the G should come after the numbers. Any help would be appreciated. UPDATE: The FON is actually EG 3665. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayyj Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 My 1939 L00 has a FON on the back of the headstock but it doesn't look quite the same on this. On an L00 at least the code would be a letter then four numbers. In any case the brown headstock face and the sunburst are not Gibson work, and a refinished headstock is the explanation for the block script logo. Regardless of originality it looks like a great guitar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 At some point in its life, someone "upgraded" the guitar with a re-finish, fretboard inlays, and a modern headstock logo. It does not appear to be a factory job. Logo decals have always been fairly readily available. Can't tell if that's a silkscreen or a decal. It looks like a J-35 to me. Before most people developed an appreciation of vintage guitars, it was not that uncommon for things like this to happen. I have an old J-45--owned since 1966-- that suffered in a similar way, in part because of my own ignorance, in part because of the actions of others. Play it, and enjoy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordmyatt Posted January 19, 2015 Author Share Posted January 19, 2015 At some point in its life, someone "upgraded" the guitar with a re-finish, fretboard inlays, and a modern headstock logo. It does not appear to be a factory job. Logo decals have always been fairly readily available. Can't tell if that's a silkscreen or a decal. It looks like a J-35 to me. Before most people developed an appreciation of vintage guitars, it was not that uncommon for things like this to happen. I have an old J-45--owned since 1966-- that suffered in a similar way, in part because of my own ignorance, in part because of the actions of others. Play it, and enjoy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 UPDATE: The FON is actually EG 3665. amazing what some owners will do to there guitars.. Fixable though.. Btw.. it should be a script logo.. neat piece.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rambler Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Nice indeed. No reason to do anyting with it. But if it were mine and I had money (both pipe dreams, hehe), I'd be less worried about the logo than the rather unartful sunburst , which Id be inclined to have stripped. Tho, yeh, I'd do the logo too. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wetdog Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Sometimes, as with my left hand conversion '59 ES 330, an un-artful sunburst/paint job is from a huge ding or repair. In my case the knobs were switched to the other side, the old holes puttied with wood dough, and the face painted with what looks like barn paint. The wood dough has since fallen out so there are five extra holes on the face. It spent at least part of it's life in a Mexican rock band circa 1980 but only cost me only $125 and is a monster blues machine. If you go and start stripping it to restore an original sunburst you may be opening a can of worms. After all...why is it not stock? My ES 330 is ugly as sin but plays and sounds like a dream. Adds JuJu and I just think of it as my beater electric. In your case, as you have done, just play it and enjoy it. But it is interesting to dig into the history and solve a mystery. B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
62burst Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 You don't see it while you're playing it, but you get to hear it just fine. You may have to sneak up on it, though ; ). A pro guitar refinisher will measure the top thickness in several places. Judging by how the current "sunburst" does not come in to the soundhole, there may have already been some thinning of the top from sanding. Or maybe it was a natural finish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 UPDATE: The FON is actually EG 3665. This is actually a "serial number", not a FON, and being stamped on the back of the headstock is typical and proper. The "E" is the letter code for 1939, the "G" is for "Gibson" (as opposed to "K" for "Kalamazoo"), and the numbers are just a sequential/random serial number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordmyatt Posted January 20, 2015 Author Share Posted January 20, 2015 Sometimes, as with my left hand conversion '59 ES 330, an un-artful sunburst/paint job is from a huge ding or repair. In my case the knobs were switched to the other side, the old holes puttied with wood dough, and the face painted with what looks like barn paint. The wood dough has since fallen out so there are five extra holes on the face. It spent at least part of it's life in a Mexican rock band circa 1980 but only cost me only $125 and is a monster blues machine. If you go and start stripping it to restore an original sunburst you may be opening a can of worms. After all...why is it not stock? My ES 330 is ugly as sin but plays and sounds like a dream. Adds JuJu and I just think of it as my beater electric. In your case, as you have done, just play it and enjoy it. But it is interesting to dig into the history and solve a mystery. B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordmyatt Posted January 20, 2015 Author Share Posted January 20, 2015 I love my old Gibson J35 and as an experienced guitar player I will put it up against my 1976 J45, my 2008 D35 and my 2002 Grand Ole Opry WSM Martin guitar(similar to the D28) for its sweet sound, intonation and playability. I appreciate everyone's information and suggestions concerning the gold block logo, FON and age of the guitar. From all I have learned, I believe that my guitar is actually a genuine 1939 J35 (S.N. EG 3665)and that maybe in the late 1940's or so it was sent back to Gibson for a neck replacement and the gold block style logo was used because that was the current one. The neck is the "V" style which I really like. I obtained the guitar in 1977 and don't know the history prior to that. Anyway, I will keep playing it and someday will pass it on to my daughter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 I love my old Gibson J35 and as an experienced guitar player I will put it up against my 1976 J45, my 2008 D35 and my 2002 Grand Ole Opry WSM Martin guitar(similar to the D28) for its sweet sound, intonation and playability. I appreciate everyone's information and suggestions concerning the gold block logo, FON and age of the guitar. From all I have learned, I believe that my guitar is actually a genuine 1939 J35 (S.N. EG 3665)and that maybe in the late 1940's or so it was sent back to Gibson for a neck replacement and the gold block style logo was used because that was the current one. The neck is the "V" style which I really like. I obtained the guitar in 1977 and don't know the history prior to that. Anyway, I will keep playing it and someday will pass it on to my daughter. It seems unlikely that it is a replacement neck if it a V-neck. That neck carve pretty much disappeared by the outbreak of WW2. Any replacement neck done in the 1940's or later would have been a rounded D-section or C-section. The neck is probably original, but the top finish, board inlays, and headstock finish and logo are not. Without seeing the guitar, it is hard to know whether the finish on the rest of the guitar is original. Some of these guitars were sunburst top, others natural top. You might take the guitar to an experienced luthier to see if by any chance the sunburst on your guitar might have been sprayed over an intact "natural" finish, in which case it might be possible to remove it. I'm not sure why anyone would have done that, but it's worth checking out. Another relatively easy change could be to have the headstock face sprayed black, and the correct script logo silkscreened on. TVguit on this forum had a natural-top J-35 of similar vintage a couple of years ago, and probably has photos he could supply that showed the details of that configuration. Yours is a really nice guitar. Its collector value is pretty well diminished by the work done to it, but it wouldn't cost too much to return it to a closer resemblance to its original glory. If the guitar is in good condition, these things could return it a bit more to its original state, which might be worth considering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 I love my old Gibson J35 and as an experienced guitar player I will put it up against my ((((1976 J45, my 2008 D35 and my 2002 Grand Ole Opry WSM Martin)))) guitar(similar to the D28) for its sweet sound, intonation and playability. I appreciate everyone's information and suggestions concerning the gold block logo, FON and age of the guitar. From all I have learned, I believe that my guitar is actually a genuine 1939 J35 (S.N. EG 3665)and that maybe in the late 1940's or so it was sent back to Gibson for a neck replacement and the gold block style logo was used because that was the current one. The neck is the "V" style which I really like. I obtained the guitar in 1977 and don't know the history prior to that. Anyway, I will keep playing it and someday will pass it on to my daughter. ((((1976 J45, my 2008 D35 and my 2002 Grand Ole Opry WSM Martin)))) ?? these are bad comparisions.. Ive owned a couple J35s from that era.. Cant really compare those to anything. because they were just better.. . there just in a league of there own.. No different than a pre war D18 or D28.. Not much out there that compare.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayyj Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 I agree with Nick, if it's a V neck I really don't think it's a later replacement: the expectation with a reneck is that it follows the style and profile of the year it was renecked, and this neck looks correct for 1939. The finish work is not consistant with anything Gibson would have done either, including leaving the headstock face brown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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