corbieres123 Posted December 19, 2019 Share Posted December 19, 2019 FON # 2694. Any approximate ideas of what this might be worth? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedzep Posted December 19, 2019 Share Posted December 19, 2019 A zillion dollars, but we gotta' see it. Can you put it on Imgur or something and share? You'll get a good $$ range scoping out similar 'bucket listers' on Reverb and Ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbieres123 Posted December 28, 2019 Author Share Posted December 28, 2019 Thanks for your reply. Sorry for the slow response... been a hectic holiday. I will work on getting something up online or posting it here. FYI I live France. Any ideas of where I might go more locally here in Europe? Prob doesn't really matter but I would have thought shipping it is a bit risky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedzep Posted December 28, 2019 Share Posted December 28, 2019 Shipping high value stringed instruments is always a nail-biting experience. Check out this amazing, not perfect, guitar for a good price baseline. Also, regarding shipping, cross-border movement of Braz rosewood is restrictive, so there's a complication you'd need to look into.https://reverb.com/item/28312888-gibson-sj-1943-sunburst 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbieres123 Posted December 28, 2019 Author Share Posted December 28, 2019 Ok Thanks for that. Mine is a bit more banged up than that one, but not as bad as the other one on the site. Is it worth trying to restore it a bit or best not to touch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedzep Posted December 28, 2019 Share Posted December 28, 2019 Repair/restoration considerations for a guitar like this would be on a case by case basis. If you live far from a big town, where finding a skilled luthier is sketchy, you could end up devaluing. Folks looking to invest in this level guitar tend to prefer making their own choices about what to fix and who is permitted to lay hands on it. Dave 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted December 29, 2019 Share Posted December 29, 2019 Condition and originality are everything. As far as the Reverb listings goes, you can ignore the one in Japan: they ask ridiculous amounts of money. As a reference, one of the rarest banner SJ's--a beautiful rosewood-bodied one from the fabled FON 910 batch-- sold for about what they are asking for the one linked by Jedzep above. I inspected it a couple of years ago, and it was in excellent vintage condition. As Jedzep says, unless you have a luthier who is an expert in working with vintage Gibsons and Martins, you should not have anyone work on it before you sell it. Those of us who collect and play vintage guitars prefer to make our own decisions about who works on them, and what is done to them. The guy who works on my guitars, who is one of the best around, says he spends a large percentage of his time undoing previous "repairs." He would rather work on one that has never been touched, no matter how bad it is. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbieres123 Posted December 29, 2019 Author Share Posted December 29, 2019 Yep I guess that makes sense. The only thing I ever had to do on my watch(20 yrs)was repair a blown brace that was pulling up the top, and the guys at the Guitar Emporium in Cambridge did it. The tuning pegs have ben changed and I don't think the bridge is oreginal. Same frets though. The thing is a pleasure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted December 29, 2019 Share Posted December 29, 2019 2 hours ago, corbieres123 said: Yep I guess that makes sense. The only thing I ever had to do on my watch(20 yrs)was repair a blown brace that was pulling up the top, and the guys at the Guitar Emporium in Cambridge did it. The tuning pegs have ben changed and I don't think the bridge is oreginal. Same frets though. The thing is a pleasure A photograph would help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Banner Gibsons, and especially SJs, are my wheelhouse. Pics, please. 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbieres123 Posted January 10, 2020 Author Share Posted January 10, 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbieres123 Posted January 10, 2020 Author Share Posted January 10, 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbieres123 Posted January 10, 2020 Author Share Posted January 10, 2020 Hello. I have been away so sorry for the slow reply. Here are a few pics. It won't let me load anymore onto this thread so please pm me if you would like more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbieres123 Posted January 10, 2020 Author Share Posted January 10, 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 10, 2020 Share Posted January 10, 2020 Look carefully with a light from different angles and a magnifying glass to see if there is a lightly penciled red number after the four-digit stamped number. This pencil number fades, and can be almost impossible to see. That FON of 2694 plus truss rod suggests 1944 build period. There are four other SJ's from batch 2694 listed in the Banner registry: banner gibson That looks like it might be a replacement bridge, since it is not a slot-through saddle. The other SJ's with that FON also have straight bridges like yours, whereas many banner SJ's had belly-up or belly-down bridges Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 On 1/10/2020 at 1:36 PM, j45nick said: Look carefully with a light from different angles and a magnifying glass to see if there is a lightly penciled red number after the four-digit stamped number. This pencil number fades, and can be almost impossible to see. That FON of 2694 plus truss rod suggests 1944 build period. There are four other SJ's from batch 2694 listed in the Banner registry: banner gibson That looks like it might be a replacement bridge, since it is not a slot-through saddle. The other SJ's with that FON also have straight bridges like yours, whereas many banner SJ's had belly-up or belly-down bridges Thanks for linking to my and Willi's Banner Registry, Nick! I agree with Nick's observations, except that there were no belly-up bridges during the Banner years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 13, 2020 Share Posted January 13, 2020 1 hour ago, jt said: Thanks for linking to my and Willi's Banner Registry, Nick! I agree with Nick's observations, except that there were no belly-up bridges during the Banner years. As JT says, SJ's in the banner years had either rectangular bridges, or belly-down ( Martin-style) bridges. Most banner Gibson flat tops seem to have had rectangular bridges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted January 13, 2020 Share Posted January 13, 2020 1 hour ago, j45nick said: As JT says, SJ's in the banner years had either rectangular bridges, or belly-down ( Martin-style) bridges. Most banner Gibson flat tops seem to have had rectangular bridges. All but the SJs had rectangular bridges. Of the SJs, probably half had belly down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbieres123 Posted January 13, 2020 Author Share Posted January 13, 2020 Yes that is correct. The bridge was replaced about 15 yrs ago. No sign whatsoever of red pencil... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 13, 2020 Share Posted January 13, 2020 It really is hard to assess value, in part because of your location. The fact that the fretboard is Brazilian rosewood complicates life. The bridge looks like it is probably Indian rosewood. The simplest thing is to try to sell it within your country, or maybe somewhere else in the EU where it might be hand-delivered. If the guitar were for sale in the US, based just on what we can see in the photos, the asking price might be in the high four figures. Just follow the Reverb prices, and watch how they continue to be marked down, or if they sell. The playing condition of your guitar is not apparent from the photos. Someone has certainly flailed on it a lot with a pick at some point in its life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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