1995 Ren Ferguson J-45 Standard w/ Banner Logo...

[sbpark]

Came across a 1995 J-45 Standard that has a bone nut, banner logo and with button tuners and the factory, "mis-aligned" pickguard that goes over the rosette. Now I know that all guitars should be judged on their individual merits and they all sound different from one another, but wondering if anyone can shed any light or give any info on these guitars from this time period. Ren Ferguson was with Gibson at this time and quality control apparently improved. What were the J45 Standards like from this time? It's interesting that it has a banner logo, bone nut and white button tuners stock and no pickup as far as I know. Any additional info would be great. Thanks!

[jvi]

the early 1990s was when my buying Gibson period was in full swing, (it still goes on) and my feeling is that the mid 90s guitars are great!  I had dove, humming bird, j45, J 200jr, aj ,  and I forget the rest  but I prefer that era to the last few years   fwiw  

Edited February 5, 2020 by jvi
spelling

[sbpark]

3 hours ago, jvi said:

the early 1990s was when my buying Gibson period was in full swing, (it still goes on) and my feeling is that the mid 90s guitars are great!  I had dove, humming bird, j45, J 200jr, aj ,  and I forget the rest  but I prefer that era to the last few years   fwiw  

 

Thanks for the info. I'm having trouble determine what model it is. It just says "J45" on the orange label inside the sound hole, making me think it's just a regular, run of the mill J45 Standard, but I'm not sure if they made a "Standard" model during that time. Combine that with the fact that I've seen "J45 Western"  models from that time that say either "J45 Western" or simply "J45" on the label despite it being a J45 Western. 

[j45nick]

Maybe it's just a J-45. Maybe that's what they were like in 1995, which pretty much sounds like a more-or-less standard historical configuration, other than the bone nut, banner logo, and pickguard placement. Of course, what's "standard" varies quite a bit by decade and year. The J-45 has evolved a lot over time when you think about it, particularly in the details.

Not sure when Gibson went to Grovers and a pickup in the J-45 standard.

[gearbasher]

I had a 1994 J-45 Western that had the banner logo and stock green keystone tuners (which I happen to like). Also, the pickguard covered the rosette. I bought it new, sight unseen. It had a couple of sags in the nitro finish. I played it a lot, but it never did anything for me. It's been long gone.

[slimt]

They also were bannered in 1990 ,91,92 so on. They were either just j45 s and j45 western.   J100s were bannered as well as the SJ.  In that time frame 

Edited February 5, 2020 by slimt

[sbpark]

I got to play the guitar yesterday. It  had some issues, including a pretty massive hump  in the upper frets. Action and neck relief were spot on, but that thing fretted out and buzzed from the 12th-18th fret, and the B string buzzed everywhere. Maybe a good fret level would fix the issue, but for what they were asking it wasn't worth it to me. It did have a nice sound when playing in first position, but the neck profile was a little too thin. I brought along my D18 just to have something familiar and as a reference and even the neck on the D-18 felt much more substantial, and it's a 2018 D-18 Standard with the "Modified Low Oval" profile. Also isn't fair to compare a D-18 to a J-45 because the D-18 stomped all over the J-45. After playing the J-45 for a while I picked up the D-18 and it was a wall of sound in comparison, which is why I parted ways with my J-45's in the first place.