Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

1947 -48 Gibson j45 Neck reset


75 Hummingbird

Recommended Posts

Hi all ,looking for some info .

I have my 47 -48 in for a neck reset ,rectangular bridge with block logo .

This guitar does not have a f.o.n. or serial number ....but wait ...my Luther pops off the neck and on the body side of the guitar,inside where dovetail fits  is a 4 digit number .

2247.

Any info would be great.

Thanks .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If that is the FON it would date the guitar to 1948.  Never heard of the FON being in the neck joint though.  Then again in over half a century of playing old Gibsons I have never owned one that needed a  neck reset so have never had the opportunity to look.  Maybe we were all wrong in assuming immediate post-War Gibsons did not have FONs.  Maybe Gibson was just putting them where you could not see them for a few years.     

Edited by zombywoof
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I to, have never heard of the f.o.n. being placed in the neck joint , the old girl has had the bridge shaved down and there is no other choice but to reset .

I had asked my Luthier to send me pics of the operation and ...i somehow made the pic quite large ..dame ...numbers in the neck pocket .

This is like finding treasure lol  .Is this where Gibson hide those f.o.n during those couple of years ?

Thanks ZW for your info.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've never heard of that either, but that number would line up with a 1948 FON.

I don't know what the assembly sequence was then, but maybe the neck dovetail and neckblock were rough-fitted together before the body was put together, and the number helped keep the components identified with each other during construction.

I have seen random numbers stamped inside Gibsons in a number of places over the years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, j45nick said:

I've never heard of that either, but that number would line up with a 1948 FON.

I don't know what the assembly sequence was then, but maybe the neck dovetail and neckblock were rough-fitted together before the body was put together, and the number helped keep the components identified with each other during construction.

I have seen random numbers stamped inside Gibsons in a number of places over the years.

 

While I am not sure about a post-CMI guitar,  it is my understanding that an FON was assigned by management and a hard copy of the order produced directing the shop to build a certain number of a certain model in that batch.  This order followed the guitar so that the worker doing the inlay on the board or installing the top binding knew what to do with the parts on their bench. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, zombywoof said:

 

While I am not sure about a post-CMI guitar,  it is my understanding that an FON was assigned by management and a hard copy of the order produced directing the shop to build a certain number of a certain model in that batch.  This order followed the guitar so that the worker doing the inlay on the board or installing the top binding knew what to do with the parts on their bench. 

JT might be able to comment on that.

I thought I remembered a random number stamped inside one of my Kalamazoo Gibsons. Sure enough, the 1968 top (Gibson re-top) on one of my 1950 J-45s has a number stamped on the inside that has nothing to do with the FON of that guitar, but which is formatted similar to the FON.

I've seen that on other Gibsons as well.

In the case of the OP's guitar, the only hint might come from finding that particular number in the ledgers, and seeing if it belongs to a 1948 J-45, or any guitar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, j45nick said:

In the case of the OP's guitar, the only hint might come from finding that particular number in the ledgers, and seeing if it belongs to a 1948 J-45, or any guitar.

 

 JT certainly might have an answer.  If I recall, up to a point, Gibson ledgers only listed guitars with serial numbers.  I am just not sure what that point was.  FONs though were generally not recorded when a guitar was shipped other than for those instruments which came back for repair.  Or something like that.  The place to post this one might be UMGF.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, 75 Hummingbird said:

Hello ,would i create more views of this post if the Title was more specific to there being numbers stamped inside the dovetail body joint and the end of the neck dovetail ?

Not necessarily. The hard-core vintage Gibson enthusiasts who might have something to add will already be attracted by the reference to a neck re-set on a vintage J-45.

You have to be patient for responses here. Not everyone visits the forum on a daily basis, and the issue you are dealing with here is primarily of interest to vintage geeks like me. You could start another more specific thread if you wanted, but it may or may not attract a larger viewer universe.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...and a top geek you are, Nick! Good to see old school FON nerd talk from you guys, but as vintage Gibson crazy as I am, I can't get up to your level (or Zomby's or Tom's for that matter). Maybe you need more fiber in your diet, or less kush.

Hope you're doing great with your old J's.

Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, jedzep said:

...and a top geek you are, Nick! Good to see old school FON nerd talk from you guys, but as vintage Gibson crazy as I am, I can't get up to your level (or Zomby's or Tom's for that matter). Maybe you need more fiber in your diet, or less kush.

Hope you're doing great with your old J's.

Dave

Thanks, Dave.

FONs have interested me ever since I looked inside  my first beat-up old 1950 J-45 more than 50 years ago, and asked myself, "I wonder what those numbers stamped on the neckblock really mean?" (Not that I knew a neckblock from a tailblock back then.)

The one-owner all-original 1950 J-45 I bought a year ago has become my number one player. It has a wonderful, articulate voice, and more power than you would normally expect from a slope-J.

I got really lucky on that one. No one had ever messed with it, and Ross Teigen had only typical straightforward work to do on it to turn it into a superb player.

I trust your own vintage J project is coming along.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the things you will run into is there is just not the same "historic" interest in post-War flattops as there is with the earlier guitars.   So for pre-WWII guitars we have Joe Spann's Guide.  Then, of course, there is JT's book on the Banners.   We also, of course,  have the Gibson Banner Registry (as well as a Martin Registry and a NYC-built Epiphone Registry).  As chronological runs of post-War guitars have long been established  I assume the ledgers went back to recording an identifying number when shipping although I am not sure how quickly after the War this occurred.   

But your question is not really about the year.  It is about the process of stamping  parts with an identifying number.   I am guessing it will take somebody with the knowledge  of a JT or a Willi Henkes to answer that one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was happy when you got hooked up with that one, Nick. It wasn't all luck, though. You ponied up.

I'm down to trying to convince Steve Kovacik to try and rout a shallow channel and squeeze in a new BWBW sound hole ring. I need to get on it, put my mask on, and take the hour drive to Albany. It has awesome chops, but the top has been sanded to risky thickness and probably finished in stiff acrylic lacquer, so I would be sympathetic to a cautious approach.

Edited by jedzep
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, RBSinTo said:

FON???????

Again with the jargon!

For those of us who don't live and breathe this stuff, what the heck does FON stand for?

RBSinTo

 

Factory Order Number.  All guitars were built in a batch which was assigned a number. So will see  as example 7116H which is the FON  followed by a 16 or some other number indicating which guitar in the batch it was.

Edited by zombywoof
Link to comment
Share on other sites

zombywolf,

Thanks for the explanation.

Does the Factory Order Number either double as the Serial Number of a particular instrument, or make up part of it?

From what I've been able to pick up in other conversations here, it sounds like Gibson's record-keeping over the years has been less than stellar.

RBSinTo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...