1968 Country Western with a J-50 pickguard

[cunningham26]

On 12/10/2020 at 6:54 PM, j45nick said:

The serial number seems unambiguous. The SJ/CW went to square shoulder in 1963, as I recall.

Occam's razor should apply here.

 

honestly didnt know this- thought they were slope cloes of the j45 with fancier appointments. is it just mahogany vs maple that differentiates them from hummingbirds of the same era? 

 

the square shoulders screamed norlin to me when looking at it as a j45/50 from the transition era, not considering the inlays or volute. definitely an oddball and probably generous to say it's a second, probably more like a third in terms of relation to something standard!

[j45nick]

2 minutes ago, cunningham26 said:

 

honestly didnt know this- thought they were slope cloes of the j45 with fancier appointments. is it just mahogany vs maple that differentiates them from hummingbirds of the same era? 

 

The square-dread SJ (sunburst) and CW (natural) of the mid-60s until the Ren era were mahogany, just like the standard Hummingbird.

As far as I can tell, the only obvious things that differentiated the three guitars  were the Hummingbird's distinctive pickguard, and the fact that most (but not all) Hummingbirds were cherryburst.  Prior to that, the round-shoulder SJ and CW (formerly the SJN or SJ Natural) were essentially blinged-out versions of the J-45 and J-50.

There may also have been a difference in scale length on the square dread versions  at some point, but others will know better than me on that one.