J-45 sibling

[j45nick]

So,  I was browsing Reverb, as you do, and came across this "1949-1950" J 50 from Reverend Guitar Man, who sometimes gets nice guitars. This one is player grade--body looks to have been stripped and refinished at some point, although the unstained mahogany back and sides would be typical on a J-50 in this period. Top like wise oversprayed, but the pickguard is almost identical in pattern to  the 1950 J-45 I bought a couple of years ago from the original owner.

Some cracks repaired, replacement bridge, re-fretted, a lot of the things you see on a 70 year old guitar.

There is a really good sound demo in this listing, showing off the exact same cracking up-front and articulate voice of a good J-series from this period that my recent 1950 J-45 has.

Then I looked at the FON, and it was strikingly familiar.  Sure enough, it is the same FON as my J-45, with a rack number only three away from mine. This guitar and mine sat on the rack on the same day, have the same pickguard, and the same voice. Siblings, if not identical twins.

It was spooky, and for a minute I thought about buying it. But then I thought, nah, I've already got two 1950 J-45s, including one that lived life disguised as a J-50 for almost 40 years.

I hope this one finds a good home. Price seems fair for the condition, and the guy seems to describe them pretty well.

Once again, listen to the sound clip.

1950 J 50

[jedzep]

Makes me realize my sibling J 50 needs strings.

[zombywoof]

On the Gibson Banner Registry there is a 1942 J50 with the same FON as mine with a rack number only one digit higher.

Edited May 4, 2021 by zombywoof

[BoSoxBiker]

Damn, that does sound nice. Really nice.

[E-minor7]

Not hard to understand why you got tempted. The basic beauty just calls and the guitar sounds exactly like it should. Not too sweet, not too raw. 

I almost feel like saying you should buy it - to have fun A/B/(C)ing for a while and then maybe pass it further next spring. Why not. . 

Are we sure this isn't a sanded down then oversprayed 45 ?

 

[j45nick]

 

46 minutes ago, 62burst said:

 

So Nick- are you saying that the pickguard pattern looks to be only a few slices of tortoloid away from the one that's on yours?

They are strikingly  similar in coloration and general patterns, but not identical. I don't know how Gibson was making pickguards back then, whether they were re-sawing large blocks of celluloid or cutting out of pre-sawn sheets.

Part of the glory of real celluloid is that no two pieces sawn from the same block will be identical, thanks to the way celluloid is made.

 

[75 Hummingbird]

I have been looking at that guitar a few times ...i am in Canada and getting the old girls across the border really up`s the price tag .

If it were in Canada i would lay down a serious offer .

[j45nick]

2 hours ago, E-minor7 said:

 

Are we sure this isn't a sanded down then oversprayed 45 ?

 

Can't be sure without a look inside, search for overspray at the soundhole edges, or the centerline  J-45 stamp. Both of my 1950 J-45s have that centerline stamp, but it is badly faded in both case, in one case to the point you would never see it if you didn't know it was supposed to be there.

It would not be easy to strip a J-45 so thoroughly as to remove all stain traces on the back, sides, and neck, particularly around things like the neck joint to the body. By comparison, the top is relatively easy to strip., provided you remove the pickguard.

It can be done, but it is a lot of work.

Trust me on that one.

[E-minor7]

3 minutes ago, j45nick said:

It can be done, but it is a lot of work.

Trust me on that one.

Yes, we remember how Lennon's second J-160E went through that procedure. Maybe also Ralf McTell's so wellknown J-50, , , which he keeps referring to as a 45. . 

                                                                                                                                                                      Why he should do it ? , , , because the natural 50 was the THING in the early 60s folk circuit.

[j45nick]

17 minutes ago, E-minor7 said:

Yes, we remember how Lennon's second J-160E went through that procedure. Maybe also Ralf McTell's so wellknown J-50, , , which he keeps referring to as a 45. . 

                                                                                                                                                                      Why he should do it ? , , , because the natural 50 was the THING in the early 60s folk circuit.

Yes it was. It's a miracle my first 1950 J-45 didn't end up that way until after it was re-topped and turned into a cherryburst by Gibson in 1968. That was a bridge too far for me, so it became a J-50 for a long time.

[BluesKing777]

 

Just buy the thing Nick!

What do you need money for?

Lunchtime here in 5 minutes and I will be playing my 2002 J50, that is for sure.

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

[jedzep]

Another great enabler speaks!  Are you kidding? That's a year's dock space rent. The game is to buy something that contrasts what you already have, not pile on more of the same.


 

Edited May 6, 2021 by jedzep

[BluesKing777]

 

They won’t send ‘em here any more, anyway and the mechanic took my whole guitar fund, but I am probably more pleased with my neglected then repaired 2002 with the bigger nut/neck, possibly a mistake, but great to fingerpick.....vernier says everything is bigger/wider than the current J50 spec and the 50s spec....and it looks older than the one above! A couple of notes cried out when I found a playable bit of the neck at the pawn shop that day and now it is fixed, well, as good as possible. And an Anthem pickup added, which I would never do to the 50s one.

So, lunchtime played it acoustically and after work played it plugged (Better Half was talking loudly on a Zoom work conference). Guitar is SORTED, probably better than the old one. For me.

 

BluesKing777.

 

[j45nick]

Realistically, I have the 'hog slope-J bases covered.  The only thing that might change that could be something that made me part with my '43 SJ re-issue (hog). I sort of want to keep one modern slope-J as a reference point. Vintage ones seem to vary more than modern ones, so the modern SJ is a bit of a constant for comparison.

It is also a damn good guitar.

[E-minor7]

2 hours ago, jedzep said:

Another great enabler speaks!  Are you kidding? That's a year's dock space rent. The game is to buy something that contrasts what you already have, not pile on more of the same.
 

Have to say I go by the opposite strategy and philosophy : Once you find the sound you really like, the model that covers and releases your soul, don't miss any of its flavors

 

 

Can of course include several types of guitars. 

[E-minor7]

1 hour ago, j45nick said:

Realistically, I have the 'hog slope-J bases covered.  The only thing that might change that could be something that made me part with my '43 SJ re-issue (hog). I sort of want to keep one modern slope-J as a reference point. Vintage ones seem to vary more than modern ones, so the modern SJ is a bit of a constant for comparison.

It is also a damn good guitar.

Understood - I place my 2010 black nut J-45 Standard as a contemporary measure-stick around 3 vintage 45s here.

And that too is mighty fine modern instrument. 

[RBSinTo]

4 hours ago, jedzep said:

Another great enabler speaks!  Are you kidding? That's a year's dock space rent. The game is to buy something that contrasts what you already have, not pile on more of the same.


 

Jedzep,

I agree with you completely, but it's so easy for these guys to spend other people's money.

Maybe they wouldn't be so cavalier if they had to foot the bill for the purchases they tell others to make.

RBSinTo

 

[j45nick]

45 minutes ago, RBSinTo said:

Jedzep,

I agree with you completely, but it's so easy for these guys to spend other people's money.

Maybe they wouldn't be so cavalier if they had to foot the bill for the purchases they tell others to make.

RBSinTo

 

Nah, they're just egging folks on. It's sort of a sport here, since a lot of folks seem to want that enabling.

If I have to make the choice between another guitar or dockage for my boat, I really have first-world problems.

[BluesKing777]

8 hours ago, j45nick said:

Nah, they're just egging folks on. It's sort of a sport here, since a lot of folks seem to want that enabling.

If I have to make the choice between another guitar or dockage for my boat, I really have first-world problems.

 

Yes, egging....buy the eggs before the guitar, or dockage.

Maybe if not the J50 above, as you say it is too similar to your current bunch, but what about a post ‘55  with straight braces? They sound better without all those coats of paint, my opinion. 😄

Now, people I know would see my 2002 J50 and say: “Are you going to play some Lightning Hopkins?” Well no, but Hopkins style pervades most of what I do, probably. But I can swing over to a bit of Sweet Baby James or Bob and others, but more likely to play................everything I know!

But you might grab your ‘59 J50 perhaps, Nick, and pluck a bit of Jorma, or maybe some early Bob, or even Ralph McTell!.......................

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

Edited May 7, 2021 by BluesKing777

[jedzep]

Ol' RBS sounded downright pissed, BK. Not in the humor mode today, I guess. Enablers have led me to some nice guitars.

[BluesKing777]

20 minutes ago, jedzep said:

Ol' RBS sounded downright pissed, BK. Not in the humor mode today, I guess. Enablers have led me to some nice guitars.

 

Yes, I would still be playing my Kyowa electric that Dad bought me if that fully evil guy at school hadn't turned up with a black Les Paul COPY. And I didn’t care WHAT it sounded like - WHAT is THAT?😐

Never got one or the ideal real one, but I did a Custom LP years later, which put my neck out it was SO heavy.

I had a link to a pic of the Kyowa electric guitar but it won’t post. Probably way too special. Look it up is interested. I mean, it had a tremelo bar!!! And I had to get a Strat next! Didn’t. Got a Tele Custom which was so heavy, it put my neck out the other direction! No tremelo bar! What was I thinking? 60s Strat on the wall next to it was about $200 more, that is what. Didn’t know that Strat would be worth so much! 

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

Edited May 7, 2021 by BluesKing777

[jedzep]

Ouch! And here you are now slinging a little balsa-like L0.

[BluesKing777]

32 minutes ago, jedzep said:

Ouch! And here you are now slinging a little balsa-like L0.

 

There was a 00-17/00-18 Martin fever for a while there recently, caused by you and CJB!

None in this country but a new 0-18, 00-15M, 000-18 and a few other newies turned up at a local shop 1 1/2 days ago and are sold already! They just don't seem to order a plain Jane 00-18! Someone bought the red bursty thing L-00 Studio that was on the wall for ever! Picked the Matons clean.  They would wet themselves at the shop if I took a few 'bargains' in for consign. Make room for the next gassers! Save my house from leaning over so much! Except we have had so many lockdowns that I don't want the guitars to get stuck there and I can' t go there!

 

BluesKing777.

 

[E-minor7]

On 5/4/2021 at 8:56 PM, j45nick said:

So,  I was browsing Reverb, as you do, and came across this "1949-1950" J 50 from Reverend Guitar Man, who sometimes gets nice guitars. This one is player grade--body looks to have been stripped and refinished at some point, although the unstained mahogany back and sides would be typical on a J-50 in this period. Top like wise oversprayed, but the pickguard is almost identical in pattern to  the 1950 J-45 I bought a couple of years ago from the original owner.

Some cracks repaired, replacement bridge, re-fretted, a lot of the things you see on a 70 year old guitar.

There is a really good sound demo in this listing, showing off the exact same cracking up-front and articulate voice of a good J-series from this period that my recent 1950 J-45 has.

Then I looked at the FON, and it was strikingly familiar.  Sure enough, it is the same FON as my J-45, with a rack number only three away from mine. This guitar and mine sat on the rack on the same day, have the same pickguard, and the same voice. Siblings, if not identical twins.

It was spooky, and for a minute I thought about buying it. But then I thought, nah, I've already got two 1950 J-45s, including one that lived life disguised as a J-50 for almost 40 years.

I hope this one finds a good home. Price seems fair for the condition, and the guy seems to describe them pretty well.

Once again, listen to the sound clip.

 

 

On 5/6/2021 at 4:38 PM, RBSinTo said:

Jedzep,

I agree with you completely, but it's so easy for these guys to spend other people's money.

Maybe they wouldn't be so cavalier if they had to foot the bill for the purchases they tell others to make.

RBSinTo

Are you aware in all your negativity that j45nick himself mentioned the urge to buy, which surprisingly ambushed him while he overflew the web for remarkable and tempting guitars.

It's not me who encourage a random member to just 'purchase away' - it's the threadhost's own ability and readiness to move, which I as a part of this Forum's habitus cherish. 

Do you expect j-45nick to keep quiet about his GAS-attack - me to keep from luring him, , , and to stay silent about my own 4 J-45's !?  Who's then the biggest sinner of us, , , and BK777, , , , , tpbiii and and and. . . 

You don't know details about us and our priorities, , , fx me and what I choose not to own for the benefit of extra guitars.

                                                                                                   You simply cannot speak into this ! And your comment doesn't belong in a guitar forum.

[BluesKing777]

 

Gaseous deposits from previous gas attacks? 😃

 

The J50 is possibly too similar to Nick's 2 50's J45s, so with a bit of thinking......what about a small body all mahogany guitar instead? A lot of people keep one or even a few all mahoganies for that special 'something' different they give. But my opinion says the old are better. After I bought my 1944 Martin 0-17 all mahogany quite a few years back, I sent my other newer all mahoganies off to the market square. While it is a little guitar, the tone.....wow. The 1944 model has scalloped braces but they had moved to 1 11/16" nut. Not my preferred at all but I just capo up to 2 or 3, by habit now.

Photos won't load but here is a blues I recorded a few months back:

 

Now, the earlier 30s model 0-17 had 1 3/4" nut and wider spacing, so more coveted by the fingerpickers but also a little more expensive...

And guess what, Nick? 

As I looked up Reverb.com for 30s 0-17 Martins, I notice CJB, Gibson Forum Member, has his for sale!!!!!! He might do you a deal! You could meet him halfway in Charleston or something!😃

https://reverb.com/item/40308401-martin-0-17-1934

 

 

Gas, gas, gas - I'm going to play my 44!

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 8, 2021 by BluesKing777