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J-45 Deluxe


Pluckerster

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Owned many guitars over the years and still have about 6 or 7.  I'm not a Gibson player though I have owned and enjoyed an epiphone Les Paul.

Now a friend has asked me to sell her late husband's guitars and in there there is a J-45 Deluxe, which the serial number tells me is 1974/75 vintage. It's in pretty good order, some of the binding is rough in places but no obvious damage.  Not to my taste as I have small hands and the neck is a bit chunky for me but sounds nice.

I have no idea on value and was wondering if anyone can help point me in the direction of somewhere that might advise.  I'm in the UK

gibson - 1 (2).jpeg

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The "Deluxe" moniker was pretty much a marketing gimmick CMI came up with in the 1970s.  These guitars, as noted, were built during what is generally considered to have been Gibson's "dark ages" when they became overly obsessed with avoiding warranty issues.  As to value, I do not know anything about the market overseas.   The only thing I might suggest is looking at completed eBay auctions for your neck of the woods.

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6 hours ago, Dave F said:

Not a very desirable era for Gibson acoustics

. The best resource I find is to go on Reverb and check their price guide. It’s based on actual sold values not listed asking prices. 

Tell that to Richard Ashcroft of The Verve  .

There are some great playing and sounding Gibson`s of this era .

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Thank you, I have looked on Reverb and the prices there vary a lot but I think I'm going to attempt to sell it for around $1200 and see where it goes.  The problem with trying to sell guitars like this online is that buyers would much prefer to play the guitar at that sort of price and the problem with going through a dealer is that they can charge really high selling fees.

I'm impressed with the friendliness and knowledge of people on here, thanks everyone.

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1 hour ago, Dave in SC said:

I have to respectfully disagree.  J45s came out round-shouldered to start with (in 1942).  Pluckerster dated this guitar to 1974-75...no way is it a J45.

Square shoulder J45s started to appear towards the end of 1968 and became standard the following year.  A round shoulder J45 did not re-appear until 1984.  So yes, it is a J45.

Edited by zombywoof
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1 hour ago, 75 Hummingbird said:

Tell that to Richard Ashcroft of The Verve  .

There are some great playing and sounding Gibson`s of this era .

"Richard Ashcroft"???????

"The Verve "????????

I guess I'm showing my age. Never heard of either one.

"There are some great playing and sounding Gibson`s of this era "-- to each it's own but it doesn't make them anymore valuable or help the OP with his question

Reverb has the 1969 to 1982 grouped together price wise

Here's the recent sales

2/10/2022 Excellent $2,974

 

2/8/2022 Very    Good $1,387.93

 

2/4/2022 Good $2,200

 

12/29/2021 Good $1,400

 

12/2/2021 Very    Good $2,500

 

11/27/2021 Fair $1,000

 

11/25/2021 Very    Good $2,787.59

 

11/9/2021 Fair $995

 

9/27/2021            Fair                                   $761

 

9/7/2021                 Very   Good                                 $1,850

 

9/1/2021

Good

$1,680

8/27/2021

Excellent

$2,000

8/15/2021

Good

$1,200

8/10/2021

Fair

$1,135

8/7/2021

Excellent

$1,274.99

7/9/2021

Very    Good

$1,800

5/14/2021

Very    Good

$1,150

5/12/2021

Good

$1,550

4/27/2021

Fair

$1,000

4/3/2021

Good

$1,800

 

3/30/2021

Excellent

$2,500

3/18/2021

Very    Good

$1,450

1/31/2021

Good

$1,300

1/6/2021

Good

$1,135

1/1/2021

Good

$1,100

12/27/2020

Good

$1,400

11/23/2020

Good

$1,550

11/21/2020

Very    Good

$1,099.95

11/10/2020

Good

$1,750

11/5/2020

Very    Good

$920

 

11/2/2020

Very    Good

$1,800

10/19/2020

Good

$1,350

10/17/2020

Good

$1,200

10/8/2020

Good

$1,311.13

9/17/2020

Very    Good

$1,175

9/14/2020

Good

$30

9/1/2020

Very    Good

$2,357.49

7/11/2020

Excellent

$3,700

6/18/2020

Good

$1,125

6/3/2020

Very    Good

$1,800


 

 

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1 hour ago, zombywoof said:

Square shoulder J45s started to appear towards the end of 1968 and became standard the following year.  A round shoulder J45 did not re-appear until 1984.  So yes, it is a J45.

😮 You are absolutely right!  *blush*
Not only that, but my research (which should have been done before opening my big mouth) shows that the square-shouldered version also had a 25-1/2" scale length.

Learn something new every day....

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5 hours ago, Dave F said:

"Richard Ashcroft"???????

"The Verve "????????

I guess I'm showing my age. Never heard of either one.

They had a big hit in the 90s - Bittersweet Symphony - and R.A. became a bit of an outlaw symbol. I didn't know he could play guitar above mid-level. 

Paul Weller had one of these too. He used it a lot live in the post millennium phase before goin' to Guilds. Suited his tight focused punchy style. 

Paul Weller at Plymouth Pavilions proves a trip down music memory lane for  Plymothians - Plymouth Live

Btw. so did I. My second Gibson in 1979/80 bought new. Didn't know a f... about braces and Norlin-era, but the guitar didn't deliver what I wanted from an acoustic Gibson.                                                                                                                              Heaven knows I tried to lOVE it, , , , , , , , time soon said nope. . .

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19 minutes ago, E-minor7 said:

They had a big hit in the 90s - Bittersweet Symphony - and R.A. became a bit of an outlaw symbol. I didn't know he could play guitar above mid-level. 

Here's the Ashcroft I recall. With what could be a Gibson J-185. 

A good singer - but playing just 1 step above beginners. 

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Original Poster:     Good conditions going for about $1400.  Maybe make that a starting point.

 

No, you folks cannot have my 74 Southern Jumbo DEEEluxe, my 78 The Paul or return man Murphy's 78 SG.      

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On 3/15/2022 at 12:19 AM, E-minor7 said:

Here's the Ashcroft I recall. With what could be a Gibson J-185. 

A good singer - but playing just 1 step above beginners. 

That`s the beauty of being a great song writer ...you don`t have to be a great guitar player . Chords ,melody, a story , some sex appeal ,some mojo ,and confidence ..

 Speaking on behalf of this  under rated era of Gibson flattops , i think Gibson should release a series of signature 70`s styled  ,single x braced acoustics.

John Mellencamp Dove ,  Paul Weller - Richard Ashcroft j 45 , Stuart " Woody" Wood Hummingbird  . 

I think they would put smiles on peoples faces .

Edited by 75 Hummingbird
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10 hours ago, 75 Hummingbird said:

That`s the beauty of being a great song writer ...you don`t have to be a great guitar player . Chords ,melody, a story , some sex appeal ,some mojo ,and confidence .. 

Afraid it's not enough for me. Even Dylan had some real playing goin'. . 

But let's hear the great hit from 1997 - 

 

10 hours ago, 75 Hummingbird said:

Speaking on behalf of this  under rated era of Gibson flattops , i think Gibson should release a series of signature 70`s styled  ,single x braced acoustics.

John Mellencamp Dove ,  Paul Weller - Richard Ashcroft j 45 , Stuart " Woody" Wood Hummingbird  . 

I think they would put smiles on peoples faces .

Yeah, , especially over in Nazareth. . 

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11 minutes ago, E-minor7 said:

Afraid it's not enough for me. Even Dylan had some real playing goin'. . 

But let's hear the great hit from 1997 - 

Just re-heard it for the first time in 25 years. Still a strong tune - and I still dislike the video, , , and his shoes. . 

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  • 2 years later...

I have a 1970-74 square shoulder deluxe its having a refurb with my luthier,  I swapped it for a pretty much new Taylor 214e which cust me £720 , its costing me around £500 to refurb the gibson I hope its money well spent and sounds good but we will see!!

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My first acoustic was a 1974 Gibson J-50 Deluxe that I bought new. Really didn't take care of it over the years and by 2012 it became unplayable so I took it to the luthier. He was able to avoid a neck reset by planing down the fingerboard and doing a re-fret, also fixed a variety of smaller issues. I had mostly lost interest in that guitar, due to its poor condition, but the refurb made a HUGE difference - it literally played and sounded better than it did new. It was funny, when I picked it up I asked the luthier if he had any problems and he said the only "problem" was that he didn't want to give it back to me because he'd been having so much fun playing it himself!

It was always my son in law's favorite whenever he visited, so I gave it to him and he's still loving it. For one thing, it has really strong bass and is just louder than any of my other acoustics. Of course, louder does not necessarily mean "better". 🙂 But, unless there's some serious problem with yours, I think you'll be happy when you get yours back from the luthier.

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