Lars68 Posted March 29, 2023 Share Posted March 29, 2023 Below is first in a series of videos showing the repair of two old Gibsons. If you are interested you can find the rest of the series on youtube by twoodfrd. Lars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will97 Posted March 29, 2023 Share Posted March 29, 2023 Been loving the proceedings, as the 46 SJ and 46' J-45 are both mine. Will update when they are all finished! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will97 Posted March 29, 2023 Share Posted March 29, 2023 Here is a brief rundown of the two guitars I picked up last year I posted in another thread. The J-45 - I purchased it from the daughter of the previous owner in Niagara-on-the-lake who had previously gotten it at a hardware store in the early 50s. It was played hard into the 80s and set on display in a boating club for years until recently. It has 5-6 back cracks, and some loose braces. needs a neck reset, non-original tuners, and an adjustable bridge from a Japanese import in the 70s. It has one of the thinnest tops I have seen on a flat top and is lighter than my L-00 vintage. It is very raw sounding and has some weird natural reverb going on with it, quite surreal. The SJ - Purchased from someone who took it as commission for a landscaping job he did from the original owner. It is quite the ugly duckling and I am almost afraid to post pictures of its current state due to embarrassment. However, this guitar is crack free and has the beautiful belly down Brazilian SJ bridge and plays better than any modern Gibson I have owned. HOWEVER, it was completely stripped other than the headstock face and refinished in natural in the 70s. 2 Martin style pickguards were added and electronics similar to the J160E were also installed. The plan is to plug the 2 holes left by the electronics and to refinish the guitar back to a 40s sunburst to try to hide the witness lines from the Martin guards. The guitar sounds completely different than the J-45. It is an absolute cannon and is bright and refined, it sounds more like a vintage D-28 to me than a Gibson. I don't get these guitars back until probably the summer and I am excited to share the changes with you all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars68 Posted March 29, 2023 Author Share Posted March 29, 2023 Ah, great to get a first hand account. Very interesting repair series. I hope you will get them both back soon in top playing order. Please keep us noted. Lars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olie Posted March 29, 2023 Share Posted March 29, 2023 A very serendipitous post! Keep us informed, please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted March 29, 2023 Share Posted March 29, 2023 (edited) I love these kinds of resurrection stories because I can relate to them. My '42 J50 had been rumored to exist locally in the hands of the family which had originally bought it for years. Problem was nobody seemed to recall who owned it. Then one day out of the blue I get a call from the owner of a hole in the wall guitar shop. "Guess what just walked in which I just bought" says he. Fifteen minutes later I was walking through his door. The poor thing was in miserable condition. The back seam had separated, there were two long open back cracks on either side of it, loose and one cracked brace, while the pickguard and bridge had also taken a hike being replaced by those which had previously adorned a Yamaha. But after gingerly picking it up I knew I had never heard anything like it. Even though the storeowner let me take it home to give it a full inspection I knew it was not going back. There was only one guy I trusted to repair it. He is a second- generation luthier who was working out of a lean-to shed next to his house in the middle of nowhere Missouri. Took him a full year to get mine back up and running. Might have been quicker if he did not disappear during turkey hunting season and such. When he finally gave it back he did so with the words "never let it out of your hands" saying his father used to call guitars which sounded like this one "once in a blue moon Gibsons." 15 years later it is still keeping me company although I do not as much feel like I own it as I have been appointed its caretaker. Edited March 29, 2023 by zombywoof Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egoidealmusic Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 Love knowing there's a connection to this forum! Have long watched this guys videos and seeing these two being worked on by this skilled luthier has been my favorite so far. Can't wait to see--and to hear--how amazing these two will be! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silversurfer Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 Love this. I could watch this all day long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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