Zacko Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 i have a 65 or 66 B-25 in the shop. it's hard to believe but it's the 1st one i've encountered. the pick guard is loose & i'm making a replacement rosewood bridge. my question is are the bodies of these plywood? for it's size it's kinda heavy especially for a mahogany bodied guitar. narrow neck to. the string spacing is only 2" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortyearspickn Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 Don't know. Could be, kalamazoo was making some models plywood then. Can you remove the endpin and tell, or is it too old to see a difference? I know trying to match the inside grain with the outside only works some of the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 (edited) While I can only speak to my experiences, I have never seen a Kalamazoo-made Gibson with a laminate top. The only laminate bodies I have run across on guitars built from the 1930s on sported maple or rosewood backs and rims. Other than that, the only difference I can conjure up between a '65 and '66 B25 might be that, as Gibson did not change specs at the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1 meaning there was usually a transition period, if the instrument was built early enough in 1965 it could still have a 1 11/16" nut. Edited June 3 by zombywoof Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 It most definitely has a solid top. As to the sides and back…. Anyone’s guess. It could have any combination of solid and laminated sides and back. Gibson = no rules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted June 3 Share Posted June 3 (edited) There is laminate and then there is laminate. There is that which is even layers of the same wood glued together and that which is some cheap filler wood sandwiched in between two layers of nice veneer. Earjy on Gibson made their own high-quality laminate. But once you get into the 1960s, they began outsourcing wood for instruments others than those built in the Custom Dept. on the third floor of the Daylight Plant so who knows. While I really cannot speak to mahogany and rosewood veneer body instruments, what I can say based on Gibsons, Kay Krafts, NYC-built Epiphones and others built with laminate maple backs and both backs and rims is I have always found something magical about their tone. I have assumed that it had something to do with the added stiffness. Edited June 3 by zombywoof 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zacko Posted June 4 Author Share Posted June 4 i'm sure that the top is solid spruce. i looked elsewhere on the web and found that some mid 60s & later had laminated sides. it's definitely heavier than my 55 LG-1. the weight is the give a way. i have a 42 Martin 00-17 that is light as a feather. this is the 2nd Gibson in a row in the shop that the neck is only bowed on the bass side. i'll cook the neck to straighten it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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