Vintage SJ - What year

[JayMalone]

I have my grandfather’s Gibson SJ. I would love to know what year it is. I know it was probably made in the 50s or 60s. 
101249 is the number and it appears to be ink printed on the back of the headstock. 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/s8awnqtb4lkcp51iwq2s1/63Gibson005.jpg?rlkey=3z4wl86ys0cdg2457moy43ykx&dl=0
 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/f4lwru0x2ohafbq5ujo2k/63Gibson001.jpg?rlkey=70671mwtq2b1pd4okfi4ebjkf&dl=0

[Dave F]

S/N would suggest 1963 or 1967

Features would suggest 1963 except the bridge looks rw instead of plastic which may make it a 67

Posting in the Acoustic section will get more response

I posted your picts

1963 Southern Jumbo and SJN Country Western specs:

Square shoulder dreadnought body shape, 3 point pickguard, plastic bridge.

 

Edited Sunday at 10:40 PM by Dave F

[E-minor7]

Such a kool guitar - if you intend to keep it, you should consider to find a (so called) ceramic saddle. Will change the sound significantly and provide you with the great joy of learning while back'n'forth switching. 

Do you know the term nut width. It's simply how wide the neck is where the string bend over to the headstock.                                                                                                                                                    If it's 11/16, year of birth is 1963. The narrower 5/8 or 9/16 mean 1967. 

                                                                                                                                                  Enjoy this absolutely funky clazzik ~ lucky to have it within reach

[slimt]

The nut width will be the factor on these.  Sometimes, color as well.    I had a 67 SJ 1 3/4 “ nut.  A little narrow.   Mine also had more of a red burst.  

[E-minor7]

18 minutes ago, slimt said:

The nut width will be the factor on these.  Sometimes, color as well.    I had a 67 SJ 1 3/4 “ nut.  A little narrow.   Mine also had more of a red burst.  

Yea, , , you hereby repeat & confirm what I just said. One thing puzzles me though  3/4  ! , , that's very wide for a 60's Gibson. Are U sure, sir ?

Edited Monday at 01:11 AM by E-minor7

[slimt]

37 minutes ago, E-minor7 said:

Yea, , , you hereby repeat & confirm what I just said. One thing puzzles me though  3/4  ! , , that's very wide for a 60's Gibson. Are U sure, sir ?

Ooops.  1  9/16 “.  The narrow nut 😄My issue , is sometimes I dont read.   

Edited Monday at 01:48 AM by slimt

[E-minor7]

14 minutes ago, slimt said:

Ooops.  1  9/16 “.  The narrow nut 😄My issue , is sometimes I dont read.   

           

                       Message taken  👍

[zombywoof]

Now you have gone and made me feel old as I recall these guitars hanging on the walls in music shops.  Difference between your granddaddy and me is I could not afford one and did not have doting enough parents to buy me one.

Anyway, the single line Kluson Tuners indicate a 1963 build date.  But as noted guitars built that year also sported hollow plastic bridges.  I cannot tell what is there from the photo.  Then again, Gibson did not change specs at the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1.  And Gibson being Gibson, instruments built either early or late in the year could sport a combination of features.

Edited Monday at 05:14 PM by zombywoof

[Dave F]

4 hours ago, zombywoof said:

Now you have gone and made me feel old as I recall these guitars hanging on the walls in music shops.  Difference between your granddaddy and me is I could not afford one and did not have doting enough parents to buy me one.

I'm with you there! My first guitar was from a pawn shop in '62. Can't recall the brand, only had it for a few days before my two older brothers busted it up playing Quick Draw McGraw El Kabong.

The next year ('63) Mom & Dad got me an acoustic Kay with their Top Value Stamps from Krogers. Still have it.

A couple years later ('65) they got me Kingston Swinger (Teisco) from local Checkers store.

After I got a job, I bought my first good guitar, an Ovation ('70).

I couldn't afford a Gibson until my daughter graduated from college and got married. Here's my first one, an '04.

 

 

 

 

Edited Monday at 09:34 PM by Dave F

[E-minor7]

Here's mine btw. - with a new well crafted bridge. Why !?, , , , because it originally had that hollow plastic version.

1963 ~  The ceramic saddle stays where it is. 

[E-minor7]

And here's how it sounds - 

                                                                                                                                             or sounded that day. . 
 

[zombywoof]

13 hours ago, E-minor7 said:

Here's mine btw. - with a new well crafted bridge. Why !?, , , , because it originally had that hollow plastic version.

1963 ~  The ceramic saddle stays where it is. 

I got my first guitar about the same time you got yours.  In my case it was a 1930s Martin something or the other model archtop.  A close friend of my grandfather had it sitting in a closest and knowing I wanted a guitar so bad I could taste it gave it to me.  But was I impressed?  Nope.  Then again, I did not know a Martin from a can of tuna.

I snagged my first Gibson 10 or 12 years later.  It was a 1955-59 LG1.  As it was impossible to come up with a build date back then, the best you could so was to narrow it down by features.  But my then girlfriend claimed it as her own.  My second Gibson was that 1960 J200. which is still with us.  But history repeated itself and my wife let me know in no uncertain terms that the guitar was hers.  But that gave me the excuse to snag something else which ended up being a 1956 Southerner Jumbo.  After that, it was off to the races.  As at the time I had to let something go to get something else somewhere down the road I traded the SJ off.  That guitar though remains the only Gibson from my past that still haunts me.

[E-minor7]

9 hours ago, zombywoof said:

I got my first guitar about the same time you got yours.  In my case it was a 1930s Martin something or the other model archtop.  A close friend of my grandfather had it sitting in a closest and knowing I wanted a guitar so bad I could taste it gave it to me.  But was I impressed?  Nope.  Then again, I did not know a Martin from a can of tuna.

I snagged my first Gibson 10 or 12 years later.  It was a 1955-59 LG1.  As it was impossible to come up with a build date back then, the best you could so was to narrow it down by features.  But my then girlfriend claimed it as her own.  My second Gibson was that 1960 J200. which is still with us.  But history repeated itself and my wife let me know in no uncertain terms that the guitar was hers.  But that gave me the excuse to snag something else which ended up being a 1956 Southerner Jumbo.  After that, it was off to the races.  As at the time I had to let something go to get something else somewhere down the road I traded the SJ off.  That guitar though remains the only Gibson from my past that still haunts me.

Something (fx your first wave 60s-tales) tells me you are a step ahead. I simply arrived later on this planet and the 63 SJ didn't enter my scene until 2010 where it flew in in a croc-case from Ohio (bridge altered already).

My first guit* however was a late 60s X-mas gift from my grandma. I was then too young to see it as more than toy. But that changed when hearing Ten Years After's Love Like a Man and D Purple's Black Night in approx 1971. 2 alluring themes within reach, , , and 1 point of no return. . 

 

                                                                         

   *It was a steel string floating bridge slotted head small size acoustic. Perhaps some kind of 12-fretter. The first acoustic Gibsons were purchased in 1980 :

2 Norlins, 1 at a time. A J-50 and a J-45 Deluxe - both double X braced, square shouldered and quiet.