daylightrobbery Posted March 19, 2010 Share Posted March 19, 2010 A friend of mine has bought a "J45". A couple of things are bothering me after having seen it. It looks a lot more square shouldered than I've seen, and what really hit me is the bridge. Has Gibson ever made a J45 with a belly-down bridge as opposed the normal belly-up? The bridge has at some point been shaved etc but was never belly up, judging from the laquer. What d'ya reckon? Most everything else looks good for a '77 J45 but I ain't sure. I would have taken photos but it feels a bit wrong to take photos of a mate's guitar for the purpose of checking whether it's real or not!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted March 19, 2010 Share Posted March 19, 2010 A '77 would definitely have square shoulders and a belly down bridge and a 25.5 scale, all things one would consider 'non' J45. They went to square shoulders in '69 (some 69s are round, btw) and they stayed that way until around 1983 or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daylightrobbery Posted March 19, 2010 Author Share Posted March 19, 2010 A ha! Then thanks for that. I have to say, not having played a lot of J45s and having heard a lot of negative things about late 70's Gibbys this sounds great. Extremely well balanced right across the board bass to treble. Trebles are very bright, bass is well rounded, mids are strong but not overpowering and responds well to different types of attack without feeling overdriven. Only thing I don't like is the sunburst- very thin dark area around the edges of the guitar and very "yellow" in the middle- complete opposite of the "Unusal AJ" ( can't remember the name of the thread) someone in a different thread bought!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnt Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 A friend of mine has bought a "J45". A couple of things are bothering me after having seen it. It looks a lot more square shouldered than I've seen' date=' and what really hit me is the bridge. Has Gibson ever made a J45 with a belly-down bridge as opposed the normal belly-up? The bridge has at some point been shaved etc but was never belly up, judging from the laquer. What d'ya reckon? Most everything else looks good for a '77 J45 but I ain't sure. I would have taken photos but it feels a bit wrong to take photos of a mate's guitar for the purpose of checking whether it's real or not!![/quote'] Damned ugly things 1970s Norlin J45s!!! My 1979 looks like this I have had it for 35 years, its sound sensational. I couldn't give a castrated pigs nuts whether the purists want to under value these guitars/ If you want to check the guitar, note the serial number ( back of headstock ) then go to http://www.guitardaterproject.org/gibson.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 Damned ugly things 1970s Norlin J45s!!! ... Hey John- That J45 looks pretty damn sweet to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnt Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 Hey John- That J45 looks pretty damn sweet to me. Thanks BK! The old girl gets compliments every time. And (at this moment) she's all solid which is more than can be said for the SWD12 behind her! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajsc Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 Hey John- That J45 looks pretty damn sweet to me. Me 2!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 From the 50s to 1979 there was a music store here in town, mostly Lowry organ stuff but a rack of guitars too. Full retail price on everything. They had a cherry sunburst LP in the window so long all the red faded away. In 1976 they had a J45 identical to yours and a Gospel or J55 too. I remember fawning over the J45 many days after school. I was 16 and could barely afford strings for my Kay or Harmony or whatever I had then. I think the J45 was $489 or so. Therefore I knew better than to even ask to play it. In 1976 I had natural finished Guilds, Martins, and Ovations rammed down my throat on tv and in magazines so the dark sunburst on the J45 was anti-cool and I loved it all the more because of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KL Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 Hey John, I've never been a fan of square shouldered J-45's but that one looks really nice, and I would really like to hear it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnt Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 Tell you a story about that J45 KSD, you can possibly identify wuth it. I had an Aria John Pearse 12 string, A seagull s6 and a Seagull folk and one day I signed in for the band at church. Whent into buyt some strings and was just idly looking at the racks of guitars when I espied this Gibson. Now the guy who owned the shop in Bath was a drummer but he was shrewd enough to collect old Gibby archtops ( his pension) Now I didn't at the time know a headstock from an endpin as far as Gibsons went but I knew I liked the guitar. It has a sticker on the back of the headstock which had (and still has)"Assembly Music, Bath" on it ( I discovered a few years later that Steve had stuck it on there to hide the dreaded "2"!! Now we are talking 1980 in UK, and I paid £600, you are talking 79 USA when a J45 went for $489 I got creamed!! Not for the first or last time as far as guitars are concerned. A keeper is a keeper but I wish I still had those 2 Seagulls!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 ... It has a sticker on the back of the headstock which had (and still has)"Assembly Music' date=' Bath" on it ( I discovered a few years later that Steve had stuck it on there to hide the dreaded "2"!! ... I got creamed!! ...[/quote'] Ouch! Now that guy is a real horse trader. Great story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnt Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 Ouch! Now that guy is a real horse trader. Great story. Yeah you live and learn! Got a lot of solace about it from KSD last year. Do you recall he was fitting up a Dove which was in a real bad way. Late 60s/70s as I recall.. Anyway that had the dreaded "2" as well! Scott made a point to the effect that "who gives a ratsarze" about it being a second, it' s lasted 50 years!!" ( Of course being a moderator and all he didn't say ratsarze, but he made a great point! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daylightrobbery Posted March 21, 2010 Author Share Posted March 21, 2010 Johnt, the sunburst on yours looks great- much better than my mate's, which is very thin and VERY yellow. Nice, I like... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnt Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 Johnt' date=' the sunburst on yours looks great- much better than my mate's, which is very thin and VERY yellow. Nice, I like...[/quote'] Thanks I hope that you and your friend get some reassurance from the pic, belly down and all. I know that these are not the most favoured Gibson ever but if your mate gets 75% from his of what mine has given me over the last nearly 40 years he has a bargain! All best! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 This is why Gibsons particularly from 1971 on have a rather poor reputation. Talk about some heavy flippin' bracing. Great if you want to avoid warranty issues but not the best thing if you want some top flutter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toocommercial Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 John, your J45 looks sweet! It's the only '70s Gibson acoustic I have ever seen that did not have a split in the top! There are certainly diamonds in the rough from this period, and this is an obvious example. I friend of mine has a '73 J200 and it sounds great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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