j45nick Posted November 25, 2011 Share Posted November 25, 2011 lookin forward to a weekend of string change , polishing and strumming to get to know the new toy . you all do that too with new uns ?? right ?? Yep. Give that baby a good cleaning, oil the board, and slap on some new strings. And then go "oh, yeah!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plainsman Posted November 25, 2011 Share Posted November 25, 2011 Congratulations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojorule Posted November 25, 2011 Share Posted November 25, 2011 didnt get killed , came home 100% alive with a nice j45 in the back seat :-D happy man , thankyou all for your advice and help Excellent news. Well done. Hope you also returned in full ownership of your soul! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted November 26, 2011 Author Share Posted November 26, 2011 oh i lost ownership of that long time ago :-) thanks y'all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortyearspickn Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 Great! Everyone loves a happy ending! Hope you both have many happy songs in front of you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustystrings Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 Blindboygrunt asked - btw.... anyone know how many historic j45's they made ? just during 2005 was it or do they still make them ? I keep running into references of approximately 650 or so made for Guitar Center, maybe only in 2005. I don't know how accurate that is, but I DO know that I love, love, LOVE mine, and regard it as my very favorite ever of the 150-200 guitars that have passed through my hands over the last 30-odd years. I think (and someone correct me if I'm wrong here) that Gibson did the basic J-45, then the "Early J-45" in the late 90s, then back to basic J-45, then somewhere along there the HC guitars. Soon thereafter they did the split into Modern Classic and True Vintage, which as since evolved into the current lineup. I think of the HC as cosmetically being a decent approximation of an early 50s J-45, but with a post 1955 20-fret fingerboard. The soundhole is closer to the neck than on the old ones, which makes me suspect the X-brace is closer to perpendicular than the old ones were (98 degrees vs. 103, maybe?), and for the life of me I cannot figure out why Gibson covers the soundhole rosette on the bottom with the pickguard - gently peel it off and clean it and reinstall with a 3M pickguard adhesive sheet and it looks much, much better. The first of the TVs, before they went to red spruce and hot hide glue, looked a lot to me like J-45HCs but with Indian rosewood for the bridge and fretboard instead of Madagascar and different decals. There may be louder guitars, flashier guitars, more authentic, more bass or treble or whatever, but no other guitar I have ever owned has worked so well with my voice or inspired me to play as much as this one does. No other guitar has ever made me smile more, no other guitar has ever routinely pulled real emotional playing from me, and no other guitar has ever felt like this one to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted December 5, 2011 Author Share Posted December 5, 2011 thanks rusty. your last paragraph there sums up perfectly my feelings , its impossible to not lift it from its stand and strum it . by far the most inspiring guitar i ever owned. i was thinking the same as you about the pickguard! doesnt overly annoy me but , just a bit weird that they cover part of the circle , do they come off really easily? i would move it if it was foolproof job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 There may be louder guitars, flashier guitars, more authentic, more bass or treble or whatever, but no other guitar I have ever owned has worked so well with my voice or inspired me to play as much as this one does. No other guitar has ever made me smile more, no other guitar has ever routinely pulled real emotional playing from me, and no other guitar has ever felt like this one to me. Oh, baby, you got the J-45 disease real bad. You've also hit the nail on the head here. The J-45 is a great "singer's" guitar, and it's also just about the best guitar in the world for sitting around playing for yourself or a small group of friends. It won't drive anybody out of the room with a booming bass, but it has just about the most articulate and balanced mid-range of any guitar out there when used with the "standard" Masterbuilt Premiums. You can certainly tweak up the trebles with different types of strings, but balance works for me with this guitar. Just finished a several-month experiment, keeping on a single set of strings until I could no longer stand it. I was sort of looking for a stage of absolute funkiness, but I think they passed through funkiness into lifeless and virtually unplayable without hitting some secondary sweet spot. On the plus side, a new set of Masterbuilts a couple of days ago made everything right in the world again. Not quite sure what I expect to find with these odd experiments. Sort of like knowing you're going to get fat and unhealthy if you eat fast food every day, or you're going to smell bad if you give up showering. Leave a set of strings on for a couple of months, and they're going to sound lousy and make your head hurt. Duh........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted December 5, 2011 Author Share Posted December 5, 2011 am still messing with strings , i have some elixir nanos on it at the minute which i didnt like at start but after 4 or so days of playing sound quite nice , i didnt like them on my previous lowden because i'm not a fan of that bright sound . i was fond of john pearse lights on it , they are next in the queue for the j45 . again agree 100% with the comments about accompaniment to the voice never ever tried masterbuilts but i am gonna order some , you're not the first guy to approve them isnt this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted December 5, 2011 Author Share Posted December 5, 2011 ... isnt this forum a great place ! no one else understands the joy of a gibson!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustystrings Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 I used Gibson Masterbuilt strings for a long time on this guitar, but I've gone back to John Pearse PB lights and been very happy with them. I'm always shocked at how lively and resonant this guitar is even when the strings have been on it for months. As far as the pickguard goes, what I did was gently peel it off with the edge of a well-used flatpick, taking my time and not rushing things. Then I cleaned both the back of the pickguard and the area it had covered with Ronsonol, aka naptha. I had ordered a sheet of the 3M pickguard adhesive, which I applied to the back of the guard and trimmed to fit the shape with an x-acto knife; then I gently positioned the curve of the guard to just below the rosette ring and slowly pressed it down into place, making sure there were no air bubbles. The curve is a very close fit, btw. It looks better, and someday I need to take some pix and post them somewhere. Unfortunately, I can't do anything about the portion of the soundhole rosette hidden by the end of the fingerboard ... but I think I can live with that ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coelo Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 didnt get killed , came home 100% alive with a nice j45 in the back seat :-D happy man , thankyou all for your advice and help phew' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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