Gio Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 A few weeks ago I mentioned I was going to buy this guitar and finally I brought it home a few days ago. I can't be objective in describing how good this guitar sounds. Deep and "thudding" (*) bass, great balance, beautiful strumming. The guitar seems to have a vintage sound, very woody. I like the way my belly shakes when I play it... The neck is comfortable and the finish is great because although it's gloss it makes the wood structure visible: There are a few glue traces in the area between soundhole and freatboard and on an x-brace, but the rest of the guitar is impeccable. While I will certainly replace the bridge pins as soon as possible, in the future I might change tuners and replace the saddle with a non adjustable bone one. But I'm not so sure it's necessary. I really love this guitar. A lot. (*) I hope the term "thudding" is appropriate... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danner Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 Wow, that's spectacular! Congratulations. It looks brand new. How old is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gio Posted December 9, 2011 Author Share Posted December 9, 2011 It's a brand new reissue! Final inspection: June 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buc McMaster Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 Beautiful! Love the Gibson imprinted pickguard! I saw one of these at Fullers last year sometime that was a serious cherry red color, yours looks a bit on the orange side of that one. It was called a 60-something reissue, I think. Congrats on a new Gibson in the house! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 . Great vintage look and definitely has a vintage vibe. Beautiful. Congrats. . B) . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gio Posted December 9, 2011 Author Share Posted December 9, 2011 Buc, you're right. The actual color is more red than orange. I can't get a good picture that shows the real color... I think it's a 1968 Reissue... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 How uplifting to see these pictures. I really like the fact so many models and branches are covered by different Board-members. This one has a lot of personality already. Which tuners are on - and with what would you replace them ? (As you might know the PG-logo was introduced in the mid60's) Flags up – everything's open Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gio Posted December 9, 2011 Author Share Posted December 9, 2011 E-Minor7, I like this forum because, besides the obvious but various Gibson posts, there's a lot of talk about different music genres and styles. It seems to be very open minded. Currently the guitar has three on a plate enclosed tuners, with white oval plastic knobs (I'll post a pic as soon as possible). They look fine and I think they are period-correct. The fact is that I love Waverlies and I have a set with oval ivoroid knobs lying around... I also just bought of unused 50's Grover Sta-Tite (in the original box) from an UMGF member, but they wouldn't really fit because they have a metal knob. I don't know, like I said it's not really necessary. We'll see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 Currently the guitar has three on a plate enclosed tuners, with white oval plastic knobs I thought so and was a bit worried you'ld exchange to something 'strange'. Won't happen, I understand – either A or B, white ovals we'll see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmonsh Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 i was looking at a used 1 of these. personally i love the looks of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rar Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 ... in the future I might ... replace the saddle with a non adjustable bone one. ... You paid extra for that adjustable bridge, so I'd leave it alone if I were you. The one change that might be worth considering is replacing the Tusq saddle by a ceramic saddle, either a vintage one or a modern reproduction. That would give the guitar a little more of a classic '60s tone, if that's what you're going for. (An actual '68 would have a rosewood saddle, IIRC, but I'm pretty sure that you don't want one of those.) -- Bob R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 Hey Congradulations, I played one of these at Gryphon's and was surprised how good it sounded. I heard so many people say that those adjustable saddles are bad for tone...Put some sound bites up soon if you can, Merry Christmas, nice present!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KL Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 Beautiful guitar. Like rar I would think twice about changing that adjustable bridge. The adjustable bridges seem to get a bad name but my 66 J-45 sounds great just as it was made, and I have a friend with a 65 one that sounds spectacular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinder Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 Beautiful...and KEEP THE BRIDGE! You know what, I'm a closet fan of those adj. Bridges. I used to own an all-Hog B15 with one, and it sounded amazing. A guy I wrote several tunes for my next record with has two identical '64 J50 adj's, and they are out of this world. I like the extra percussive bite those bridges add, they look cool and it's always convenient to be able to adjust your action on the fly with 'em. I recently played a very dark red model identical to yours, and it sounded huge. Happy picking! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasAK Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Nice j45 reissue, they have a black one at our local guitar shop and it sound amazing (bridge and all). chasAK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stubee Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 If you like the sound just keep the saddle. Owned a fair number of vintage Gibsons here plus played many many more & IME changing from adjustable to fixed saddle will not guarantee any improvement & I say this as a guy who prefers a fixed saddle. I was down at Elderly in the past year playing three or four similar vintage Gibson J-50s and the best sounding one was an adj. saddle model. A good guitar is a good guitar no matter what it's appointments. Nice guitar you got there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gio Posted December 10, 2011 Author Share Posted December 10, 2011 Thanks fo the kind words! Amd especially for advicing me to keep the bridge. I really like the sound of the guitar as it is so I will keep the adjustable bridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livemusic Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 What a beauty, love the pickguard, love the back's finish so you can see the wood structure. I have a '68 J50 with adj saddle, and it sounds fab! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guth Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 I'll add another vote for keeping the bridge. I've posted up here in the past about a visit paid to my local Gibson dealer. On that day, by far the best sounding Gibson to my ears was a J-45 adj.. I almost didn't even pick it up to try because of the bridge, but curiosity got the better of me and it was an ear-opening experience. I simply wouldn't have changed a thing. Enjoy your new Gibson! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 Congrats on the new Gibson. If it sounds as great as it looks, you have a real winner. I like the thin finish also.. Rod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gio Posted December 11, 2011 Author Share Posted December 11, 2011 Like Guth, when I first saw the guitar I was skeptical because of the bridge. But when I strummed the first G chord I knew I had found something special. I wanted to replace a Hummingbird Artist that I had recently sold with a good Gibson and I was quite open-minded about the model. But also in this case this was the best sounding Gibson in the shop. Until a few months ago I thought: 'only Martins are for me'. Now I have the Gibson bug...and I'm very happy about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuanCarlosVejar Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 Like Guth, when I first saw the guitar I was skeptical because of the bridge. But when I strummed the first G chord I knew I had found something special. I wanted to replace a Hummingbird Artist that I had recently sold with a good Gibson and I was quite open-minded about the model. But also in this case this was the best sounding Gibson in the shop. Until a few months ago I thought: 'only Martins are for me'. Now I have the Gibson bug...and I'm very happy about it. could you post a picture of the full guitar ? . I love the way it looks and am happy that you found it !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gio Posted December 11, 2011 Author Share Posted December 11, 2011 Hi Juan Carlos, I'll take a few more pics tomorrow and post them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jchabalk Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 Adjustable Bridge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gio Posted December 11, 2011 Author Share Posted December 11, 2011 I didn't know her guitar had an adjustable bridge. These days Rawlings & Welch are constantly on my playing list together with Jeffrey Foucault and The Milk Carton Kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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