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identify my guitar


mandomike

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hi all. I'm hoping that someone may have the answer. I was given a guitar last week by a friend to hold onto. He has owned it since (he says he bought it new between 67-68....right after H.S. and right before going to Vietnam...) he told me it was a J45...ok. I have a new (5 year old) J45 which I love ( tough to choose between all my guitars that I own) When it was given to me, I noticed that it didn;t look like a J45. It has the J45 insignia on the truss rod cover,but the body has square shoulders and not rounded shoulders like every J45 I have ever seen. Serial number is 950303 and is stamped (engraved) into the back of the headstock as well as "Made in the U.S.A." I can not see how the bracing is set up inside (I guess I can get a mirror, which I will do this week). anyways, searching the serial number hasn't helped determine what model Gibson this is. The one place online that i looked, said the guirat was built between 1970-72 in Kalamazoo....but if it was bought in 68 how can that be??

 

Did Gibson make a square shouldered J45 (the body looks more like a Hummingbird than a J45) but with a J45 tortoise shell pickguard? Any help would be welcome..I can [ost some pics tomorrow if that would help.

 

regards,

 

Mike

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They made square shoulder j45s in the mid to late 60s

 

 

Not exactly. The square-shoulder J-45 came into production sometime in 1969, and lasted until 1982. These were long-scale guitars with heavy top bracing (the infamous double-X), and have nothing in common with the traditonal J-45 other than the name. These were the Norlin years at Gibson, and J-45s from this period--as well as most other Gibson acoustics--were generally at their historical worst.

 

This does not mean that there weren't good ones built during this period, but the odds are against you when it comes to finding one.

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As far as I recall the Made in USA stamp was introduced in 1970 around the time foreign, f.x. Japanese brands began to make a serious entrance.

 

I played one these J-45's some time ago – looked exactly like yours, same burst, logo, but maybe not the t.r. letters – and it was the bulked-braced 1969 version. Let's say yours is a year younger than that until the opposite is proved. Then again wouldn't your friend be the first do the date-math right. Out of High school and goin' to war (if I understand things right) isn't dates/years you mess around with. I would present him to facts of this page and ask him to think back once again. If he is certain, then there's not so much to argue about, , , eeeh apart from the serial # and the stamp. Look into that as well and let us hear what you find out. Welcome.

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As far as I recall the Made in USA stamp was introduced in 1970 around the time foreign, f.x. Japanese brands began to make a serious entrance.

 

I played one these J-45's some time ago – looked exactly like yours, same burst, logo, but maybe not the t.r. letters – and it was the bulked-braced 1969 version. Let's say yours is a year younger than that until the opposite is proved. Then again wouldn't your friend be the first do the date-math right. Out of High school and goin' to war (if I understand things right) isn't dates/years you mess around with. I would present him to facts of this page and ask him to think back once again. If he is certain, then there's not so much to argue about, , , eeeh apart from the serial # and the stamp. Look into that as well and let us hear what you find out. Welcome.

 

 

Elderly Instruments has one ( a 1969 ) that is quite similar, 'cept with a black pickguard...

 

http://www.elderly.com/vintage/names/gibson-j-45-adj-%281969%29--20U-13798.htm

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Looks like by this PAGE , that serial could have been in '68 (910000-999999........1968).

 

 

It's not like these changes happened on January 1 of every year, or that the serial numbers necessarily rolled over at the same time. It would not surprise me at all to discover that the square and slope J-45's overlapped each other coming out the door in late 1968.

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With the j160 there some slope shoulders in early 69, the year they went to the square shoulder.

 

chasAK

 

 

 

I suspect they were using up left-over J 160 bodies, which were unique in the Gibson line. "Waste not, want not" has always been a Gibson hallmark.

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It's not like these changes happened on January 1 of every year, or that the serial numbers necessarily rolled over at the same time. It would not surprise me at all to discover that the square and slope J-45's overlapped each other coming out the door in late 1968.

 

I have seen at least one 1968 J-45 with square shoulders. The pickguard, truss rod cover, serial number and such do look like a 1968-1969 guitar. Still, I have never seen a 1968-1969 Gibson of any kind with the Made in the U.S.A. stamp on the back of the headstock.

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What years did they use the adjustable bridge with the rosewood saddle? My 68-69 j160 had one.

 

chasAK

 

When Gibson re-topped my '48 J-45 in 1968, they installed the adjustable bridge with rosewood saddle. I routed the saddle out and installed a bone insert into it. Most of the J-160's I have seen from this period had the ceramic saddle insert, rather than the rosewood one.

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Ceramic would work a lot better. I never thought about therouting job and bone insert. The j160 is gone now. It turned into an 08 j45 mc.Did they use this bridge setup throughout the 70s?

 

Nick, I bet you were not a happy comper when you got your 45back!

 

chasAK

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Nick, I bet you were not a happy comper when you got your 45back!

 

 

 

That might be the understatement of the century. Send in your beat-up '48 for a top re-glue, a fretboard replacement, and a re-fret, and get back what looks like a new 1968 cherry 'burst J-45.

 

 

Freakout.... wailing and gnashing of teeth.

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