moej45 Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 So, its been a WHILE since I have posted but I still lurk. So a couple of days ago I took my 2011 J45 to Mouradian Guitar in Winchester MA for a set up. These guys are generally recognized around here as the best in the business. Anyways...bottom line is I have never been in love with my J45. Dunno why....I LIKE it but not in love. As background I learned to play on my high school girlfriends Dad's 1950's J45.....it was a dream. Anyways I am in there to pick up the J45 and I'm in the back where they work on the guitars and notice a mid 70's J45. So we get talking and I mentioned that I had been really looking for a vintage Gibson but didn't care so much about collectability etc. His face lights up and he says he has just what I am looking for. He bought this guitar off a customer for himself 5 years ago but said he's just not playing it and has been waiting for the right person. The guitar which I believe based on serial number is a 1951 SJ is WORN and someone refinished it at some point doing a pretty bad job and painted it....yada yada. BUT....I strummed it and just KNEW I had to have this guitar. I don't care about the collectability at all and I just LOVE the sound and the way it plays is like that old guitar I learned on. I traded the J45 mint straight up.... At work so I only have one pic of it. Photobucket has not been working for me so try this http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/480970_4568196199275_989582561_n.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moej45 Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 The 4 digit number stamped on the headstock block inside is 8756 followed by a 9 a few inches later. So based on research my best guess is this is between 49 and 51 as those are the years they abandoned the lettering system on the FON Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 Not so mad on the burst, but absolutely love the brown hue... wish my more modern VS guitars had such a brown hue rather than the near black used.Congrats, hope you get many years of pleasure from it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moej45 Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 Not so mad on the burst, but absolutely love the brown hue... wish my more modern VS guitars had such a brown hue rather than the near black used.Congrats, hope you get many years of pleasure from it. I actually like the way it looks. Its a player for sure and that's what I will be doing with it. Taking it out Thursday night for an acoustic gig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 The brown colour is beautiful, Moe. I wish you health to wear it done :D All the best Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fp Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 Congrats on your new SJ. May I suggest something ? Replace the pickguard with the proper Gibson shape tear drop style guard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ol fred Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 So, its been a WHILE since I have posted but I still lurk. So a couple of days ago I took my 2011 J45 to Mouradian Guitar in Winchester MA for a set up. These guys are generally recognized around here as the best in the business. Anyways...bottom line is I have never been in love with my J45. Dunno why....I LIKE it but not in love. As background I learned to play on my high school girlfriends Dad's 1950's J45.....it was a dream. Anyways I am in there to pick up the J45 and I'm in the back where they work on the guitars and notice a mid 70's J45. So we get talking and I mentioned that I had been really looking for a vintage Gibson but didn't care so much about collectability etc. His face lights up and he says he has just what I am looking for. He bought this guitar off a customer for himself 5 years ago but said he's just not playing it and has been waiting for the right person. The guitar which I believe based on serial number is a 1951 SJ is WORN and someone refinished it at some point doing a pretty bad job and painted it....yada yada. BUT....I strummed it and just KNEW I had to have this guitar. I don't care about the collectability at all and I just LOVE the sound and the way it plays is like that old guitar I learned on. I traded the J45 mint straight up.... At work so I only have one pic of it. Photobucket has not been working for me so try this http://sphotos-a.xx....989582561_n.jpg Good ta see you back, miss your sound clips. If Fisherman's Lullaby were on vinyl I would have worn it out by now. Great trade, same git as my 58 CW. and the only way I'll ever give mine up is when they throw dirt in my face. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moej45 Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 Good ta see you back, miss your sound clips. If Fisherman's Lullaby were on vinyl I would have worn it out by now. Great trade, same git as my 58 CW. and the only way I'll ever give mine up is when they throw dirt in my face. hahah....agreed. They'll be prying this one from my hands when I go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 Congratulations! That FON is almost certainly a 1951. The pickguard has obviously been changed (and I would replace it with a Gibson-style teardrop, as that Martin-style guard just looks wrong on a slope J). Bridge may or may not be a replacement, as I'm pretty sure they were still using a slot-through saddle in '51. Think that changed in about '53 for the J-45, although bridges on the SJ didn't always exactly follow the J-45 changes. The top re-finish is what it is. No impact on the sound, and if what you want is a player, the reduced price resulting from the re-finish can be a plus. If you really fall in love with it over time, your might treat the guitar to an original-style re-finish at some point if you have someone really good, but this is obviously a pretty old re-finish as it is. When you say "paint", does that mean that the sides/back are actually painted, or what? Paint could change the sound of the guitar, and probably not for the better. The SJ is a great guitar, any way you look at it. Good find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruffchris Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 Congrats on the new guitar :). Just to say i think she looks great in the photo's, doesn't look botched at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moej45 Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 Congratulations! That FON is almost certainly a 1951. The pickguard has obviously been changed (and I would replace it with a Gibson-style teardrop, as that Martin-style guard just looks wrong on a slope J). Bridge may or may not be a replacement, as I'm pretty sure they were still using a slot-through saddle in '51. Think that changed in about '53 for the J-45, although bridges on the SJ didn't always exactly follow the J-45 changes. The top re-finish is what it is. No impact on the sound, and if what you want is a player, the reduced price resulting from the re-finish can be a plus. If you really fall in love with it over time, your might treat the guitar to an original-style re-finish at some point if you have someone really good, but this is obviously a pretty old re-finish as it is. When you say "paint", does that mean that the sides/back are actually painted, or what? Paint could change the sound of the guitar, and probably not for the better. The SJ is a great guitar, any way you look at it. Good find. No no...Ididn't mean paint just refinish. The back and sides are in great condition and not painted or anything like that. As you said for me the refinish and all that is a plus as I got the guitar seriously reduced and it has the SOUND I want and it looks vintage as it should! If I were to refinish it properly eventually it would be for cosmetics and honestly...I'll never sell this guitar. The great thing is that this was in the care of the top guy in the boston area and he had worked on it for years prior to buying it. So obviously its been looked after well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdd707 Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 Ya done good! Congrats. Change the pickguard for sure ...... do a refinish top if you want, just for your enjoyment but mostly enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 Very Cool. I agree that the pickguard and possibly the bridge are not original. I am not 100% sure the guitar has been refinished though. While for me the changed pickguard and bridge always send up a red flag regarding a refinish, I have seen at least one other early 1950s SJs with a dark sunburst and alot less yellow in the center as you see on others. I wonder if for whatever reason Gibson sent out a batch of these guitars with that dark burst. It is your guitar so having it refinished is up to you. However, you could also look into having the guitar oversprayed and buffed especially if the finish has been worn off to the point the guitar top is not being protected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 Congratulations, at the end of the day its all about the tone right ? Talking about tone, reckon you could do a little sound sample for us, would love to hear how a real 51' SJ sound like against my 51' SJ recreation. Enjoy ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moej45 Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 Yeah I am bringing it back in when I get my Reverend set up in January. He's going to go thru it again and I will have him change out the pickguard. One thing for sure...its loud. It has lights on it and is louder than my 2011 J 45 set up with mediums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moej45 Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 Congratulations, at the end of the day its all about the tone right ? Talking about tone, reckon you could do a little sound sample for us, would love to hear how a real 51' SJ sound like against my 51' SJ recreation. Enjoy ! Hoopefully get a chance this weekend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 While I think Gibson re-tooled around 1950 and I am not sure what impact (if any) this had on specs in terms of wood thickness and such. I would suspect that your 1951 still has a thinner top and lighter bracing than what you find with its latter day kin. The '51 is also, of course, made with old growth wood rather than the secondary growth lumber used today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moej45 Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 While I think Gibson re-tooled around 1950 and I am not sure what impact (if any) this had on specs in terms of wood thickness and such. I would suspect that your 1951 still has a thinner top and lighter bracing than what you find with its latter day kin. The '51 is also, of course, made with old growth wood rather than the secondary growth lumber used today. The guitar is LIGHT as well. Very low weight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 He's going to go thru it again and I will have him change out the pickguard. Make sure the new pickguard gets positioned properly, so that the inner rosette ring is not covered by the pickguard. The pickguard on there now is oriented properly in that regard. Standard J-45 pattern is the proper shape, and dark red/brown tortoise the proper color. There are a number of good after-market versions of the correct pickguard. You sometimes need to fine-tune the soundhole radius on the pickguard, as the SJ rosette is often a larger outside diameter than the stock J-45 rosette. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moej45 Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 Thanks for all that info! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cunningham26 Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 That things a beauty. Really weird coincidence...i've got my J45 at mouradian for a few repairs right now! Jim's a great guy and as you said, best in the business around here. To think...I could have beaten you to it, happy ngd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moej45 Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 That things a beauty. Really weird coincidence...i've got my J45 at mouradian for a few repairs right now! Jim's a great guy and as you said, best in the business around here. To think...I could have beaten you to it, happy ngd Hahah....That's a coincidence for sure. It wasn't even out on the floor at all...it took a few minutes for it to come up in conversation and with one strume I probably would have given my car for it and walked home Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 He's going to go thru it again and I will have him change out the pickguard. Just did a quick check. Terrapin does a real celluloid J-45 pickguard for about $30, including beveled edge and adhesive backing. For another $5, they will do a custom radius if required, although in my experience, the radius is easily adjusted by hand sanding. You can go on their website and download a PDF template, which you then print out and check against the rosette radius of your guitar to see it if fits properly. I have not bought a pickguard from them, but they seem to have a great variety, and seem to know what they are doing. You should use "real" celluloid for this, rather than a vinyl or acrylic material. If your guy is a Gibson dealer, he could probably get a pickguard straight from Gibson. My link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 Terrapin made me a pickguard for my 1956 Epiphone on which the pickguard was actually set into the top. They nailed it. Great place to deal with. Just to let you know though if you are going to send them a tracing of the opriginal footprint (which is what they had to do for mine as they had never made a pickguard for this vintage and model guitar) they do not like working off of anything emailed. I would imagine though on a standardized scratchplate they probably already have a template. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 I would imagine though on a standardized scratchplate they probably already have a template. ZW, they have templates for stock Gibson guards, and you can even download and print them out to check against your own guitar. They seem to have this pretty well organised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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