Vintage 1964 Gibson J-45 Slope-Shoulder - Cherry Burst w/ Hard Shell Case - $4799

Serial#: 186795 

So, here's the story on this gem:

Owner recently walks in to the store - eyebrow goes up and we open the case.

Hummm... old Gibson J-45... lil-rough with some obvious changes. I picked her up and play a few chords, I'm hooked. Tone is big and rich, great sustain, and way more balanced than so many vintage J-45's I've played over the years.

The obvious change to this gem was to the bridge: the adjustable bridge was removed and replaced decades ago (by some yahoo) - with a ebony belly bridge that was too small. Upon further inspection I noticed the bridge plate had been modified a to strengthen the area (I guess) possibly partially-responsible for the killer tone. I also noticed that there was some change made to the pick guard (see pic # 15). The original tuners were replaced by a set of Grovers; there was amazing finish crazing going on all over the thing, top and back cracks were repaired and stabilized at some previous date.

I knew that, in any condition, these old J-45's had real value, then I dug deeper to find out she had the wider nut measurement option (rare) and the neck profile was amazing.

This girl definitely played in her share of 10 cent Honky Tonks, had some one-night stands and shows her age for the years of fun. Will never be the beauty she used to be - yet with the reconstructive attention - stands tall and proud. This J-45 has the tone that is earned with 60 years of love.

RECENT REPAIRS:

No neck reset needed (very rare) for this girl was born right! Great action and neck angle, lots of saddle height as well.

Replaced the ebony bridge with one we made (oversized to cover some of the previous job) of Brazilian rosewood (Brazilian rosewood to match the finger board). Did a quick fret dressing (70% fret life remaining) new bone nut and compensated bone saddle to boot. There is this odd crack in the neck heel of unknown origin (see pic #20), it is stable for sure, just no clue as to its nature.

The cost of these have really increased, as seen by the others for sale. This one is priced very reasonably (player-grade and all the work is done).