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  #1  
Old 01-02-2009, 09:29 PM
dgeorge dgeorge is offline
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Default J-45 vs J-50

Could someone tell me the fundamental difference between a Gibson J-45 and J-50.
thanks!
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  #2  
Old 01-02-2009, 09:41 PM
woodruff woodruff is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dgeorge View Post
Could someone tell me the fundamental difference between a Gibson J-45 and J-50.
thanks!
J-50 has a natural top. that is it.
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  #3  
Old 01-03-2009, 08:05 AM
Ken C Ken C is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dgeorge View Post
Could someone tell me the fundamental difference between a Gibson J-45 and J-50.
thanks!
The second responder said it...but...now I get to complain.

Gibson took a J-45 and just changed the finish...and changed the model number to J-50!

Then Gibson took a mahogany J-45, made one out of rosewood, and did they change the model number for that one...with a far, far more important change?

Noop!

Gibson is a little strange sometimes.

But two J-45s, a rosewood and a mahogany, would be a really nice couple of guitars to own and I am glad I have both.

Ken C.
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Martin 000-15S
E-Guitar "Ken-Trapsion"
Dean Playmate
Gibson J-45 Rosewood
Gibson J-50 Mahogany
G-40 Maccaferri arch top (3 ea.)
Kay Catalina arch top w/DeArmond floating p.u.
Harmony arch top
Silvertone (Kay) flat top
Framus 12-string
Harmony tenor arch top
Gakki Yamaha FG-140
DeArmond arch top
And 14 misc.ukes.
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  #4  
Old 01-03-2009, 08:25 AM
HHP HHP is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken C View Post
The second responder said it...but...now I get to complain.

Gibson took a J-45 and just changed the finish...and changed the model number to J-50!

Then Gibson took a mahogany J-45, made one out of rosewood, and did they change the model number for that one...with a far, far more important change?

Noop!

Gibson is a little strange sometimes.

But two J-45s, a rosewood and a mahogany, would be a really nice couple of guitars to own and I am glad I have both.

Ken C.
They also offered J-45's in Maple, ala Russ Barenberg's. Odd they never changed b/s wood selection on the J-50's. just the J-45's.
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  #5  
Old 01-03-2009, 08:27 AM
yammieplaya yammieplaya is offline
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Just to confuse things, I have a J-45
that is natural top. And mahogany.
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  #6  
Old 01-03-2009, 11:27 AM
tiffer tiffer is offline
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And lets not forget the WM45 which is nothing more than a stripped down J45/J50.
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  #7  
Old 01-03-2009, 12:40 PM
sfden1 sfden1 is offline
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All of which is just Gibson being quintessentially Gibson. Thus it has ever been and ever shall be.

Seriously, if you look at the details of GIbson's even from the 20's, 30's and 40's, they've always marched to their own drummer. A bit frustrating at times for those of us who need some order in the universe, but that oddity seems to be in Gibson's DNA. Keeps 'em interesting though.
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  #8  
Old 01-03-2009, 02:12 PM
Ken C Ken C is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HHP View Post
They also offered J-45's in Maple, ala Russ Barenberg's. Odd they never changed b/s wood selection on the J-50's. just the J-45's.
Maple? That really sounds nice. I hope I don't see one on the market anytime soon.

Thanks for the comment. (My wife, however, would be a little cooler to hear the news.)

Ken C.
__________________
Martin 000-15S
E-Guitar "Ken-Trapsion"
Dean Playmate
Gibson J-45 Rosewood
Gibson J-50 Mahogany
G-40 Maccaferri arch top (3 ea.)
Kay Catalina arch top w/DeArmond floating p.u.
Harmony arch top
Silvertone (Kay) flat top
Framus 12-string
Harmony tenor arch top
Gakki Yamaha FG-140
DeArmond arch top
And 14 misc.ukes.
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  #9  
Old 01-03-2009, 02:14 PM
Ken C Ken C is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yammieplaya View Post
Just to confuse things, I have a J-45
that is natural top. And mahogany.

I know that they are available that way now...how old is that natural-finish J-45.

Ken C. (I just don't want to always appear ignorant.)
__________________
Martin 000-15S
E-Guitar "Ken-Trapsion"
Dean Playmate
Gibson J-45 Rosewood
Gibson J-50 Mahogany
G-40 Maccaferri arch top (3 ea.)
Kay Catalina arch top w/DeArmond floating p.u.
Harmony arch top
Silvertone (Kay) flat top
Framus 12-string
Harmony tenor arch top
Gakki Yamaha FG-140
DeArmond arch top
And 14 misc.ukes.
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  #10  
Old 01-03-2009, 02:19 PM
Ken C Ken C is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sfden1 View Post
All of which is just Gibson being quintessentially Gibson. Thus it has ever been and ever shall be.

Seriously, if you look at the details of GIbson's even from the 20's, 30's and 40's, they've always marched to their own drummer. A bit frustrating at times for those of us who need some order in the universe, but that oddity seems to be in Gibson's DNA. Keeps 'em interesting though.
I sorta' alluded to that.

I wanted to "break the Gibson code" and got a book and then spouted off all sorts of s/n's and dates. Then a really knowledgeable fellow asked me if my "authority" was, "The Gibson Guitar -- From 1950" by Ian Bishop.

I said it was.

He said it was filled with errors. I later found out that he was correct. My copy now had "Not good info" written on the front with a broad point Sharpie.

Gibson will always be Gibson.

Ken C.
__________________
Martin 000-15S
E-Guitar "Ken-Trapsion"
Dean Playmate
Gibson J-45 Rosewood
Gibson J-50 Mahogany
G-40 Maccaferri arch top (3 ea.)
Kay Catalina arch top w/DeArmond floating p.u.
Harmony arch top
Silvertone (Kay) flat top
Framus 12-string
Harmony tenor arch top
Gakki Yamaha FG-140
DeArmond arch top
And 14 misc.ukes.
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  #11  
Old 01-03-2009, 03:09 PM
surfoxy surfoxy is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by woodruff View Post
J-50 has a natural top. that is it.

Yep. Put the sunburst back on, add some parallelogram inlays and a different pickguard and you've got a southerner jumbo.
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  #12  
Old 01-03-2009, 03:49 PM
HHP HHP is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken C View Post
Maple? That really sounds nice. I hope I don't see one on the market anytime soon.

Thanks for the comment. (My wife, however, would be a little cooler to hear the news.)

Ken C.
Think it was just for a year or so around WWII. Don't believe they have re-issued the combination.You can hear one on Barenberg's recordings. Sounds great on the duets CD Not Too Far From The Tree by Bryan Sutton where they do Big Scotia.
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  #13  
Old 01-04-2009, 01:50 AM
sfden1 sfden1 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HHP View Post
Think it was just for a year or so around WWII. Don't believe they have re-issued the combination.You can hear one on Barenberg's recordings. Sounds great on the duets CD Not Too Far From The Tree by Bryan Sutton where they do Big Scotia.
Exactly right. Apparently, Gibson was running out of mahogany that was suitable and started using maple. There are also some maple LG-2's out there from the same period. I'd love a maple J-45.

Ken C, I did the same as you, except my "bible" was Gibson's Fabulous Flattops by Eldon Whitford, Dan Erlewine, and David Vinopal. Excellent book and one I still refer too (the pictures are awesome), but once I got into reading the posts by John Thomas, Willie Henkes and many others on the Vintage section of the umgf, it became apparent that GFF wasn't entirely accurate either. Many of the experts are still trying to unravel all the mysteries of vintage Gibson's, but more and more it seems to me like a hopeless task.

In any event, Henkes and Thomas are working on a book about Gibson during WWII that should be really interesting. Here's a website they set up about the Banner Gibson's that may interest some folks,
http://www.bannergibsons.com/
and of course, if you have a banner model, you may want to add it to the registry on that site.
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  #14  
Old 01-04-2009, 09:40 AM
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Thin Crust Thin Crust is offline
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Quote:
All of which is just Gibson being quintessentially Gibson. Thus it has ever been and ever shall be.
How true.........how true.
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  #15  
Old 01-04-2009, 10:35 AM
yammieplaya yammieplaya is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken C View Post
I know that they are available that way now...how old is that natural-finish J-45.

Ken C. (I just don't want to always appear ignorant.)
It was built in 1991 at Bozeman and purchased new in Asia.
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