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  #31  
Old 07-14-2016, 09:10 PM
zabdart zabdart is offline
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Square shoulders are a dead giveaway to a Norlin-era Gibson J-45. 1970 or later. Ignore the diagram. Gibsons from that era featured a double-X bracing pattern on the top with a large, diamond shaped rosewood bridge pad between the two Xs which prevented the top from vibrating optimally. They also made any repairs to the bridge area so complicated as to be virtually impossible or very, very expensive. Necks were also set at a much shallower angle than they were prior to 1969, making the need for neck resets on those guitars more frequent.
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  #32  
Old 07-15-2016, 07:13 AM
sunbgroove sunbgroove is offline
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Thanks for chiming in. I ended up sending a package of 25 or so pictures (15 of the interior) along with a video (again of the interior) to Gibson and they confirmed that it is indeed a 1970 model, early production before the changes you mentioned, as this one does NOT have the X-Bracing and it retains the adjustable saddle. This one has never had the neck reset and at this point is not in need of one.
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  #33  
Old 07-15-2016, 09:01 PM
Orfeas Orfeas is offline
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Are these screws holding the bridge or what? I've never saw something like that before.
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  #34  
Old 07-15-2016, 09:33 PM
Rmz76 Rmz76 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sunbgroove View Post
Sure!

Ok, here goes..... I placed one microphone in front of the 12th fret and hit record. Strings are coated SIT 13s. Have not setup the guitar as of yet. As per the pictures in this thread, the bridge is lifting at the back and ball ends are pulling through the bridge. The guitar came with worn out cheap plastic pegs which I will replace when I do the setup. Any suggestions on what the best pegs are for a J-45?

Please excuse my shoddy playing!

Great sounding guitar! Thanks for sharing.
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J-45 song of the day archive
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  #35  
Old 07-15-2016, 10:01 PM
Rmz76 Rmz76 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zabdart View Post
Square shoulders are a dead giveaway to a Norlin-era Gibson J-45. 1970 or later. Ignore the diagram. Gibsons from that era featured a double-X bracing pattern on the top with a large, diamond shaped rosewood bridge pad between the two Xs which prevented the top from vibrating optimally. They also made any repairs to the bridge area so complicated as to be virtually impossible or very, very expensive. Necks were also set at a much shallower angle than they were prior to 1969, making the need for neck resets on those guitars more frequent.
It's interesting how the square shoulder design is considered a product of the Norlin era.... CMI (Chicago Musical Instruments) had owned Gibson since 1944. They were taken over by ECL in Dec 1969 (over a year after the square shoulder J-45 had been on the market). Norlin had nothing to do with that. In fact CMI maintained control over Gibson until 1974 when Norlin Industries made it an official subsidiary and CMI was out of the picture.. So the square shoulder, long scale, double X bracing design changes were by CMI management not Norlin management. This thread is an example of why I love AGF. I had read that the double X bracing and square shoulder redesign occurred at the same time, but it's pretty clear Gibson continued with a standard X bracing pattern on the square shoulder models from Dec 68 until sometime in 1970. Can't help but feel a bit for CMI struggling to cut cost and I'm sure the double X design was to attempt to reduce warranty repair cost, but CMI was driving Gibson at that time (probably trying to meet unrealistic financial demands set to ECL). By the time Norlin took over the damage was done. They just kept the ship headed down the same destructive path until it was three months from closing the doors in 1986 when Henry E. Juszkiewicz and his partners bought it and brought the brand back to life.

The round shoulder, short scale, J-45 actually returned to market in 1984 when Norlin was still in control of Gibson. Now I'm wondering if the 1984-1986 J-45's are double or single X braced.
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J-45 song of the day archive
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis..._Zmxz51NAwG1UJ

My music
https://soundcloud.com/waynedeats76
https://www.facebook.com/waynedeatsmusic

My guitars
Gibson, Martin, Blueridge, Alvarez, Takamine

Last edited by Rmz76; 07-15-2016 at 10:08 PM.
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  #36  
Old 07-16-2016, 05:00 AM
bitraker bitraker is offline
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Great info here _ I would play her for a bit, get to know her, warts and all, then decide to make changes _ her quirks are what give her character

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk
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  #37  
Old 07-16-2016, 08:58 AM
John Arnold John Arnold is offline
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Quote:
Are these screws holding the bridge or what? I've never seen something like that before.
Gibson started doing that in the mid-1930's.
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  #38  
Old 07-16-2016, 01:41 PM
sunbgroove sunbgroove is offline
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So interesting to learn about the company's history, Rmz76! And thanks for your comments on the sound clip. As long as the bridge holds, I'll play it for a while and enjoy it. Perhaps the sound will improve a little once I have re glued the bridge and set the guitar up properly. Either way, I'll record an "after" take and post here. Thanks again!
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double, gibson, j-45, x bracing

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