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Old 08-17-2019, 11:43 AM
paradisebunny paradisebunny is offline
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Default My one guitar: 1975 Gibson J-45 Deluxe / lacquer issues

I think after 8 years it is time for my first post here... incidentally that is the same time I have been playing the guitar I want to introduce you to! The Guitar is a 1975 J-45 Deluxe, which I bought as a student zeroing out my bank account after a particularly hard breakup experience. When I bought it I was looking for a proper acoustic guitar that would last me a lifetime, since my previous acoustic, a Faith Venus, literally had fallen apart. I was looking for that one guitar to take on an abandoned island, but that I could still afford from my meager student funds. So having had bad experiences I had a few criteria that had to be absolutely fulfilled:

sturdy: built for many years to come

versatile: suitable to several styles

holding its value: being able to resell it at marginal loss in case it wouldn't fulfill my expectations, even after a few years

looks: something classical that I wouldn't tire of over the years

I had no initial brand preference when I began my search, but I soon realised that only few acoustic guitars really held their value over time. So I headed down the Martin/Gibson/Guild rabbit hole and tried a ton of guitars. After a while I realised that I preferred the sound of Mahagony & Spruce or all Mahagony over Rosewood & Spruce. I also realised, that the older guitars I tried sounded generally much much nicer than the newer ones, and that certain older guitars were actually really cheap compared to new models, if they didn't conform to the agreed upon "great" classics. Such was the case for square-shouldered mid-70s J-45s. After a long conversation with a guitar builder I trust, he convinced me of the basic idea, that once you have an instrument that is a great basis (e.g. good woods, clean worksmanship, etc), you can basically repair it until the end of time.

To cut a long story short, I came across this well played and much repaired J-45, that didn't play all too great, but sounded great. It didn't move too much air, but sounded really woody and mellow, not very sparkly but it really spoke to me. Kind of Nick Drake'ish. There was a rip in the top. The three piece headstock had been reglued. The binding had been repaired in multiple places. The neck was reset once. The finish was worn through on the neck and several other places. This guitar had been loved and played a lot. It didn't play great, but I thought it had potential, and with my guitar builders words in mind, I bought it at well less than a third of what a brand new J-45 costs. I played it a while and was impressed, but not over moon. So I brought it to my guitar builder and discussed all the bigger and smaller issues that had to be taken care of, which totally had escaped my eye. The top was still flat and unwarped, but it was still coming off at several places, and the bridge had to be lowered. Also, some repairman had done a few really scruffy repairs with unidentifiable glues. He said: I'll see what I can do... So I waited for almost two weeks for all the different glues to dry and went to pick the guitar up.

I was flabbergasted. There was still that initial sound that had intrigued me, but the top-end had expanded and everything seemed to vibrate, if you only so much as looked at the strings. It had gotten so much louder and so much more balanced, not so bass focussed anymore, but still mellow with subtle sparkle at the top. Plus, it played wonderfully now. Not quite as good as something brand new and freshly set-up, but near enough that. Worlds apart from how it played when I first got it. It handles Delta Blues just as well as Jazz, subtle single note runs and aggressivly strummed open chords.

Over the years a few other minor repairs cropped up and the sound keeps changing marginally, but its original voice is still there, singing through all its scars. I love this guitar, more and more as time goes by, and I have come to realise that an acoustic instrument is really a living and breathing thing, with doctor's bills and its own moods.

It has even turned me away from the electric and has become my sole main instrument for the past 5 or so years, and even after the occasional flirt with friends' Martins and Guilds I always come back and prefer it.

Which brings me to why I only post now, after more than 8 years... recently a weird issue has started to come up with the lacquer higher up on the neck (see images). It is a nitro finish, that has worn through in some places, but this particular area has become quite rough. Any ideas as to what might have caused this? And any tips on how to smooth it out?

Thanks for taking the time to read this little story! Love this place!

edit: apparently I am too stupid for linking images directly, even after reading the guide... here is the imgur gallery:

http://imgur.com/a/HxnnRv8













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Old 08-17-2019, 11:49 AM
Kerbie Kerbie is offline
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Default I'll post 'em




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Old 08-17-2019, 11:52 AM
Kerbie Kerbie is offline
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Old 08-17-2019, 12:06 PM
paradisebunny paradisebunny is offline
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thanks for the help!!
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Old 08-17-2019, 12:40 PM
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drplayer drplayer is offline
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Nice guitar! Best as I can tell from my cell phone, it looks like crazing to me, and it’s not too uncommon/unusual for a 44-year old guitar. Often this can be caused by exposure to significant fluctuations in humidity (which might explain the need for some of the other repairs as well). Do you monitor/control the humidity at all? If not, I’d bet that’s the culprit (combined with age).

Regardless, the issue itself isn’t a big deal unless it’s a big deal to you. You could try having the neck buffed, which wouldn’t remove it, but would smooth it out a bit. It would also add some sheen to the neck, which may or may not be aesthetically pleasing to you. The other extreme is to have the neck refinished, but that wouldn’t be cheap. If it were mine—as long as it didn’t hinder the playability of the guitar—I’d just live with it and consider it part of the guitar’s character & charm. And, if I wasn't already doing so, I’d start monitoring/controlling the humidity to try and keep the crazing in check...
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Old 08-17-2019, 01:27 PM
paradisebunny paradisebunny is offline
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thanks for answer! yeah, I roughly monitor the humidity, but I keep the guitar mostly on the wall and it was my first summer in Italy (lived in Berlin before), so there were some major readjustments in terms of climate for the guitar. Plus the insane summer heat peaks didn't help. I don't really mind the look of it, I actually kind of like it! It's just that you can really feel it, it is almost like fine grit sand paper, and everytime i play up there it distracts me! could I smooth/buff it out by hand somehow? how would I best go about it?
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Old 08-17-2019, 02:04 PM
L20A L20A is offline
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Contact a guitar tech about neck repair.
You might be able to use steel wool to smooth it out and then apply some good guitar polish.
First, try cleaning it with Naptha. [lighter fluid]
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Old 08-17-2019, 02:29 PM
paradisebunny paradisebunny is offline
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Ok will look into those options, thanks! Moved to a new country, so I don’t have a go to guy here yet if anyone has recommendations for northern Italy let me know!
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Old 08-17-2019, 02:45 PM
Tycobb73 Tycobb73 is offline
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Nice guitar. Do these have narrow nuts like the corresponding gibson electrics of the same years?
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Old 08-17-2019, 03:46 PM
paradisebunny paradisebunny is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tycobb73 View Post
Nice guitar. Do these have narrow nuts like the corresponding gibson electrics of the same years?
not so knowledgable about that kinda stuff, but a quick measurment shows a nut widths of 37mm measured from middle of Low E-string to middle of high e-string
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Old 08-19-2019, 06:56 AM
zombywoof zombywoof is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by paradisebunny View Post
not so knowledgable about that kinda stuff, but a quick measurment shows a nut widths of 37mm measured from middle of Low E-string to middle of high e-string
Gibson went back to the 1 11/16" nut towards the end of the 1960s. But the neck carves remained very slim. From the photos of the top though it looks like this guitar may not have been as much well played as not very well taken care of.

Unless your reference to lowering the bridge means your repair guy actually shaved it (a sign the neck angle is off) it sounds like he just did a set up and a bit of nip and tuck here and there. If you had not had a set up done it was probably long overdue.
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