Gibson J-45 Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1950), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 3358-26 (FON), sunburst top, dark back and sides finish, mahogany back, sides and neck, spruce top, rosewood fingerboard, brown tolex hard shell case.
This is a truly beautiful 70+ year old example of the J-45, the most basic model of Gibson's slope-shouldered Jumbo guitars. This family of super friendly large-body flat tops has remained enduringly popular since their 1930's introduction with folk, blues, and pop players, and picking this one up it's easy to see why. This early 1950 J-45 shows only minor wear and repair for its 72 years on the planet and remains a superb player's instrument. The comfortable slim-profile neck is much sleeker than the chunky wartime spec that continued up through the late 1940s, and this is a delightful instrument to play.
This J-45 shows typical period features, including a fairly dark sunburst top ornamented with a small tortoise celluloid pickguard and triple binding on the edge and soundhole rosette. The rosewood bridge is the new-for-1950 "top belly" pattern, essentially a flipped over version of the nearly identical older Martin design. This was probably done originally to make it look less like their competitor, but became an iconic Gibson trademark. The headstock is still tapered like earlier models and plainly ornamented with only the also then-new "modern" gold decal Gibson block script logo on the face.
We always love J-45s from this period. Whether near mint or heavily worn, they are perennial classics in both looks and sound. The model really exemplifies the best of Gibson's "workingman's Jumbo" with no frills but plenty of splendid tone. This is an excellent player with a big, rich, but still well-defined sound that can really cut through the mix when pushed. For everything from Honky-tonk to songwriting sessions, fingerpicked blues to rock rhythm tracks the vintage J-45 always delivers!
Overall length is 40 3/4 in. (103.5 cm.), 16 1/4 in. (41.3 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 7/8 in. (12.4 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This is a great playing and sounding example of this Gibson stalwart, showing only some fairly minor play wear and repair for 70+ plus years on the planet. The finish is all original shows a lighter-than-usual collection of dings, dents, and scrapes, the heaviest localized around the lower soundhole rim, with a few dinks into the wood off the back edge of the pickguard. The remainder of the top finish is better preserved than most with a lightly checked patina and only some smaller dings and scratches. The back and sides have some dings into and through the finish but the usual patch of belt-buckle wear is absent; nobody played this one with a cowboy belt buckle on!
The center seam behind the bridge has been cleanly resealed with no overfinish, probably long ago. There are no other cracks on the instrument, which is a happy find on a Gibson jumbo this old. The neck has been neatly reset; the action is very comfortable. The rosewood bridge is original but has been re-attached, there is a thin strip of missing top finish along its forward edge from this process. The guitar has had the fingerboard trued and neatly refretted with period appropriate wire; there are a few small divots in the fingerboard and the nut is original but has been re-attached. A strap button has been added to the treble side of the heel. And there are some marks around the endpin indicating an endpin jack for a pickup may have been mounted and later removed.
This guitar plays and sounds great with the typical Gibson ring, warm and sweet but never mushy. We feel this is a great era for the J-45, still quite lightly built like the 1940s examples but with the slimmer truss-rod necks of the early '50s. This is the nicest from this period we have had in a while and is a truly fine gigging or recording J-45. It is equipped with a sturdy later era HSC. Excellent - Condition.
