1957 National 1155 (Gibson J-50 Body) Slope Dreadnought Guitar

Update 2022: My pal Rob's letting this one go (he got the itch for something fancy) and so I've updated the post and video...

After playing a customer's 1155 in the shop, my friend Rob became a little obsessed with the model because he bought one off of eBay soon after and reported that it was headed here for a bit of care and feeding. I get it! -- I think these guitars are downright awesome for old-school strum-n-funning. They feature the cool, adjustable-neck-angle National Stylist necks mated to (mostly) choice 1950s Gibson J-50 bodies. I've explained it before, but National and Gibson shared the same parent company at the time and so Gibson supplied National with bodies for some of their nicer acoustic and electric hollowbody models at the time.

I think he really lucked-out with this one, though. The Gibson factory order number puts the body at 1957 which is probably when it was put together. The neck has a 1950 Valco serial number on it but it clearly isn't from 1950. The soonest I see this style of National headstock is from 1953-54 or so, if my fuzzy brain recalls correctly. I say he lucked-out because the bracing and top thickness is just about perfect in that flat, thin, taller mid-'50s Gibson style of bracing. It's not over-thick so the top gets a good, clean, hefty bass but the mids and highs are quite present and jumpy. I like!

Repairs included: a fret level/dress (it'd been refretted up to the 14th but not super-well), saddle-slot and bridge pin-hole fill/recut to move them all aft, one hairline crack re-repair/cleat to the top, minor pickguard reglue job, new bone saddle and reprofiling of the replacement bone nut, and a good setup. Since this earlier work, I've also installed a K&K Pure Mini pickup and the owner swapped-out the original (poorly-functioning) tuners with Gotoh relic'd replacements of the same type.

Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: solid mahogany back, ply hog sides

Bracing type: x

Bridge: rosewood

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: magnesium core, mahogany shell/veneer

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 54w-12 lights

Neck shape: medium-bigger C/V soft

Board radius: ~10"

Truss rod: non-adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-lower

Scale length: 24 5/8"

Nut width: 1 5/8"

Body width: 16"

Body depth: 4 7/8"

Condition notes: one repaired hairline crack to the top-lower-bout, several long, deep, with-grain scratches in the top (not cracks), and mild usewear... but overall very clean for its age. The past owner reglued the bridge and filled the holes where the 4 original bolts would've been installed in it. Someone also filled some nail-divots in the fretboard with who-knows-what! At least it's rosewood-ish in color. The neck is straight, it has remained stable in service while I've known it the past 3 years while wearing 12s, and the adjustable neck gizmo works perfectly.

It comes with: a hard case.