1964 Gibson B-45-12N 12-String Dreadnought Guitar

Local friend Ted Ryan owns this trusty old Gibson and has owned it since brand-new. For the last decade or so, it's sat unused for the most-part, though, awaiting some service to get it playing its best. Ted brought it in some months ago and I finally got around to giving it the glorified setup it needed -- saddle and fret work -- to get it playing spot-on and happily again.

It's had old repairs to cracks in the past but was essentially ship-shape on the structural front. I did "tack down" the bridge wings but eventually the bridge will probably need to be pulled and reglued. For the moment it's in good order, though, and the last Gibson 12-string (other than this one) that I remember having an absolute ball with was a '61 version (with slope shoulders) of this same model.

What happens to a lot of old Gibsons from this era is that they start to get features of "needing a neck reset" but yet the neck angle is still good and one can get plenty of saddle height from them. The neck and fretboard extension over the body often get a very shallow S-curve thing going on with a dip in front of the extension and a hill rising over the body. Fortunately, the trouble can be ameliorated by some heavy-handed level/dressing of the extension frets to get that whole area more in line with the rest of the neck.

That's what I did here and so then all I needed to do was fully-compensate the worn original adjustable saddle, clean-up the worn-in string ramps at the bridge, and set it up. Said saddles on these Gibsons usually have the break point for the strings in all the wrong places. I have to compensate the top of the saddle for the high E string, for instance, almost to the rear of the saddles on most of these and the low E almost to the front on most of these adjustable bridge gizmos.

Once that's done, though, and you dial it in... the sound is simply much better, more focused, and tighter. I also realigned the string path at the bridge because the pinholes were simply not aligned very well. You can see the full-compensation job in one of the pics -- it looks more dramatic than it is because of the extra width of the saddle itself.

Tone, though? I string these with light 12-string sets (46w-10) and the tone is sort-of woody and clunky on the lower notes but with an interesting "barky" top-end. Gibson 12s definitely have their own sound that's somewhere between the Leadbelly-style thump/clank and the lush, sweet sounds of a Martin D12-20 or similar.

Repairs included: a fret level/dress, saddle compensation, glorified setup work.

Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: solid mahogany

Bracing type: x

Bridge: rosewood

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany

Action height at 12th fret: hair-under 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 46w-10

Neck shape: medium C

Board radius: 10"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: lower/wider

Scale length: 24 5/8"

Nut width: 2"

Body width: 16"

Body depth: 4 7/8"

Weight: 5 lbs 0 oz

Condition notes: it's got a couple of funkily (but solidly) repaired hairline cracks on the front and lots of wear and tear to the finish -- including the usual weather-check from age. The saddle is modified but original. Everything else is original, too.