1967 Gibson J-50 Slope Dreadnought Guitar

This old bruiser is the perfect working guitar -- it's beat-up, looks great, sounds full and punchy, and is a great chord-banger for use as an instrument backing-up a voice or other instruments. The neck is "rock and roll" fast with the Gibson mid-'60s profile (narrow nut) and I really like these for playing cowboy chords and closed-position chords that run up and down the neck all night. I would stress that players looking to do a lot of fingerpicking or lead and fill work may find it too narrow for their tastes at the nut, though I've definitely done a lot of that on Gibsons with the same profile, so I'm not going to get into the weeds too much here...

The story on this instrument is that it was a one-family guitar that wound-up getting played-to-heck by one of the sons in the family. It had since "returned home" and hadn't been used in ages. This and one other guitar made its way to the shop for repair and this one was initially going to go back to the family for use, but instead wound-up here for sale with the other. Their loss!

It took a bit of work to get it in service, but now that it's done it's playing spot-on, in good structural health, and is ready for action. One interesting note is that it has a "2" under the serial number to denote it as a factory 2nd. That usually just means it had a finish flaw when it was made. Now it has lots of them!

Repairs included: a neck reset, neckblock reinforcement surround at top, fret level/dress, replacement bridge, new saddle, new pins, replacement (vintage Kluson) tuners, crack re-repairs and cleats, brace reglue work, setup, etc...

• Weight: 4 lbs 7 oz
• Scale length: 24 5/8"
• Nut width: 1 9/16"
• Neck shape: slim-medium C
• Board radius: 10"
• Body width: 16"
• Body depth: 4 7/8"
• Top wood: solid spruce
• Back & sides wood: solid mahogany
• Bracing type: x
• Bridge: rosewood (replacement)
• Fretboard: rosewood
• Neck wood: mahogany
• Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: 54w-12 lights
• Truss rod: adjustable
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: wide/lower

Condition notes: it's quite beat-up, of course! There are two long cracks on the top (running from soundhole straight to the endblock) but both are cleated, sealed, and repaired -- though someone had dripped glue into the seams before my time on it, so they're not visually beautiful. There's also a pair of hairline cracks on the top along the fretboard extension which are both repaired, too. The neck joint has a "pinch" in that area from old damage, but during the neck reset I stabilized the area and added a U-shaped block that runs around the top edge of the neckblock and just in front of the popsicle brace to "extend" the "wings" of the neckblock and make that whole area nice and rigid (ie, no problems should arise in the future). There are also a couple of smaller, tight, hairline cracks on the back that are repaired.

More condition notes: the tuners are replaced (with vintage Klusons), I made the new bridge that is on it, and the saddle and pins are new. There's plenty of wear and tear throughout the finish all over including some flaking-off of the finish at the waists on the side, lots of weather-checking and finish crackle, scuffs, nicks, dings, scratches all over -- you name it. It's a player's guitar, for sure. Last note -- the frets are the low/wide Gibson stuff from the time and have a flattish profile on top. You may or may not like these as they're a specific feel -- I do like them but they don't play like modern frets.

It comes with: an old hard case.

Consignor tag: TFR