1952 Gibson J-50 Slope Dreadnought Guitar

Overview: I sold this guitar years ago to my friend Brandon, who now has a Gibson collection that waters the eyes with tears of joy. Suffice to say, he has to spring funds for his wartime J-45(s) from somewhere, so this old beaut is up for sale again. It's a '52 J-50 with just the right yellowed/amber color to the finish, a nice, woody, balanced sound, and a great, home-base sort-of feel to the neck. It's had a number of old repairs in the past but it's playing spot-on, has had a good refret done by myself a few years ago, and has good, easy-to-use, Gotoh repro tuners installed.

Interesting features: While it does show weather-checking throughout, the finish has a nice, clean glow to it that's really attractive. It's a guitar that's easy on the eyes, save a replacement bridge and a bit of "old bridge shadow." It's a loud, punchy guitar and it has a big, airy, warm sound but you don't notice it as much from behind the guitar, where it sounds thinner and more midsy. A lot of old Gibson Js are like this, though, and you can get more of a sense of the guitar if you let it "lean" a bit in the lap.

Repairs included: Previously, someone else reglued (a little sloppily) all of the back braces and replaced the original bridge with an oversized repro. I recut that bridge down to '50s style, recut the saddle slot and fit a new compensated saddle, refretted it, fit repro tuners, fit a new bone nut, and set it up. I'm pleased to report that it's still playing as it did when it left and everything is ship-shape as far as setup. Since then it's had the endpin drilled for a pickup and then filled and a strap button re-added and I think we added a strap button to the heel some time back as well. In any case, it's playing spot-on and ready to go

• Weight: 4 lbs 2 oz
• Scale length: 24 3/4"
• Nut width: 1 11/16"
• Neck shape: medium C
• Board radius: 10"
• Depth at first fret: 7/8"
• Depth at seventh fret: 15/16"
• Body width: 16 3/8"
• 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: medium-jumbo

Condition notes: The bridge, tuners, saddle, bridge pins, and endpin/strap button are not original. The rest is It has weather-check and light/medium wear and tear throughout the finish, though the finish is all original throughout. The frets are non-original and are a wider/medium-height stock that has tons of life left in them (they're ready for many level/dress jobs in the future if need be).

It comes with: It actually comes with its original Gibson case with the green interior, though someone has painted it "adobe tan."

Consignor tag: BMCY