1964 Gibson J-50 Slope Dreadnought Guitar

Overview: This is a big old bruiser of a '60s J-50 and it has the "ideal" neck profile everyone is looking for from this period. It "feels like home" to many a Gibson-lover. Obviously, this guitar has been played-hard and well-loved. It has a little funk here and there but since we originally worked on it in the summer, it's held-up dandy. It's only back here for sale this time around because the owner is a furious guitar-shuffler and can't sit still on any instrument -- which is a little sad, because the reason he bought this in the first place is that he had so many fond memories of a '60s J-50 he had in his younger days.

Blathering aside, if you're after that woody, full, treble-scooped, singer-songwriter backup guitar -- this is that sound and feel. It will look great on any Americana record cover. It does the thing.

Repairs included: As I recall, this got a level/dress of the frets and we re-reglued the bridge and then set it up. It had some older repairs done by other folk and, of course, said bridge is a replacement. It's playing spot-on and ready to serve.

• Weight: 4 lbs 7 oz
• Scale length: 24 5/8"
• Nut width: hair under 1 11/16"
• Neck shape: medium C
• Board radius: 10"
• Depth at first fret: .81"
• Depth at seventh fret: .89"
• Body width: 16"
• Body depth: 4 7/8"
• Top wood: solid spruce
• Back & sides wood: solid mahogany back, likely ply mahogany sides
• Bracing type: x
• Bridge: ebony 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: modern medium-jumbo

Condition notes: So, first of all -- there's weather-checking, scuffing, scratching, nicks, dings, etc. throughout. There is a small repaired hairline crack on the lower-bout-top. The frets are newer but much better than the originals. The bridge and saddle are replacements. It has a "bridge plate cap" fit as well. The top is distorted under/around the bridge but all of the bracing is tight to the top and not at risk. This is a thing that happens a lot on older J-45/J-50s from this time as the tops were cut a bit thin (which is why they sound so warm and full) and the bracing not up to the challenge to keep them flatter -- almost all of them get a decent belly-up/doming under the bridge as they age. This one is just a little more extreme, with a tilt to forward at the bridge a bit more than normal. It has remained steady and we did make sure that it would be stable by pulling the bridge and regluing it and checking on the health of the bridge plate. We thought about heating the top and flattening everything out and replacing the bridge plate, but the truth of that is the tops start settling-back to where they were in the first place within the first year, so we left it as-is since it's been stable in service for the owner.

It comes with: It's got an old hard case but likely not original.

Consignor tag: MMLK