1946 Gibson J45

$9,800

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Here is a beautiful 1946 J45 that is ready to play and sounds great.  It has had all the maintenance work you would want to see on one of these including (1) fresh neck reset, (2) all new frets, (3) new nut and new saddle, (4) original bridge plate plugged and re-drilled, (5) back cracks glued and stable.  All work done recently by Carter Vintage Guitars in Nashville.

 

No cracks in the top.  All braces are original and tight.  Original bridge plate professionally plugged and re-drilled.  Original tuners work perfectly.  Original pick guard removed and re-glued.  Truss rod works perfectly.

 

Finish is all original except for some light overspray on the side (bass side), apparently because the original lacquer was more worn in that area. 

 

A couple of long back cracks were properly repaired and are stable.  No side cracks, but there is a deep scratch (see photo) on the top of the treble side near the strap button.  There is a similar scratch near the end pin which appears to be in the finish only and does not go into the wood.

 

Great "C" neck profile and original fretboard radius with 1.725" nut and 2.1" string spacing.  Fresh new frets that are perfectly crowned and full height. 

 

Minimal neck relief (about .004") and zero buzzing up and down the neck. Every note frets cleanly.

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Saddle is compensated and intonation is practically perfect all the way up the neck.

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12th fret action measures .095" (bass side) and .080" (treble side).

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This one has the classic J45 sound you expect from the late 40's and early 50's examples.  I think '53 is when they started making some changes that are noticeable in terms of tone and feel of the neck.

 

This one is balanced with strong mids but still has that woody "thump" on the low E.   

 

No electronics on this one and if electronics were ever installed, there is no evidence of it. 

 

Comes in a modern Martin higher end custom shop hard case.

I don’t really want to sell this one, but I need to make room for a couple of high-dollar vintage Martins that I recently added to the collection.  Plus, I already have a 1951 J50 that sounds great and so this J45 is kind of redundant. (Except this J45 looks much cooler.)
 

I have it strung up with Martin Retro .012's but I have also played it with mediums (.013's) and they are also great, with very little noticeable change in action or string height.  Purely a matter of user preference.  

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All TERMS OF SALE apply.