ID this guitar
Tift Merritt on Jool Hplland tonight was playing this beautiful and well worn Gibson. What is it?
I played a new one when I was over in the USA a few years ago, pretty sure it's a 50s or 60s type J-45. It was the same colour and had the same large pickguard, however the vast majority seem to be sunburst with a teardrop tortie pickguard.
Impressive holes in the top of Tift's guitar though!
It looks like a Gibson J50 as used by the lovely Gillian Welch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FM8ui2ByUI
Might have been a custom paint job at the time.
664 - The Neighbour of the Beast
a serious strummer has owned that!
Ah yes, could well be a J-50 rather than a J-45, the large pickguards seem much more common on J-50s.
I may be being overly cynical, but I suspect that's faked/'relic-ed'. The wear has an odd pattern - including going right up to the bridge which would protect it from real strumming - the exposed wood is very fresh and clean-looking, and the rest of the guitar appears to be in better condition that you would expect for one that's been thrashed that hard.Originally Posted by Lustycourtier
Last edited by ICBM; 28th November 2012 at 07:01 PM.
Looks to me to be a Gibson Gospel, as for the wear, not sure, but the scratchplate could have been a later oversized version, if original was too worn. Or maybe just to cover deeper damage.
I did a bit more research, apparently it's a Gibson B-25, probably late 60s. I'd guess it was not a top end model and probably not a big seller. She also has a 3/4-sized "student model" B-25 which is "high strung" (I take it that means nashville tuning).
That wear right up and beyond the bridge does look inexplicable, but here's a good photo of presumably the same guitar on New Year's Eve 2007.
The J45 and J50 are identical. The sunburst model was designated J45, and the natural one, J50. Later examples had 'J45/50' on the soundhole label. The guitar in question above looks more like a J50. The B25 is a small-bodied guitar. The J45/50 is a dreadnaught.
Then again she might be very small...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-aYkHQ-crU
Last edited by AndrewG; 28th November 2012 at 10:08 PM.
I thought the J-40 was natural, the J-45 sunburst and the J-50 black, but I could be wrong.
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