Gibson J-45 Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar w/Case - Sunburst (1955)

This beautiful vintage Gibson J-45 was brought to us by the son of the orignal owner. Based on the factory order number this guitar was built in 1955 and is in good condition for its age, with some routine repairs as well as a refret with period correct wire, new direct replacement vintage style tuners and a new bridge. Structurally this guitar is in very good condition with no issues with the neck or bracing. A full setup has been done in-house by our techs and strung with D'Addario EJ16 strings. There are a few crack repairs that have been done professionally over the years and they are holding great with no issues. This guitar comes with an aftermarket hardshell case.

First released in 1942 as a replacement for the J-35, the J-45 featured small changed such as the neck being more of the "baseball" style shape instead of the "V" and the bracing made slightly heavier. By 1955 when this guitar was made some more changes were made to the instrument. In 1955 the fretboard was lengthened by adding a 20th fret and the pickguard was changed to be similiar to the one found on the J-185. The most significant change from this year happened to the bracing, going from tall scalloped braces to shorter unscalloped braces. 

This is the writeup on the Gibson catalog from 1956

"This member of the Gibson Jumbo family has the same dimensions as the J50 and similar construction, offering extremely good value at its very moderate price. BODY - specially braced -  has spruce top with mahogany back and rim, bound on all edges with ivoroid. Tortoise-shell pattern celluloid guardplate. Dimensions - 16 1/4" wide by 20 1/4" long and 5" deep at end pin. NECK is of mahogany with adjustable "Truss-rod" and has rosewood fingerboard with pearl dot inlays, joins body at 14th fret. Scale length 24 3/4" - 20 frets. Nickel-plated, enclosed individual machine heads.

Finished in Cremona brown with rich sunburst"

NOTE: Due to restricted woods on this instrument we are unable to ship this outside of Canada.