Just got my '56 J-50 back... what a difference a neck reset makes!!!!

Toby Walker · #1 11-13-2014, 11:24 AM

I can't begin to tell you how pleased I am with the work my luthier, Dennis MacPherson did on this guitar. It needed a neck reset and new saddle and the difference it made on the playability and sound was incredible.

Only had it back a couple of days and I'm putting it through the paces. My friend thinks it's the best sounding guitar I own!

billgennaro · #2 11-13-2014, 11:27 AM

Amazing what a proper neck reset will do.

I don't doubt that your J50 is a great sounding instrument. I love those old dreads!

Pheof · #3 11-13-2014, 11:29 AM

Does it sound different as well as play better?

Toby Walker · #4 11-13-2014, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pheof

Does it sound different as well as play better?

I've noticed a difference in the sound... a tad richer... and the playability is much better.

#5 11-13-2014, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billgennaro

Amazing what a proper neck reset will do.

I don't doubt that your J50 is a great sounding instrument. I love those old dreads!

Agreed on the neck set, and the old Jumbo's aren't bad either.

Dominick · #6 11-13-2014, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toby Walker

It needed a neck reset and new saddle and the difference it made on the playability and sound was incredible.

Same here after I had my D-28 done this past summer (Thanks C.F. Martin for making good on your lifetime warranty). A marked improvement in both tone and volume. I mean it was a very good sounding guitar beforehand, but wow what a difference. IMHO now it sounds like a 38 yr. old Martin is supposed to.

MBE · #7 11-13-2014, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dominick

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toby Walker

It needed a neck reset and new saddle and the difference it made on the playability and sound was incredible.

Same here after I had my D-28 done this past summer (Thanks C.F. Martin for making good on your lifetime warranty). A marked improvement in both tone and volume. I mean it was a very good sounding guitar beforehand, but wow what a difference. IMHO now it sounds like a 38 yr. old Martin is supposed to.

Wow, if you've owned the same guitar for 38 years, you definitely deserve the free reset!

riverrummed · #8 11-13-2014, 01:48 PM

Toby, that was a rockin' J-50 testimonial and testifies to the versatility of a Gibson slope shoulder dreadnought . I own a 2006 J-50 and every now and then I wish I had waited and gotten a J-45 but just about the time I feel that way someone comments on how great my guitar sounds and how much they like the look of "a natural finish J-45". I've found from having friends play my J-50 that what I hear when I play it and what I hear come out of it when others play it are two vastly different things, tone wise...and for the better.
And, boy, I've seen you sell a lot of guitars since I began tuning in to the AGF so for you to say this guitar is the best is really saying something. That final thumpy tune you did would be hard put to have that flavor with just about anything else I've encountered besides a good Gibson. Tasty posting, thanks.

Toby Walker · #9 11-13-2014, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by riverrummed

Toby, that was a rockin' J-50 testimonial and testifies to the versatility of a Gibson slope shoulder dreadnought . I own a 2006 J-50 and every now and then I wish I had waited and gotten a J-45 but just about the time I feel that way someone comments on how great my guitar sounds and how much they like the look of "a natural finish J-45". I've found from having friends play my J-50 that what I hear when I play it and what I hear come out of it when others play it are two vastly different things, tone wise...and for the better.
And, boy, I've seen you sell a lot of guitars since I began tuning in to the AGF so for you to say this guitar is the best is really saying something. That final thumpy tune you did would be hard put to have that flavor with just about anything else I've encountered besides a good Gibson. Tasty posting, thanks.

Thanks.

Actually it was a friend of mine who told me that it was the best sounding guitar I own and he should know... he's heard just about every one I owned and sold.

Each guitar has it's own voice but I have to say that this J-50 sure is a winner.

riverrummed · #10 11-13-2014, 04:58 PM

What your friend said is what I was referring to about how much different it (and all guitars) sound from the perspective in front of the sound hole. Amplification, I think, doesn't get close to replicating the sound at that point about four or five feet straight out from the sound hole. Anyway, if my '06 sounds like your '56 when it's fifty-eight years old someone besides me, down the road, is in for a treat.

brencat · #11 11-13-2014, 05:05 PM

I love the sound of that Gibby! And of course your playing is awesome too

Rodger Knox · #12 11-13-2014, 05:13 PM

'56 Gibson J-50s, probably the best guitars ever made! (some of them, anyway)
I've loved mine for over 50 years, and it still doesn't need a reset.

Br1ck · #13 11-13-2014, 05:20 PM

Take care not to put any dings in that guitar.

Jim Owen · #14 11-13-2014, 05:22 PM

Hi Toby,
That's great news. Tis a very Jarma guitar!

It's true about the sound (at least in my experience); when a guitar's neck geometry is off kilter, the tone is different. Or perhaps when they play better, they sound better. One of my 000s got a reset, and I swear that it had never sounded as good as it did after the reset.

zombywoof · #15 11-13-2014, 05:50 PM

Funny but back when I stumbled across my basket case 1942 J-50 about the only thing it did not need was a neck reset.

Inky necks can really drive you crazy though. It is just one big Ahhhh feeling when you get it taken care.