NGD: Gibson J-45 modded

[Fireside_Guitar]

I’ve been on the hunt for a scalloped braced J-45 style guitar for a while now. As the guitar God works in mysterious ways this one just kinda landed in my lap at the local music store. It’s a 2023 Gibson J-45 standard with a few cool mods to hot rod it out.




The guitar was pretty banged up on the top, back and sides for a 2023 model and has a pretty massive stain on the inside lower bout side. This was not a guitar for a picky buyer(usually me) but dang it sounded so good. There was nothing structurally wrong just cosmetic.

I was originally looking to buy a Banner Custom Historic 45 or maybe a smaller builder like Kopp, Fairbanks Atkin etc. With the money I saved with this Gibson I figured I could splurge a little on some mods. I added a bone nut and saddle, Gotoh oval ivoroid tuners and had the bridge ramped. I removed the stock Baggs p/u and will add one of my choice. I’ll be adding a strap button and sourcing new pins soon.




Six decades later Gibson is still producing wonderful guitars


It’s a happy family

[abn556]

Congrats on the new J-45.

[SalFromChatham]

Just wonderful… and congrats!

What a trio….

[Mbroady]

Nice looking guitar. Congratulations

[Rickenbacker1]

You don’t like the Baggs ? I love that Baggs on my Epiphone

[Taylor007]

Congrats. Tell us about the tuner swap & what it consisted of in terms of labor.

Also, how does the J45 compare & contrast w/ your D18?

[zombywoof]

Cool. If there was a Mount Rushmore of six string acoustics there would be a Gibson J45/50, Martin D18, Harmony Sovereign H1260, and Guild F50R or perhaps a D55 up there looking down on us. But I am not exactly unbiased when it comes to Gibsons. Found my first one in a local shop some 50 years ago which was a 1955-59 LG1. While the LG1 ended up being claimed by my then girlfriend, do not shed a tear for me as I have five others keeping me company including a 1942 J50.

[LAPlayer]

Congratulations. A great J45 is a great guitar.

[Jim Owen]

That’s a happy family. Nothing beats a good slope.

[dilver]

Pulling the Baggs UST on the J45 Standard is a good move. I did the same thing and installed a snug fitting bone saddle - big difference. Congrats!

[Fireside_Guitar]

Originally Posted by Taylor007

Congrats. Tell us about the tuner swap & what it consisted of in terms of labor.

Also, how does the J45 compare & contrast w/ your D18?

I started the tuner swap myself but bailed quickly. The screw sizes are slightly different between the stock Rotomatics and replacement Gotohs. I tried to short without drilling a proper pilot hole and it didn’t work out as planned and knew better to proceed. I left the tuner install to the tech .
The J-45 standard and Martin D-18 aren’t worlds apart. They are both lush sounding with nice overtones and easy to play. The J-45 is not as loud as the 39 D-18A but unless doing some heavy flat picking both guitars are interchangeable for the songs I play. I could easily live with the J-45 standard if I could only have one guitar.

Originally Posted by zombywoof

Cool. If there was a Mount Rushmore of six string acoustics there would be a Gibson J45/50, Martin D18, Harmony Sovereign H1260, and Guild F50R or perhaps a D55 up there looking down on us. But I am not exactly unbiased when it comes to Gibsons. Found my first one in a local shop some 50 years ago which was a 1955-59 LG1. While the LG1 ended up being claimed by my then girlfriend, do not shed a tear for me as I have five others keeping me company including a 1942 J50.

Cool story that’s one old J-50 you have.

Originally Posted by LAPlayer

Congratulations. A great J45 is a great guitar.

Thanks they really are.

Originally Posted by Jim Owen

That’s a happy family. Nothing beats a good slope.

Agreed

Originally Posted by dilver

Pulling the Baggs UST on the J45 Standard is a good move. I did the same thing and installed a snug fitting bone saddle - big difference. Congrats!

It’s hard to tell if it made a difference as I made a number of changes that could affect the tone. Definitely wasn’t a minus

[Fireside_Guitar]

Originally Posted by abn556

Congrats on the new J-45.

Thx

Originally Posted by SalFromChatham

Just wonderful… and congrats!

What a trio….

Thanks Sal

Originally Posted by Mbroady

Nice looking guitar. Congratulations

Thanks appreciate it

Originally Posted by Rickenbacker1

You don’t like the Baggs ? I love that Baggs on my Epiphone

I don’t hate it but also don’t love it. I can always go back to it if I’m not satisfied with the new one

[Kh1967]

Congratulations to you!

[Taylor007]

By bridge ramp are you referring to slotting the pin holes for non-slotted pins?

[Fireside_Guitar]

Originally Posted by Taylor007

By bridge ramp are you referring to slotting the pin holes for non-slotted pins?

Yes, slotting the bridge for better string break angle on the saddle. I’m probably going to slot the bridge on the J-50 as well. The J-50 has almost no break angle at the saddle and the bridge itself is already a mod from the original adjustible saddle design so not messing with anything original.
Edit - If you look closely at the middle photo of the two Gibson’s you can see the big difference in the break angle of the strings at the saddle.