J-50 Back From The Dead

[Ridgegrass]

Our new bass player Dawn brought her late father's 1958 Gibson J-50,(Ser.# T3295 4), to me yesterday. She said it had been in the attic since he passed 30 years ago and it looked it. The strings were so corroded they literally broke apart when I tried to remove them. There are some cracks in the top that need to be cleated, no big deal. We cleaned her up and put a set of d'Addario, bronze, extra lights on to do some adjustments without stressing the top cracks too much.
That thing turns out to be an absolute canon! My '56 is a gun and this '58 is even better, big clear tone and great separation. Can't wait until it's repaired and we get some .012-.053 strings on it. She's going to explode! The best part was how Dawn's eyes lit up when she heard her Daddy's guitar, the one she learned on as a little girl, filling the air with sweet music again. Stay tuned. J.O'.

[Gtrclktr-351]

Old guitars deserve to be resurrected. Good looking axe that I'm sure she will enjoy having playable again.

[Ridgegrass]

No hype, might be one of the best guitars I've ever heard. Certainly in the top 5. She's a lucky lady for sure. O'.

[Ridgegrass]

Just picked up my friend's '58, J-50 from the shop. Holy cow! What an axe! Plays and sounds tremendous. The repairman put in 8 cleats for the top cracks, new bridge pins, a set of Elixirs, a set up, cleaned and polished for $153 !!! I hadn't used him before as I am extremely picky about repairing vintage instruments, but my friend and I took a chance and are very pleased. Here she is with her older, (1956) "Country Western" sister. Wow! Click the pic to stand them up. *=()%#*(_)^%#! computer!J.O'.