Vintage Guitar Artist Spotlight: Brad Barr and his '51 Gibson J-45

I love watching youtube videos and finding within them little vintage gems that somehow don't get mentioned in the comments.  This video was recorded by KEXP in Seattle at the 2012 Pickathon:

That is Brad Barr of the Barr Brothers playing a beautiful 1951 Gibson J-45.  I think that this is where the J-45 really shines.  The mid-range rumble is just about perfect for the singer-songwriter types.  

The fact that the guitar is a beautiful work of art and has played 62 years of wonderful music is what begs the songwriter to do what he or she does best.  I get that feeling when I play these old Gibsons.  I want to play that guitar just because of what is, how it looks and how it sounds.  I am a better guitar player because the instrument begs me to play it. 

From a GuitarInternational.com interview with Brad:

"I have a J-45 from 1951 that is the sweetest sounding acoustic.  It has a great midrange and a real growl...."

Maybe you have been there before when pen, paper, a bottle of whisky and 3 and a half hours produce nothing but balled up paper in a trash can.  You decide that your done writing tonight because its 1:30 in the morning you aren't really feeling it anyway.  You start playing your favorite chord progressions and licks just because that guitar feels and sounds so good.  After a minute or two you modify that chord progression a mumble a melody without any words.  The next thing you know you are belting out a strong chorus from your couch when you notice the sun peeking through your window.  You've just spent the whole night writing that song but you didn't realize it because it just had to come out.

I don't know if this has been Brad's experience but there is something about a big rumbly Gibson jumbo.  Here are some shots of my current J-45 lineup:

Oops, that J-50 just sneaked in there.  In order they are '46, '43, '54 and '55.  They are all so sweet and have their own special nuances.  They are certainly guitars worthy of staying up all night just to spend time with them.

TVG

The $200k Les Paul's little brother: 1960 Gibson Melody Maker

According to Gibson's website, the Melody Maker was the best selling guitar at the time.  It was cheap and looked cool too.  They produced them on the same line that made Les Pauls, ES-335s and J-200s.

The Melody Maker was a full scale guitar with trimmed down features. The body is solid Mahogany but is much thinner than a standard guitar at 1 3/8ths" thick.  It has only one single coil pickup made specifically for this model.  The neck is a full size standard neck except the headstock doesn't have the "wings" glued on the side like a standard Gibson.  

This guitar was owned by a blues player and you can tell!  He played and played it.  It has a nice aged patina but still fully playable and has all the original parts.  I bought this guitar and two others from the brother-in-law of the blues player.  The other guitars I bought from him were a 1964 Fender Duo-Sonic and a 1946 Gibson J-45.  They all have a distinctive wear mark where he put his arm and shoulder over the guitar.  This wear doesn't photograph well but this picture shows it the best.  

The guitar is all original but the case is clearly not.  It is from the late 60s/early 70s.  It fit the guitar well and protected it much better than the chipboard case that it probably came in.  That case is long gone.

 This guy must have been a hell of a player!  He played these things all the way through the finish on the neck.  It feels good- very good.  I guess he figured they needed to be broken in before they played well.  He may have been right!  Many people would pay big money to have their guitar "relic"ed like this.  Now I know why.

The neck retains the 50s style big full neck.  It has the standard width with just enough depth to feel full.  The is the same neck shape that would be on a Les Paul from the same year.  The fretboard is Rosewood but is flat-sawn instead of quarter (like would be on a Les Paul).  I've seen this one some J-45s from the late 50s as well (email guitar).

This simple layout includes a jack, tone, volume and pickup.  You could take all of the electronics out by removing the pickguard if the ground didn't go to the bridge post.  

Some have described the Melody Maker single coil as a cross between a P-90 and a Tele neck pickup.  I would say that it is closer to the Tele pickup but a bit darker.  

 Do you have one of these?  Send me a picture!

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1953 Gibson J-45 nicknamed the "Workhorse"

Introducing my favorite guitar ever made- the Gibson J-45.

This guitar came out of the Appalachian foothills of north Georgia.  It had been posted for months along with a 1936 Gibson L-00 and had not sold.  I snatched them both up as soon as I could get in contact with him.  Here is a shot of the L-00 (dorm room photo).

The first J-45s came out in 1942 when Gibson was producing only six models because of the war shortages.  It was a bare bones blues powerhouse that continues to be in production today with no end in sight.  The J-45 is one of Gibson's flagship models that is commonly referred to as "The Workhorse".  They were all made the Jumbo body size with X-bracing using hide glue to keep it all together.  During WWII, many substitutions were made including Maple backs and sides, Mahogany tops and the absence or presence of a truss rod.

This one features a Sitka Spruce top and Honduran Mahogany back, sides and neck.  Both the back and top are two piece, book matched quarter-sawn solid spruce an mahogany.  It has the pre-'55 style 19 fret neck, belly-up drop in saddle and finely scalloped tone bars.

But how does it sound??  With light strings, this one sings with rich, balanced lows and acutely defined highs.  The woody, Americana tone is undeniable when flatpicking chords or playing fingerstyle blues.  The action is medium to low with a little room on the saddle to come down.  The bridge pin holes have been lightly ramped to allow for good break angle over the saddle.

This example has all of the original parts (except for strings!).  The only repairs that done were a couple of reglued loose braces done by Jason Burns of Burns Instrument Repair at Homewood Musical Instrument Co. (Burns Banjos and Repair  Homewood Music).  Jason is an extremely talented open back banjo maker as well as a true-to-the-original repairman.  He used hide glue when regluing the braces.  Other than that, only simple set up work was required.  You can see that the plastic on the original Kluson tuners has gassed and shrunk over the years.  I should put new tuners on there but I really like the way the old ones look.  I am very very careful when tuning and luckily, it never needs much!

These are two pictures of the underside of the top of this guitar.  They show the two braces called "Tone Bars."  These braces have a huge influence on the tone and structural integrity of the guitar.  You may notice the tones bars are "scalloped."  This means they were shaped for strength in one way and tone in the other.  The beginning and end of the bars are tall while the middle is short.  This is where some would say we get in to the "religion" aspect of vintage instruments.  Many boutique luthiers and hand builders shave braces and tap tune their tops to focus the tone towards bass or treble response.  I'll let you be the judge on whether this has a big impact on tone.

One reason I like these old Gibson guitars is because they are very "lightly built."  This one is no exception.  What do I mean by lightly built?  Well, I guess it is a bit hard for me to explain.  It refers to the thinness of the braces and the overall weight of the materials used.  It would be better explained by holding an inspecting two guitars: one pre-1955 Gibson and one recent Epiphone Masterbilt.  Have you ever played a Masterbilt?  I love these guitars but they are heavy as lead!  They have big thick tops, backs and braces.  They are both built with all solid woods however they had two separate goals.  The former, to be the best sounding guitar possible with the materials, techniques and budgets that were available.  The latter, to avoid warrantee costs but also make a guitar out of all solid woods because that term sells guitars.  A lightly built guitar booms with vibrating resonance that you can feel in your gut when you strike an E chord.  A "tank" simply reflects the sound of the barely vibrating top off of the back and out the sound hole.  Maybe it would be better explained if we were sitting down with these two guitars and a glass of cool, straight Tennessee whisky.



Dating a vintage Gibson guitar can often be quite a process.  Someone that looks at these guitars a lot could notice a few indicators of what time period this one came from.  All years are model specific and should be taken with a grain of salt:




1.  Block "Gibson" Logo (1947-current).















2.  19 Fret neck, small "teardrop" pickguard and tall thin and scalloped tone bars (1942-1954)

3.  Upward belly, drop in saddle (1953-1955)










4.  Here's the kicker: the Factory Order Number and letter designation.  From 1952 to 1961 Gibson used the alphabet (backwards) to indicate what year the guitar was produced (only flattops, sometimes).  Why did they go backwards and randomly decide to quit in 1961?  Not sure.  Here is a breakdown of what it looks like through the years: (from the website Vintage Guitars Info)



1952= Z
1953= Y
1954= X
Etc. until 1961

Here are a couple more shots that highlight some cool aspects of this J-45:

Original Kluson keys have shrunk

Beautiful dark grain line in the Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard

This was before they stamped anything on the back of the headstock

There is some glare on the back.  Couldn't get a clear shot without some glare.

I have two more J-45s to blog about.  The '46 will be coming soon but the '43 is in Jason's shop and it may take a while.  Feel free to leave me some feedback or follow this blog for more cool guitars.


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