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A sad, sad end to a noble guitar: a 1948 J-45. Not sure exactly how the accident happened. I did not want to press the owner about the circumstances since he is bummed out beyond belief. He left it with me for a bit so I could measure the components. I played it before the accident and it was a great guitar. The most strange detail is the clearly original bridge plate is spruce! The owner had to have the bridge plate capped with maple a few years ago (no wonder).

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Too sad Tom! That was a beautiful guitar and that top looks pretty darn nice! I could not have resisted, I would have had to ask what happened there. I can't see a repair possibility there but maybe the neck can be attached to a new body. What is your plan?

Shane

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Canada

That is making me sick to my stomach. What a shame.

I wonder if the top and neck could both be saved . that is a sad situation.

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I wonder if he is seeing a girl I once dated. Looks like her work for sure.

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My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

Shane, It is beyond repair so no plans on my part. You are correct that the top is very fine, vertical grain Sitka. The neck is still OK as is the bridge. I told him he could sell the neck on eBay and recoup some of the loss. He is still too shell shocked to know what to do with it.
Vintage Gibson J-45s are my favorite big-sized factory guitar. The owner knew of my enthusiasm for these guitars and left it with me for awhile to measure and record details. It is rough as a cob inside: saw marks on all the braces just as they came off the table saw while ripping the "knife edge" profile. Even the headblock looks like it was cross cut with a chain saw (not really, bit it is that rough). The quality and grain orientation of the spruce braces are haphazard. The sides were two random, non-bookmatched pieces, one vertical grain and the other pretty much flat sawn. In spite of the funky construction the guitar sounded great and it held together for nearly 70 years with no issues. The neck had never been reset and the action was very comfortable. I got the notion its demise was pure accident.

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Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

Oooff, quite an accident. Bummer!

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

looks to me like this guitar met the same fate of so many guitars played by The Who in the 60's. The axe was chopped into the floor.

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Greg
http://garibaldiinstruments.com/

a sad state, i have one from the same year, all unscalloped bracing though! Very dark, smoky and loud! Lovely modern feeling fast neck too. Salvage some parts and build him a new one?

I repaired a Martin once that the owner had backed over with his car. It had no where near this amount of damage. This J-45 might have been hit by a train. A drop to the floor shouldn't have been that destructive.

Goodness... That poor thing.

That guitar is not beyond repair.

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John

I've been rebuilding a J45 ('49 I think) just like it that came to me in a trash bag - not as bad of course. PM me if you want to get rid of the parts that are left - I could use em all.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

No guitar is ever beyond repair. It's whether or not the owner is willing to have it restored and if it makes financial sense (a lot of this depends on sentimental attachments). Missing wood can be patched in though a refinish is definitely required given its shape.... (no point trying to touch up a large area)

I get guys in Taiwan who will blame this on moisture....

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Absolutely right. Repairman Don Teeter once wrote about restoring a smashed to splinters Martin over several years. He did it just to see if he could. It didn't sound like new, but it played and sounded good - looked pretty decent, too.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I will say to make sure the owner has all the pieces no matter how small! It's frustrating to patch missing wood with new wood because it will never ever match up 100%

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I don't have the time or the inclination to rebuild this guitar. If any of you are interested shoot me a PM and I'll run it by the owner.

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Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

Are the missing wood still there? Restoring this guitar will require piecing everything together, means removing the back and the neck. I see large portions of the back is missing so if that wood is gone for good, then it is beyond repair because it would be easier to just replace the entire back.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I agree with John Arnold. Replacing a back or a side is commonly done, as is gluing top cracks and piecing in new wood, so why not do all those things on the same guitar? If the neck and blocks and bracing are good why not rebuild it? It would be nice to have the missing bit of the top, but making a new piece could be done if necessary.

Better loosen the strings.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

If it were mine,
I'd definitely repair it.
The top isn't bad where the bridge is,
and the bridge is still attached.
Go for it!!!!
Alan

Is this what results when sideports are installed via explosives?