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Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
1944 Gibson J-55
This J-55 was made in 1944 and was owned by a Canadian Country Legend. You have seen this guitar on TV hundreds of times. It was completely totaled off and was not playable. The headstock was cracked and you could see light through it. The neck joint had been done previously and had let go. The neck was warped. The angle of the neck into the body of the guitar was in the wrong direction. When I got the neck off I was surprised to find out how bad it really was. The previous luthier just cut off a major hunk off of it. Multiple cracks in the surface and of course the frets needed to be replaced. Add a fret board plane, new hand carved bone nut and bridge just for good measure. The cool thing about a J-55 is there are no braces glued onto the back of the guitar. The entire back has a convex curve on it similar to a Ovation. That alone really increases the resonance.
Before
Neck Reset
The last luthier just cut off the heal of the joint and added side shims. My guess is they did not know how to get the neck off properly and broke it.
Body side of the neck joint.
I have cleaned the old glue off at this point and glued it back together. The top plate is OK.
Neck is severely warped.
I will steam and then reset this fretboard to the neck before I plane it.
Fretboard
This thing needs some love.
Cracks and wear
Top plate and the binding needed to be repaired and finished.
Top Plate braces.
The braces on the inside of the guitar had also come off.
Top Plate braces
This gives you a idea how far the top plate is off of the brace. Lots of steam required to get it to take the original form. Not too much thought, you will wreck the nitro finish.
Bone blank before I cut into it.
This is what I start out with. The nut slot is cut and is perfectly flat. This way the bone nut has 100% contact to the wood for maximum resonance.
Nut installed
Super tight. You cannot pull that off with your fingers.
New bridge blank
The bottom of the saddle slot has been dressed to be perfectly flat for maximum bone to bridge saddle contact.
Bridge installed.
Ready to be strung and the action set.
Badge of honor.
At this time the Gibson Kalamazoo plant had over 200 women working for them. The were called the Kalamazoo Gals and their craftsmanship is some of the very best Gibson ever had.
1944 Gibson J-55
Headstock
If you look closely you can see where I have repaired the headstock. It was extremally hard not to disturb the already cracked finish. Worked out really well.
1944 Gibson J-55
Neck Plane
Flat as flat gets. Now I have to radius the fret board.
1944 Gibson J-55
Neck Angle
Neck joint has been adjusted and the neck angle is correct.
1944 Gibson J-55
Neck Joint
This is as tight as tight gets. You cannot tell that I have been in here. Neck is glued back on and ready for frets.
1944 Gibson J-55
Installing the frets
Almost done. The fret wire is hand rolled to match the exact radius of the neck.
1944 Gibson J-55
Done
Rsm Butter Finger. They feel like they never came off. The neck joint and fret board look like they belong to the rest of the instrument. Seamless.
enjoy the show
1944 Gibson J-55
It was my honor to work on a Canadian Legend. This instrument was really beat up but came back to life in a big way. The tone of this guitar is not your standard acoustic. The convex back design with no ribs really adds to the resonance quality. These guitars are extremely rare. Having no braces on the back plate meant they were fragile and I don't have any stories of any cowboys being very frail and delicate.