Very good condition featuring square shouldered dreadnought body, solid Sitka spruce top with tobacco sunburst finish, solid mahogany back and sides, multi bound tortoiseshell grain and white top edges and single bound tortoiseshell grain back edges, decorative soundhole rosette, elongated tortoiseshell grain pickguard, rosewood belly bridge with original rosewood bridge pins and bone saddle, three piece mahogany neck, Indian rosewood fingerboard with mother of pearl dot inlays starting at the third fret, bone nut, enlarged Gibson open book peghead shape, black peghead face with Gibson gold block logo, single ply bell shaped truss rod cover, three per side Kluson Gibson Deluxe tuning machines with metal tulip buttons, serial number and Made in USA impressed into the back of the peghead, professionally installed LR Baggs pickup with endpin jack and black Guild hard shell case.
This 1974 Gibson J-45 Deluxe is in very good to excellent vintage cosmetic condition. There are some signs of play wear throughout including a few pick scratches here and there and a couple of dings (see photos). There is a pickguard crack at the soundhole which is very common for these guitars to have due to pickguard shrinkage (see photos). The neck profile is very comfortable and features a 1 11/16" nut width. The action on this guitar is very low and very easy to play. This J-45 has been set up and plays fantastic up and down the fingerboard. The frets show some signs of use but have plenty of life left in them. The saddle is on the low side but still has plenty of height and could be either cut down or raised if desired. This J-45 has an LR Baggs pickup system installed and it sounds great plugged in. The acoustic tone of this instrument is very warm, dry and thumpy with plenty of volume and articulation. It's a very balanced sounding acoustic guitar with strong lows and great mids and highs. I believe this guitar will record like a dream.
Gibson J-45 Deluxe guitars from this period typically have bad body binding issues. When the binding begins to rot and deteriorate, it puts off a gas and the binding eventually crumbles off especially when left in a case for years. This can be an extremely costly repair. This J-45 is in the very early stages of this showing some mild signs of binding deterioration (see photos). It's certainly not anywhere near as bad as most that I’ve seen but it needs to be mentioned. If you're searching for a vintage Gibson flat top for live use or for in the studio, this is a tremendous sounding and playing guitar that will surely become a favorite for years to come.
