70s J-45 Questions

[gtrplyr]

I've come across a '72-74 J-45 w/adjustable bridge and Schaller tuners. I'm going to go play it tomorrow to see how it sounds and find out what kind of shape its in.

Any pointers on what I should look for? Also what would be considered a fair price for this guitar?

[hank]

These guitars tend to be all over the place on quality. I owned a '76 that was really very nice, yet it was uninspiring to me.

Price? Yikes, I wouldn't pay over $650 for one, yet I might be WAY off on this.

[gtrplyr]

That helps a lot Hank! I know the 70s Gibsons can be spotty so I was concerned about that right off the bat. I did some more homework and found a post on Usenet that claimed BluBook on these 68-80s J-45s was from $450-$700 so your $650 falls right in line.

The seller is asking $850 so that figure may be optimistic on their part. I'll see if he's firm or not and see if the guitar even has a dcent sound to begin with.

[hank]

My rule of thumb on these is that Gibson acoustics of that era sell for about 1/2 to 2/3 of a Martin D-18 of the same era.

Good luck!

[gtrplyr]

Apparently the guitar already sold for the $850 asking price. I don't feel that bad that I let it get away from me as I had reservations about a 70s model.

Martin's are more what I had in mind anyway when looking for a used guitar. I prefer the thinner neck profile on the Martins. Oh well, back to the drawing board.