All three decades of the Gibson Johnny Smith

[Stringswinger]

Here is the back of my 1963 ES 175:

[helios]

Irrespective of shade or color, I prefer a "graduated burst" to a "night & day" burst:

[ThatRhythmMan]

This feels very "guitar pick" to me and this was made by Gibson in 1936.

[Greentone]

TRM,

I know what you mean, but I think that is actually graduated in comparison to the second photo above it. The first photo that Helios shows is absolutely gorgeous and expertly done, IMO.

[JazzNote]

TRM,
The first photo that Helios shows is absolutely gorgeous and expertly done, IMO.

Yes, a sunburst can't get any nicer than that in my opinion too!

[Ol' Fret]

Other than a probable refin, the guitar appears to me exactly as advertised. I don't think it's a Legrand - the back is way too plain. I bet it sounds great. I still remember playing a great JS years ago that had a CC installed. It was so well done, it may have been a factory special order. This one is clearly the result of some mad science, IMO.

Hey, if anyone wants to restore it, I'd be happy to supply a JS top!

Hammertone, you know I am shocked every time when I get a picture of a hand-made acoustic archtop with such rough_and_ready tonebars plonked in front of myself! And in such cases it (almost) doesn't matter to me whether those bars are longitudinally positioned or X-braced.

Among other things, the time-consuming manual elaboration of the top bracing of a guitar, IMO, shows what kind of person the guitar maker is or was. In contrast to a flat-top steel string, where the absolute weight of the bracing in relation to the top weight can be quite critical, the shape and elaboration of the bracing on an archtop is more defined by structural considerations - but not exclusively!
So the maximal tallness in relation to the length and width of the bars, the cross-section (somehow crowned) and the running out at the ends do matter. All these factors are supposed to vary (and definitely do with experienced makers - if you check!), depending on the actual guitar design, the arching, the plate graduation, and especially the particular pieces of wood.