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Is this guitar ruined? Cheap for a JS
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05-03-2024 04:19 PM
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To me it is completely ruined.
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That's bad.
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It's not a Johnny Smith anymore. I hope it served the owner well.
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I think people get too caught up in originality. Might work as a nice CES
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I was thinking of buying it and taking it apart for R&D but even at that price, I’m not interested.
Who would you sell it to at £4k?
I could buy a Guild Artists Award for that.
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A guitar like that has to be sold at a garage sale price. That means no risk and that price is mighty low I might add.
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X brace double cut. Those braces are put in there as an integrated part of a carved top, and it's a deadly compromise on intended design and structural integrity to rout a top like that...ESPECIALLY a top like that.
It's not snobbery to say it's wrong to cut the head off a dog and sew a cat's in its place when you always wanted a cat but your wife had the family dog. It's wrong and jeeze... why didn't they sell the JS and buy a L-5CES?
Maybe something seriously wrong was there before and this was a salvage job. Either way, somebody else's error. Keep it that way.
THat's my advice as a luthier.
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I don't know much about '70s JSs, and I don't remember ever seeing a JS with a volute. But the pics of this one seem to show one. Is it there and if so, can that be the original neck?
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I have played a 70's Johnny Smith with a volute.
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Structural integrity seems questionable to me at best! How can the top support both pickups? I wouldn’t chance it unless I was a luthier myself.
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Ow, my eyes!
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My L50 was in worse shape. I'd be interested in using that cut-up guitar for a project like this, but the price is still on the high side for me.
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Well the ad does mention "*(top X-brace cut through to mount replacement pickups, interior pedestal installed between top and back, tailpiece modified for 1/4" jack, mounting holes drilled next to bridge)"
Originally Posted by jads57
so essentially a "sound-post" or support block holding it together [or apart depending on your viewpoint I guess]
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I wouldn't have made these changes, but I have seen similar ones made by a competent luthier. Pete Moreno put a mounted pickup in a gorgeous Heritage that was x-braced. He was able to shim a small amount off the interiors of the braces for a good fit. The bracing was stable and the guitar sounded great, but it was not the same. Originally Posted by thelostboss
Many years ago I was gigging with a Howard Roberts Artist doing blues. I had a post put in because the feedback was menacing. The post was not glued in and could be popped out pretty easily, which in the end I did.
We can judge how we want. We don't know the motives of the owner at the time. He may have loved the neck but needed both mounted pickups. Maybe he played country or rockabilly. I'll bet the guitar is decent, but it is a monster.
Speaking of that, who wouldn't want to own this Les Paul?
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Those kinds of radical mods are things you do when you're in need of a very specific functional requirement. They're things you do because it's your guitar and it makes you happy-and you want it to make you happier. But these things don't often translate to a buyer that wants their guitar, unless it happens to be a freaky coincidence that you're after the exact same thing and can't find it otherwise.
More so when you've radically compromised the original intended design.
If it served the original owner well, I raise my glass to him. He made music. It made him happy. But to a future owner that will inherit someone else's afterthought repurposed guitar... well, let's just say there's got to be more than a bargain basement price before they can consider this a good match.
'got all sorts of mods I do because I intend to keep an instrument forever and it makes me a better player. But I know in doing them, I lost all hope of it being a viable candidate in a future re-sale.
In the fickle world of mystique and collectibility and the very refined market of custom made and custom tailored guitars (Campy, Wu, Yunzhei and others) and very affordable hand made offerings (Eastman), this guitar may have been loved for what it is, by the person that made it, but it's not a duck, even if someone tried to make it walk and quack like their idea of a duck.
Now if it had been modded by Wes, or Howard Roberts, or John McLaughlin to enable a vision of magic to be realized... maybe I might see it in a different light.
Gotta be a reason for going against good design. Gotta be a special hunger to inherit someone else's abomination.
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As SS pointed out, some 70 GJS had volutes. They actually did them both with and without. Most I’ve seen do not have them. Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
That said, that one doesn’t look like it has a volute to me. It looks there’s a seam line from an overlay on the back of the headstock though. The angled photo shows a glare that makes it look a little like a volute. I’ve personally never seen a voluted Gibson with a true, pointed stinger from the factory.
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The neck alone looks to have parts from at least three different guitars! Originally Posted by Marty Grass
I wouldn't have made these changes, but I have seen similar ones made by a competent luthier. Pete Moreno put a mounted pickup in a gorgeous Heritage that was x-braced. He was able to shim a small amount off the interiors of the braces for a good fit. The bracing was stable and the guitar sounded great, but it was not the same.
Many years ago I was gigging with a Howard Roberts Artist doing blues. I had a post put in because the feedback was menacing. The post was not glued in and could be popped out pretty easily, which in the end I did.
We can judge how we want. We don't know the motives of the owner at the time. He may have loved the neck but needed both mounted pickups. Maybe he played country or rockabilly. I'll bet the guitar is decent, but it is a monster.
Speaking of that, who wouldn't want to own this Les Paul?
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Can anyone post a pic of a Gibson Johnny Smith w a volute? like nshsi I can't recall ever seeing one.
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Pretty sure Joe Ds has one. @Max405 Originally Posted by wintermoon
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You are correct sir Originally Posted by skiboyny
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My 76 GJS has a volute, this one doesn't. My 1970 L5CES also doesn't have one, i think they came later in the decade. Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
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Sorry WM.
I love mine. Volute and all.
JD
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No sorry needed, glad you like it Joe, I just couldn't recall seeing one w a volute. Originally Posted by Max405
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