The Gibson J-45 is a dreadnought style
acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
manufactured by the
Gibson Guitar Corporation
Gibson Brands, Inc. (formerly Gibson Guitar Corporation) is an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and professional audio equipment from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and now based in Nashville, Tennessee. The company was forme ...
. It is generally regarded as Gibson's most famous and widely used acoustic guitar model.
The J-45 is part of Gibson's round-shoulder "jumbo" line, begun in 1934 with the Jumbo Flattop introduced to compete with
C.F. Martin & Company's
"D" line. It is noted for its sunburst finish, warm bass and good projection, and outstanding playability. The structurally similar naturally finished J-50 first appeared in 1942, but did not enter continuous production until 1947.
History
Introduced in 1942 to replace the inexpensive
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
-era flattop J-35, the J-45 standardized the company's approach to the dreadnought guitar. With a list price of $45, it nonetheless initially only varied slightly, with strengthened internal bracing and a new teardrop-shaped
pickguard
A pickguard (also known more correctly as scratchplate) is a piece of plastic or other (often laminated) material that is placed on the body of a guitar, mandolin or similar plucked string instrument. The main purpose of the pickguard is to pro ...
. A
headstock
A headstock or peghead is part of a guitar or similar stringed instruments such as a lute, mandolin, banjo, ukulele and others of the lute lineage. The main function of a headstock is to house the pegs or mechanism that holds the strings at the ...
decal
A decal (, , ) or transfer is a plastic, cloth, paper, or ceramic substrate that has printed on it a pattern or image that can be moved to another surface upon contact, usually with the aid of heat or water.
The word is short for ''decalcom ...
with the Gibson logo replaced both the old stark white
silkscreen
Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open me ...
ed 'Gibson' of the thirties and the slogan "Only a Gibson Is Good Enough." It also had a more rounded, "baseball bat" style neck, as opposed to the "V" shape of the J-35 neck. The version produced today is substantially similar to the 1942 model.
Cosmetically, the J-45 was understated, intended as a durable no-frills "workhorse guitar" (its nickname given by the manufacturer). Although a few triple-bound top types were initially produced, the standard single binding was simple,
soundhole
A sound hole is an opening in the body of a stringed musical instrument, usually the upper sound board.
Sound holes have different shapes:
* round in flat-top guitars and traditional bowl-back mandolins;
* F-holes in instruments from the vio ...
ring austere, and neck only sported modest dot-shaped
mother of pearl
Nacre ( , ), also known as mother of pearl, is an organicinorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer; it is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent.
Nacre is ...
fretboard
position marker
Inlay on guitars or similar fretted instruments are decorative materials set into the wooden surface of the instrument using standard inlay techniques. Although inlay can be done on any part of a guitar, it is most commonly found on the fretboar ...
s. Gibson used a
sunburst finish to cover up imperfections in the wood joins. The top was solid
spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...
, the back and sides solid
mahogany
Mahogany is a straight-grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Unive ...
. Over time the sunburst has become iconic, with collectors preferring the J-45 to the higher-end J-50s of the same era. Apart from a small batch of natural-finish J-45s produced in 1942, the model was offered only in sunburst.
1969 Gibson J-45
Starting in 1968 Gibson made J-45's as square-shouldered dreadnaught-shaped guitars with a longer scale (25.5"), similar to the Gibson Dove. Serial numbers tell us that during '68 and '69 both slope-shouldered and square-shouldered J-45's were made before the model changeover was complete. In the '70's the J-45 was re-labeled as the J-45 Deluxe. A short run of slope-shouldered J-45 Celebrity models were made in 1984. By the late '90's the slope-shouldered body style returned for good.
Gibson J-50
The J-50 guitars is essentially a natural-finish J-45, with a triple rather than single-bound top and other minor differences in trim. Gibson produced a handful in 1942 using high quality wood laid up before
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
-induced shortages took hold. By 1947 supplies had resumed, resulting in the model's official introduction. There are mid-1960s J45 guitars with a natural finish and adjustable bridges and this can be checked by the stamp on the back seam brace.
Notable players of the J-45
*
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Phoebe Bridgers
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*
Greg Brown
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Brandi Carlile
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Hayes Carll
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Peter Doherty
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Donovan
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Bob Dylan
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Steve Forbert
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Ben Gibbard
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Sheryl Crow
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David Gilmour
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Woody Guthrie
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John Hammond
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John Hiatt
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Lightnin' Hopkins
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Mississippi John Hurt
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*
Eric Idle
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")
*
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*
Skip James
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*
Miles Kane
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Eitan Katz*
Gary Kemp
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Amythyst Kiah
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Jake Kiszka
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Leo Kottke
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*
Leiva
*
John Lennon
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(composed songs in India on Donovan's J-45)
*
Aaron Lewis
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Gary Lucas
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Post Malone
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Aimee Mann
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James Mercer
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Vetusta Morla
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Graham Nash
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Passenger
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*
Jonas Gavriil
*
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(used in some of his movies)
*
John Renbourn
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Mike Rosenberg
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Joey Ryan
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Jay Semko
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James Taylor
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Dave Van Ronk
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Mirel Wagner
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Paul Weller
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Lucinda Williams
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Darius Rucker
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Jackson Browne
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Chris Sperlich
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Notable players of the J-50
*
Jorma Kaukonen
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*
James Taylor
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Notes
*
References
External links
*
J-45 at Vintage Guitars websiteGibson J-45 on Fretbase- includes specs, photos and videos
{{Gibson Guitar Corporation
1942 in music
Products introduced in 1942
J45