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About This Listing
This is a beautiful Banner Headstock 1943 Gibson j45. If u know about guitars they don't get any more iconic and awesome as these guitars. I have owned this guitar for about 20 years. It has been played. it has seen a lot but is still in great condition. and sounds awesome! every gig i ever play people ask me about it and say "wow, it sounds awesome"...plugged in or not...It has many cracks that have all been professionally fixed within the last year and a half (with the exception of one small crack that needs attention but is minimal. no truss rod, so it has a "louisville slugger" of a neck which feels great. everything else is original. Modern hardshell case.
It currently has a two pickup system in place. LR bags M1 passive in the sound hole and LR bags i beam active under the saddle...they are mixed on an endpin. there is also a strap pin front and back. I can sell it with or without. just add $200 if u want the electronics. otherwise i will remove them for you and you would have to put a new endpin in.
other than that there's not much to know but that it's a solid workhorse that has been around the block but still plays and performs great. This is basically the original of what Gibson Re-issued as the True Vintage or Legend J-45 Deep Rich low end that i have never heard or felt in any other guitar. Very Rare and hard to find.
Wartime production occasionally meant material shortages; while the standard J-45 has mahogany back, sides, and neck, Gibson had to replace some mahogany parts with laminated maple ones. Banner logo J-45s can be found with maple back and sides as well as maple necks. Some others were made with mahogany tops rather than spruce. Spruce shortages meant that some came out of the factory without bookmatched tops, and others came out with four-piece tops rather than the standard two.
Beginning in 1943, some J-45s were made with a black "skunk stripe" painted down the top. It's speculated that these stripes were either used to hide poor bookmatching due to spruce shortages, while others feel it's simply decorative.
In order to save metal for the war effort, some J-45 runs were produced with an ebony reinforcement bar rather than a standard truss rod. This can have an effect on the stability of the neck, and also means that the neck tension is not adjustable.
