Vintage Guitars

Gibson Explorer Guitar (1958 - 1963)  History Of Explorer Guitar Models The Gibson Explorer was on the market in 1958, the guitar was designed to look futuristic, it had a symmetrical shaped solid korina wood body, 22 fret unbound rosewood fingerboard, two hum buckers, ink stamped serial numbers, gold plated metal parts, 4 ply white plastic pick guard and were made in natural finish.  In 1958 the Gibson Explorer met with little success, due to the low demand Gibson ended production in 1959, however they still sold overstocked korina explorer bodies during the early 60's until 1963 with nickel plated parts.  Records show under 25 guitars were sold during 1958 and 59. Explorer - Korina, Mahogany & Alder Body  (1975 to 1989)  From 1975 to 1982 Gibson reissued several explorer guitars that had mahogany bodies, two hum buckers, gold plated hardware, pearl logos, white pick guards and were in natural, white or black finishes.  In 1976 a special limited edition of Explorer's were

We all know that when dealing with high priced guitars new or used, old or vintage, it can be a dirty market, if you don't know much about guitars you can easily get burnt. I learned the hard way, 20 years ago I decided to collect only Gibson guitars and as you can see I'm a big fan. I also worked in music stores, Ive seen the good the bad and the ugly, there are many dishonest collectors who take advantage of naive musicians who are not to familiar with the vintage market, and as for new guitars its even worst. Some salesmen in music stores love when they know you have no knowledge of guitars because they can push you the junk that has been sitting in their store for years for higher commissions.  Here are some great Gibson guitar books that I can recommend with my outmost confidence because i've actually read them. If you are a Gibson lover and you want to educate yourself these guitar books pretty much cover everything.  You'll be able to buy or sell new, or vintage

Gibson Les Paul Model (1952-1958)  (Also Known As The Gibson Les Paul GoldTop) Gibson Les Paul Gold Top guitars were introduced In 1952, they were Gibsons' first Les Paul models and solid body electric guitars, these guitars were named the "Les Paul Model" but they are better known as "Les Paul Goldtop" due to the Gold Top finish. All guitars that bear the legendary name "Les Paul" began with this guitar, it was the first Les Paul Model. Although the Gibson Les Paul model guitars are highly collectable and is a significant part Gibsons' Les Paul history, in 1952 to 53 they had an intonation problem due to the trapeze tailpiece (strings wrapped under the bar) this made it difficult to keep the guitar in tune.  In other words the guitar can be well cherished by collectors and is an historic Gibson guitar but not very playable for the guitarist. However, in mid 1953 Gibson replaced the trapeze tailpiece with a stop tailpiece (the strings wrapped ove

Gibson Les Paul Standard Guitars (1958 - Present) In 1952 Gibson introduced the first Gibson Les Paul model which were and are better known as Gibson Les Paul Gold Top Guitars due to the gold top finish. In mid 1958 Gibson replaced the gold top finish with a sunburst finish with the grain of the maple top visible until 1960 and renamed it the Gibson Les Paul standard sunburst. (59 models had a thick style neck, the 60's models had a thinner neck) 

Gibson SG les Paul Standard (1961-1963) In 1960 to 1963 Gibson changed the body of the Gibson Les Paul Standard to an SG type body with 2 symmetrical pointed horns (cutaways), they had thinner necks and were called the Gibson SG Les Paul standard models.  Some prototypes were made in late 1960 with "Les Paul model" on the peg head, but they were officially produced and sold in 1961 at a list price of $310 with crown peg head inlays, the guitar had 2 hum buckers (PAF) , had a Les Paul logo on the truss rod cover, side -pull vibrato , mahogany body, cherry red finish, pick guards was small and black ( covering about 1/5 of the body ) and had trapezoid inlay blocks on the fingerboard. In 1962 some models had inlaid ebony blocks on the tailpiece. In Late 1963 they had Gibson maestro vibrolas (lyre-style covers), Gibson took out the Les Paul logo on the truss rod, made the necks a little larger (better built) and renamed the guitar the: Gibson SG Standard ( 1963-present ) B

Gibson J-45 Guitar (1942-2021) When guitar players think of Gibson electric guitars automatically Gibson Les Paul guitars come to mind, because it became a Gibson trademark, just like Fender Stratocasters and Telecasters. When people think of Gibson acoustic guitars its the Gibson J-45 that seems to stand out.  When the Gibson J-35 jumbo discontinued in late 1942, it was replaced by the Gibson J45 . There was not much difference between the 2 guitars accept for the pick guard, fancier Gibson logos in gold and minor changes to the peg heads. Both guitars sound awesome warm fat tone however, the gibson j-45 became a huge success because they were not expensive and they sounded really good, that explains why they are still in production 'til this day. In 1942 the Gibson J-45 were dreadnought flat top guitars, made with mahogany wood (back and sides), they had a teardrop fire-stripe pick guard unlike the J-35 which had a pick guard that followed the body contours.  The J45 had r

Gibson Melody Maker (1959-1971) Solidbody Electric Guitar   In the late 50s Gibson had plans to manufacture a solid body electric guitar solely for beginners and students, a guitar that was plain, simple and everyone could of afford. This led to the introduction of the Gibson melody maker in 1959 which were produced in large numbers due to their cheap cost.  If you were around during that time it was probably the first guitar you owned. In 1959 the Gibson melody maker had a single round cutaway very similar to the Les Paul Junior but the body was slightly thinner. It had a slab body that was 1 3/8" thick, was fitted with a  7/8" single coil oblong pickup with a black cover placed close to the tailpiece bar, knobs were on on pick guard, fingerboards had dot inlays available in a dark sunburst finish. Melody maker 3/4 size short scale versions were also available.  In 1960 the pickups got a little smaller and were narrowed to 5/8", 2 pickup versions were available shor