Description
Exc Condition / SN: 02552029
1-11/16″ width at nut / 12-Fret
1 of 1 Made / Handmade Custom
Pro Install Piezo P/U Under Saddle
This 2002 Gibson J-45 was the first ever 12-fret J-45 made by Gibson. It was custom ordered by a long-term employee at the Gibson factory in Bozeman, MT for his personal guitar. It has a generous “C” profile flame Maple neck, a tobacco sunburst Spruce top, and Mahogany back and sides. Great tone and playability.
The upper management in Gibson actively discouraged our friend from “opening a can of worms” by ordering the first J-45 with a 12-fret neck joint, to the point where they held up the completed guitar while deciding if they should let him buy it or to keep it in their archives until an appropriate time to let it out into the world.
Management kept it for about a year before finally releasing it to him!
Fast forward to current times and Gibson is now offering a J-45 12-fret model with slightly downplayed appointments, called the J-45 Century, with satin finish.
This guitar is quite opposite of these new production guitars… This guitar could be called “Prototype”, as it was the first 12-fret j-45 guitar ever made by Gibson!
The custom specs are great. Start with the neck, made of highly figured Maple. The 3 pieces of Maple have 2 Rosewood stringers between the Maple. The neck was hand-shaped perfectly. The beautiful Maple figure shows from the face of peghead and the back of the neck. The peghead features the Gibson banner “Only A Gibson Is Good Enough” decal in the center, with the “Gibson” decal above it. Truss rod access above the nut. Nickel tuners with white buttons. The generous three-piece flame Maple neck is in great shape. Rosewood fingerboard with large pearloid dot inlays and cream side dot position markers in the RW fingerboard.
The Spruce is in great shape with only minimal signs of player wear. Small tortoise pickguard, reverse style Rosewood bridge with ivoroid bridge pins. Cream binding on the top edge. The Mahogany back and sides are also in very nice shape with only minimal player wear.
This (1 of 1) 2002 Gibson J-45 12-Fret Custom is a fantastic guitar. The combo of a slightly chunky neck, 12-fret scale, and the narrower nut width makes this a very comfortable guitar to play. Comes with the original hard case.
