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Old Gibson gets new life

Strings Jr.

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 17, 2016
Messages
670
By the time my Dad started high school, he was a veteran of playing live music. In high school, he met new people that played, and they all became friends. One of the guys, the singer, became life-long, best friends with my Dad and our family. His name was Ray Melton. Ray passed away about a year ago, and his widow contacted me about helping her sell his guitar. I met her to pick it up, and it was an old Gibson acoustic. She had no idea what model it was, she just knew that he was the original owner. There’s a FON stamped inside on the neck heel that reads Y6614 13. From what I can tell, it was made in 1953. I’m not sure of the model, but my best guess is an LG-0. Someone please correct me if it’s not.

I had forgotten, but Ray’s wife reminded me. Sometime shortly before my Dad retired from Gibson, he took Ray’s guitar to the plant and had it “re-furbished”. I don’t know the full extent of the repairs, but I can tell it has a new set of Kluson tuners, a new TRC, and a fresh dose of nitro. It also appears the peghead face was repainted, a new decal applied, and a new nut installed. A couple of the braces look like they were re-glued also. A few battle scars are visible in the wood, but with the new nitro, it’s as smooth as new. The folks at Gibson did an incredible job with this guitar. It’s apparent the guitar saw lots of use by the divots in the fingerboard, and the wood missing around the sound hole. The last pic below is from my Dad’s 1955 high school Annual. You can see Ray in the center with his guitar. My Dad is playing his upright bass (which I’m currently trying to locate).

It is amazing to me the volume and just plain pureness of the sound from this guitar. One of my bandmates came over, saw it, played it, and bought it. It also came with a new, plush lined, hardshell case. I think he got a great deal at $800.











 

jb_abides

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Messages
5,276
You can really see the top wood variation in the band photo. Really cool git and a good news story, glad it will keep thumping' away!
 

Triplet

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 13, 2006
Messages
1,675
I went pricing upright bases not long ago and OMG!!!!!!!!! Now there's a boat I missed...
 

El Gringo

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Joined
Apr 8, 2015
Messages
5,657
Awesome story and guitar . You know I could read your stories forever as they are so awesome from my favorite Guitar maker .
 

garywright

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 17, 2002
Messages
15,586
Ray passed away about a year ago, and his widow contacted me about helping her sell his guitar. I met her to pick it up, and it was an old Gibson acoustic. She had no idea what model it was, she just knew that he was the original owner.I think he got a great deal at $800.
didn’t you tell the widow to accept $800 beings she asked for your help ?
 
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