Meet the “Road Warrior”. This is a J-45 Deluxe from between 1970-1975. I havent been able to date it precisely, but it definitely came from the Kalamazoo factory. The guitar has had a wild life, I wish I knew its full story. The top is cracked and was glued back. The frets appear original but are almost sanded flat. The neck has definitely been reset. So has the bridge, and the pickguard. The binding around the body and sound hole are deformed.

But somehow, SOME WAY, the headstock was never broken off. Unbelievably, there arent any dead frets. The truss rod works. The guitar holds a tune in Eb standard with 10-47 strings. The intonation is sufficient enough to produce an accurate harmonic over the 12th fret. At some point a K and K pickup was added. All that to say, it plays incredibly well for the condition. If you like relics, they don’t get much more authentic than this.