Guitarists, check out this old box

An older fella at my church mentioned he has an old Gibson, I told him I'd love to see it sometime. Turns out, it's a 1936 Gibson J35. I was completely blown away by it, the volume and depth of tone was unlike any guitar I've ever played.

Nice.

Would love to play it.

Dang.

The only thing it really needs is a bridge reset, showing a very small gap on one end. There is a bit of "belly" behind the bridge, but it isn't affecting intonation very much, if at all. The neck is straight, and dead-flat. It hasn't been restrung in over ten years, and still sounds amazing.

Some belly behind the bridge due to age is common and could/should be expected for that age, particularly in the Gulf South's high humidity. If action and intonation aren't significantly affected, no big deal, let it ride.

On the bridge gap, I wouldn't necessarily reset it for one small end gap on a bridge ear - it's the back length of the bridge where the cause for concern exists. Tell your buddy to just keep an eye on it and if the gap starts spreading, particularly to the back of the bridge, that's when you pursue the reset. A tech/luthier who knows what they're doing should be able to not only save the bridge and saddle but also preserve the footprint and finish around it, aka invisible repair.

Really, REALLY cool piece, I'm green with envy!

If I have it right (?) Gibson made a series of mistakes with their acoustics staring in late 50's that hampered not only sales but sound. Still isn't there a big difference between pre-war and 50's models of anything?

Nice looking guitar, you buying or just enjoying?

Would be interesting to look inside at the bridge plate, like Mister.Fretshack said it might be nothing, but a light and mirror look around inside might be worth the time.

You are correct. World War II put an incredible demand and subsequent heavy harvesting on Adirondack spruce, which was used for aircraft parts like propellers. It was the top of choice by Martin prior to the war. Sitka spruce is more common today. Not bad but not the same. On that note, Brazilian rosewood (sides, back, fingerboard) is in the same category as ivory and can only be re-purposed, not harvested, so it is also not as obtainable as it used to be. Then you mix in old-growth woods from the mid 20th Century versus new growth wood that is prominent today, mix in changes in design and construction techniques over the decades, and oh yeah, the idea that those pre-war guitars are all over 70 years old and have well seasoned, stabilized and crystalized cell structures ... there are simply A LOT of individual and complimentary contributing factors. And you can't ignore the hype and marketing of "pre-war" just like you can't ignore "pre-CBS" as it pertains to Fender, "McCarty-era" as it pertains to Gibson, etc. It's Marketing 101.

The Strawberry Pickers with Big Jim Folsom.

This guy also has a 1962 Gretsch Tennessean. He told me Sunday we'll get together at his house soon and play all his old guitars.
I'll definitely take pics.