[zombywoof]

Rev. Davis is, of course, linked with that 1942 natural SJ-200 he called "Miss Gibson." When asked why he played it he said "so they can hear me in the back of the church." I know he owned a 1950s Martin 000-18 but am not sure about a dread. He also owned a couple of 12 string guitars which I think he liked because he found them easier to play as he got older. In his later sessions, Rev. Davis pretty much played new guitars - including another J-200 with a tune-o-matic bridge on it.

The "Southerner Jumbo" (not "Southern Jumbo") is the SJ not the SJ-200.

I have always heard the SJ stood for "Super Jumbo" -if not than Gibson would have had two very different guitars with the same name up to the mid-1950s.

Possibly no guitar in the old Gibson catalogs has been through more structural changes that the SJ/J-200. They were always considered a custom guitar and made in relatively small numbers. The tone bars were hand tuned for each individual instrument. Gibson thought so much of this guitar they stopped production during WWII because they did not want to make it with inferior or substitute materials.

I have only owned two - both made under Ted McCarty and have never held a guitar with a more peanut butter smooth response. Mine (both maple body, double X braced models) exhibited a thumping bass that decayed more like an archtop that a flattop. Full tilt saturated mids with a high end that is crisp but not what you would call bright. Very warm sounding with a real crackling edge.

Only downside - not the easiest guitar to play sitting back in a big old easy chair.