Gibson love welcome in here

[Goat Mick]

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

I am drooling at these Gibbys. Maybe someday I'll wise up and give up my infatuation with Taylor guitars and plump down some dough for a J-45.

They're all just different flavors and you need a variety. I love my Taylor 710 but it's a totally different beast than my J-45, and they're both totally different from any Martin I've owned. It's like ice cream, you gotta have some chocolate along with your butter pecan and rocky road. If I stayed completely with one brand, I wouldn't be able to enjoy such variety in great guitars.

[thingthatisdone]

Originally Posted by N+1

What do people think about the appearance of guitars like the hummingbird, dove, and sj200? - the flashy appointments, the fancy pickguards? I used to find them repulsive, but I find my attitude has changed after spending a morning with the Bob Dylan sj200, with its over-the-top twin pickguards.

I suppose the difference is that in the past I've mostly just looked. Getting to know a fancy Gibson, by holding it, and playing it for an extended period, is something else again, and seems to provide a set of rose-coloured spectacles. What once seemed ugly is veering over towards the beautiful. Or, if not beautiful, then ... celebratory, perhaps.

Rose-coloured spectacles is a good thought.
When I started playing in the mid 90s, an old friend of my moms gave me an authentic 60s hummingbird as my first guitar, and I thought it was a girl's guitar and tacky like something out of the partridge family. I traded it to my guitar teacher for his cool laminate-top. Fast forward twenty years, and I just bought a hummingbird a few months ago and the look grows on you. Now, whenever I look at my other guitars, they just seem kinda bland.

[Puerto Player]

Here's a pic's of my EC-20 next to the Emerald X20 Artisan. I need to take some pic's of my others.

[M.W.P.]

Yep, love mine. Only one I have.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by N+1

What do people think about the appearance of guitars like the hummingbird, dove, and sj200? - the flashy appointments, the fancy pickguards? I used to find them repulsive, but I find my attitude has changed after spending a morning with the Bob Dylan sj200, with its over-the-top twin pickguards.

Oh, no! You're showing all the symptoms of Stockholm Syndrome!! Held captivated by the sound and playability of the Bob Dylan Whacky Double Pickguard SJ-200, pretty soon you start thinking: "Maybe it doesn't look so ugly..."

It's a slippery slope, and the rest of us here need to help save you from yourself. Cue the buckets filled with ice water, we need to get his attention, guys, and make him snap out of it!

Originally Posted by N+1

I suppose the difference is that in the past I've mostly just looked. Getting to know a fancy Gibson, by holding it, and playing it for an extended period, is something else again, and seems to provide a set of rose-coloured spectacles. What once seemed ugly is veering over towards the beautiful. Or, if not beautiful, then ... celebratory, perhaps.

I think your phrase: "Or, if not beautiful, then ... celebratory, perhaps," is probably the best one sentence summation of the visual appeal of Gibson's more over-the-top models that I've ever read anywhere.

Seriously, that was very well put. Succinct and accurate.

As for myself, I like the looks of Gibson's less gaudy models, like the J-45 and the Advanced Jumbo that I own, but consider the Hummingbird to be garish and exhausting to the retinas in my eyes. I told a Gibson-loving buddy of mine that the Hummingbird reminds me of the aesthetics of a roadside shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe, and he got kinda p.o.'d!

To each their own...

Anyway, I don't want to interrupt your celebration with that Gibson Bob Dylan model, N+1, so you go ahead and get back to being festive with it. More power to you.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Pickcity]

Originally Posted by jpd

I believe ya! The L-130 I had was way above it's price point. Truly a fine Gibson

Yes it is. They are pretty uncommon, and beautiful, but not too fancy. Just a really great player's guitar. The neck is just fantastic. That's what originally sold me. I have found the bubinga back and sides along with the spruce top to be a very warm tone that has only gotten better in the 15 years I've owned it. It is not a boomer, but the woody sound is delightful. Great fingerstyle guitar too. I've played it live WAY more than any other acoustic guitar I own. It is my go to guitar. The J-15 I recently acquired may be a serious contender, though.

[N+1]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

It's a slippery slope, and the rest of us here need to help save you from yourself.

So ... do you think I should cancel my order for the Roy Rogers cowboy suit then?

[I wish I could continue the celebration but I only had a couple of hours with it. Remembering them makes me ache a bit.]

[pattste]

They're dead sounding, full of socks guitars with shoddy workmanship that people buy because of the name on the headstock.

[cmd612]

Originally Posted by pattste

They're dead sounding, full of socks guitars with shoddy workmanship that people buy because of the name on the headstock.

So, what exactly is a Northern Jumbo? I'm not familiar with that model at all.

[Looburst]

I own some Gibsons, I dig the Gibson sound when you can find a great one. This 1964 J45 and 1934 L-Century are fun guitars to play,,, for hours.

[guitar george]

Originally Posted by cmd612

So, what exactly is a Northern Jumbo? I'm not familiar with that model at all.

It must be one of those "dead sounding, full of socks" sounding models.

[Stomp]

Originally Posted by cmd612

So, what exactly is a Northern Jumbo? I'm not familiar with that model at all.

As far as I know, the Northern Jumbo was a limited edition guitar designed for Canadian dealer Long & McQuade, but I could be wrong.

[Cibby]

Originally Posted by Jackdaw9516

I regretfully sold an AJ, j-45 and j-100 in the past. All guitars looking back, sounded pretty amazing. After owning every brand from a-z, the Gibson tone and playability is really quite amazing.

Sure the braces might look like a beaver chewed them up, or the guy adding the glue was having a seizure mid application, but I've learned that's the charm with a gibson. Kind of like the philosophy behind Waterloos having glue marks and are kind of unrefined on the inside.

It's all about tone and playability. Sure there are modern sounding guitars with impeccable workmanship. And they are great and have their purpose. I'm bored with those guitars at this time in my life. Back to where I started with gibson and martins.

Cue "cool story bro"

Love my 2 month old J45 Standard Sunburst also my 1968 D28 which is back from a neck reset. Won't part with either!

[TBman]

There's a lot to be said about the Gibson tone. It took me a few months to decided between a J-45 and a J-15. I almost got the J-15 and I started out headstrong on the 45. I still hear the J-15 calling to me when go to GC . One day probably.

A Halcyon, Martin 000-15ms and a Taylor 312ce are also all in my nefarious plans for the future....

Here's my J-45. I like the no guard look...

[colder]

Jonesing hard for a J-45 right now, actually!