Garrison Guitars

[SimonFL]

Does anyone know what kind of wood Garrison used for the back and sides of the G4-CE model? I haven't been able to find much info by googling it. I found one review that said it was sapele and one that said it was birch. Its a great guitar and its gotten better and better as its aged.

Here are some photos of the guitar:




Thanks for any info and if you have a Garrison posts some photos of it.

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[$ongWriter]

My son has one...it sounds great!!...Gibson bought them and shut them down...

[wade63]

Nicest looking Garrison I've seen and that does look like sapele to me. The uniqueness of Garrison as you might know was the fiberglass bracing. Love the wood inlay around the sound hole.

[davenumber2]

Looks like sapele to me.

[Halcyon/Tinker]

Me too. Rather confident of that in fact. Though it could be a Sapele/birch ply which would be hard to tell from outside.

[Wade Hampton]

This guitar appears to be sapele:

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Here's a countertop made of sapele:

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Birch looks much more like maple, only plainer:

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The guitar you have is sapele. I've also seen birch guitars, including some Garrisons, and they don't look like yours.

Here's one:

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Here's another:

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Birch guitars often have the wood dyed darker colors, but the grain pattern on yours is all wrong for birch and well within the normal parameters for sapele.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

[MissouriPicker]

I've got a G40ce. Bought it new some 15 years ago. The back and sides are sapele. It's one of the sweetest and playable guitars I've every owned/played. Hated to see Garrison go. I think Gibson just wanted the machinery in Garrison's plant........Nice, nice guitars.

[Dru Edwards]

I have a Garrison that has a stained solid birch back. I didn't realize Garrison made acoustics with sapele but that does look like sapele.

[Earl49]

Being an engineer, I instantly appreciated the cleverness of the pre-molded fiberglass bracing system. Now I kinda wish I had bought one of the Garrisons before they disappeared from the market. They were nice acoustic guitars at a fair price.

Prior to this thread I had no idea that Gibson bought them out and shut down the brand. That dates back to before I got into guitar forums. A shame really, but this sort of thing happens all the time -- buy the competition instead of beating them outright in the market.

[SimonFL]

Thanks for the help. Its a great guitar. I've recently been playing around with tuning it to dadgad and it sounds really good on this guitar. It really is too bad they aren't being made anymore.

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[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by Earl49

Being an engineer, I instantly appreciated the cleverness of the pre-molded fiberglass bracing system. Now I kinda wish I had bought one of the Garrisons before they disappeared from the market. They were nice acoustic guitars at a fair price.

Prior to this thread I had no idea that Gibson bought them out and shut down the brand. That dates back to before I got into guitar forums. A shame really, but this sort of thing happens all the time -- buy the competition instead of beating them outright in the market.

It is a shame that Gibson shut them down. They kept the factory going for about 1 year after the acquisition and actually made some Gibson acoustics out of the Newfoundland factory. I believe it was the Songmaker model. You don't see too many "Made in Canada" Gibsons but they're out there.

[guit3090]

That birch is pretty. The sapele is nice too.

[jazzd]

Originally Posted by Halcyon/Tinker

Me too. Rather confident of that in fact. Though it could be a Sapele/birch ply which would be hard to tell from outside.

Outer layer is absolutely (99% sure) sapele.

If not all-solid, *possible that birch or even balsa were used as core plies...