Quote:
Originally Posted by RalphH
Nice, range. Surprised to see the standard j-45 disappear. Nice to see non-customshop vintage models and much more affordable prices.
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I'm not entirely sure it's gone and even if it is technically the Slash J-45 is called the "Slash J-45 Standard" at least in some of their material, so maybe the modern Standard this year is the Slash edition.
Why would Gibson discontinue (their best selling acoustic) the J-45 Standard for 2020? Maybe a marketing strategy. With the J-45 Standard only available in the Slash edition for 2020 (a $700 premium for the Slash edition, no less) it forces J-45 customers to really look at all the J-45 incarnations available and not look to just one model in the lineup to be the Standard. I think this would be a smart move on Gibson's part. As implied in top post, I could see Gibson doing a new artist edition J-45 each year as the only J-45 Standard model for that year. If this is going to be their approach, it makes sense why they picked Slash, I'd expect next years artist edition (all hypothetical/speculative) to be another more contemporary artist associated with the Gibson brand. Or who knows, maybe they hop around and the J-45 Standard (without artist affiliation) returns some years and instead historic collection models like the 50's or 60's J-45 get released exclusively as a special artist edition for that year.
If this is where they are headed, it's innovative on the marketing front. Overall really like what James Curleigh is doing with Gibson. Also I think what he's doing with Epiphone is really cool. I think all but the AJ45ME got discontinued from 2019 Masterbuilt lineup. Inspired By Texan got upgrades and became an affordable Masterbuilt guitar in addition to the USA built Texan. The reissue of the Frontier and the Excellente all seem to be aimed at reminding people history of the brand and that there's more to Epiphone than entry level product and authorized Gibson copies. I think James is envisioning Epiphone as a first class brand, the USA Texan is testing the waters for what is hoped to be a small lineup of USA built acoustics and hopes to eventually have some big name artist playing those models and endorsing them.
https://www.epiphone.com/Guitars/Collection/masterbilt
I think these are bold moves, I think they could work and we could be seeing the beginnings of the rebirth of this once great brand (Gibson and Epiphone).
Back to the J-45 Standard- Gibson Montana created the "Standard" moniker in the J-45 Standard name and it wasn't until several years after the factory opened in the early 90s before the J-45 Standard was born. Don't have my copy of Gruhn's guide handy, but I believe it was 98-01 time frame. Even C.F. Martin has recently changed their Standard series models up a bit quite a bit. I consider the current (2019 J-45 Standard) the Ren Ferguson era J-45 because it hasn't really changed since he redesigned it (brought back scalloped bracing, Grover tuners, TUSQ saddle, etc...) and christened it J-45 Standard. If discontinued it will likely continue to be sought after on the second-hand market for decades to come, as all great retired models do.