This guitar was built to the specs of the original 1934 Gibson Jumbo. The design predates that J-35. It was built by Aaron Cowles, a luthier who worked at the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo.
After Gibson moved to Nashville in 1984, Aaron opened his own shop called Aaron's Music Service, where he repaired instruments and built his own line of guitars and mandolins. Jubal was the name that he gave to his mandolins and flat top guitars. His archtop guitars were built with the name of Unity. Mr. Cowles passed away in late 2013 and the shop is now operated by his son, Steve. Steve believes his Dad made 40-45 of the Jumbos. American Folksinger Greg Brown reportedly owns two and Canadian Folksinger Garnet Rogers owns one.
Here is a video where Steve explains the story behind the guitar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq-C...ature=youtu.be
I believe Steve misspoke when he said the guitar is like a J-35. It really is like the original Jumbo because there is only a 1/4” taper from the end block to the neck block, which matches the original Jumbo specs.
I have the guitar in hand and it sounds much better (to my ears) than it does in the video, Steve's great playing notwithstanding.
This guitar is very clear, warm and resonant and I think the late Mr. Cowles did a great job of capturing the authentic sound of the original Gibson Jumbo design. The aforementioned 1/4" taper really makes the guitar project nicely. A light touch brings out quite a lot of sound. The back and sides are mahogany with a nice burst and the top is a natural top (which makes for a unique look) made of sitka spruce. Can't wait to gig with it!
