Gibson J-185 Limited Edition Custom Quilt 2015

[Groberts]

I have been searching for a good acoustic with built-in PU system for my plugged in gigs. (All of them are amplified) So I stumbled across the Anthem PU system and found Gibson J-185 with the LR Baggs Anthem installed. I went to a shop that carried Gibson, mostly to hear the Anthem.



But after playing the Gibson J-185 Limited Edition Custom 60th Anniversary, I fell in love with the guitar! And the Anthem is STELLAR! Plugged into a Fishman Loudbox Performer amp at the shop since that is what I use. Sounds so natural!

I love several things about this guitar aside from how beautiful it is.
1. It is 24.75 scale
2. Light gauge Strings
3. Anthem PU installed by factory
4. Nut width is comfy
5. Adirondack red spruce top
6. Hide glue neck joint
7. Amplified tone is extremely natural, authentic and rejects feedback better than my 2014 Taylor 814CE 2w/ES2
8. The quilt maple is stunning!

Has anyone else played one of these Limited Edition J-185's? Or any other J-185 owners? I welcome any feedback from Solo singer/guitarists with experience playing J-185's. I've never gravitated to a maple guitar, but this one seems very very nice!

http://www.gibson.com/Products/Acous...lt-Custom.aspx

[billyg]

I have an older J-200 that sounds stellar. The maple seems to work great in that body shape. I have a GA sized guitar with the Anthem. The Anthem is the best sounding pickup system I have by far. I think you have found a winner.

[Joe McNamara]

I haven't played any recent iterations of the J-185 but I think the original design is Gibson's high-water mark in post-war flat top steel string guitars, followed by its' sibling, the Everly Brothers guitar.

[Marshall]

Better be a sunburst

[riverrummed]

Groberts, within this past year I got a 2007 J-185 TV off of a fellow forum member. Sorry Marshall but mine happens to be a natural finish. I'm partial to the sunbursts too but this guitar, like my J-50, happened to come my way in natural. I kind of had my eye and ear looking for an archtop at the time but I played a friends early Gibson model and just couldn't get used to the action on an archtop so I shifted to looking for a flat top. I wanted something I could play rhythm and sing with that could cut through when I found myself playing with more than just one other guitar present, like I do every Friday night. I'm also really big on short scale instruments and Gibson has carved a long niche with short scale. I'd have to say that the J-185 is one of the most comfortable larger instrument designs ever and there is a certain voluptuousness about it that is very satisfying. This shape has been copied a lot and for good reason. In your hands and in your lap it feels smaller than it is. All my slope shoulder dreads have 16 inch lower bouts too but feel larger than my J-185. I own another maple guitar so I wasn't too concerned about maple's tone and once again Gibson has a long history of building with maple. My 185 is very even across the strings. It has the bass of a dread when you dig for it but I find that no compensation is needed because of a bass heavy design, like many D-style guitars. But then I don't play much bluegrass. Mine is a TV model and has a Sitka top and is very lightly built, like around 4 lbs 6 oz. Owning other Adirondack topped guitars I can only guess how much power an Adi topped 185 might have. But Sitka works fine for me in this instrument and I run light gauge strings on it without wishing for more out of it. I'm still string searching but EJ-16's are the clear winners so far. I love mine for it's killer neck and easy playability and it does all that I was hoping it would. When you find a good Gibson you should buy it/keep it, if you can, because there are lots of stories of ones that got away. Glad to hear you're liking one so far. Good luck.

[Humbuster]

The above response is very accurate.

I own a Wildwood New Vintage J185 and it is a stellar guitar in every aspect.

[Groberts]

Thanks for the great feedback guys. I realized after posting that the model I played was not a 60th Anniversary. The one I played looks like it in every way except for the tuning gears are the always nice Grovers and the top is actually Sitka Spruce.

Another posted commented that Sitka Spruce sounds great on the J-185. I agree, it sounds superb. Very sweet. The body depth and size gives the guitar the power of a dread. But the the short scale and light gauge strings make it play so sweetly. I am still quite smitten.

While a sunburst top would be quite classic, the natural Sitka spruce looks amazing with the natural quilt maple body.

[riverrummed]

Whenever I get to wishin' my J-185 was a sunburst I take a look at these pics:

http://www.garysguitars.com/catalog/...finish-gia0389

Guitars are one of those things that look better with use and age in my opinion. Note the price!

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by Joe McNamara

I haven't played any recent iterations of the J-185 but I think the original design is Gibson's high-water mark in post-war flat top steel string guitars, followed by its' sibling, the Everly Brothers guitar.

I agree with you about the J-185 being one of Gibson's all-time greatest acoustic guitar designs. I'm decidedly less enthused about the Everly Brothers models when they're encumbered by their tone-killing factory stock double batwing pickguards, but then, I'm less of a rock'n'roll and R&B guy than you are, Joe.

˚˚˚

Peel those plastic Dracula capes off a Everly Bros model, though, and they ARE dandy guitars.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Groberts]

I was a little disappointed when I realized the J-185 Limited Quilt I played had a Sitka spruce top instead of Adirondack, but then I read the original J-185's in the 50's had Sitka spruce. and the reality is; the guitar I played was very balanced and quite musical.

[NevadaPic]

A couple of shots of my recently acquired August Limited Edition J-185. Red Spruce over Maple is hard to beat in my book, especially in a J-185. It suits my style of ragtime and blues playing and also works well with flatpicked strumming and fills. FWIW, I've had both Sitka and Red Spruce J-185s in the past and my ear prefers Red Spruce. The first Red Spruce J-185 I had to return due to a twisted neck, it sure sounded awesome though regardless. I've finally found another after all these years.

[ohYew812]

I'd love to see a full back pic of the quilted maple!

[Groberts]

Originally Posted by NevadaPic

A couple of shots of my recently acquired August Limited Edition J-185. Red Spruce over Maple is hard to beat in my book, especially in a J-185. It suits my style of ragtime and blues playing and also works well with flatpicked strumming and fills. FWIW, I've had both Sitka and Red Spruce J-185s in the past and my ear prefers Red Spruce. The first Red Spruce J-185 I had to return due to a twisted neck, it sure sounded awesome though regardless. I've finally found another after all these years.

I would opt for Res spruce too if that was an option. But the Sitka spruce sounds great and nicely balanced on this limited Quilt 2015 model.

[Groberts]

Originally Posted by ohYew812

I'd love to see a full back pic of the quilted maple!

Here is the quilt maple back of the J185 Limited Quilt 2015 I am flirting with. I found a sweeter quilt back at another shop I found online, but this is the one I played and the value of that is often without measure. And it looks mighty nice to me!

[cmd612]

OK, I know I'm a week and half late to this party, but I played a J-185 Custom Quilt over the weekend and found this thread when I came home and googled it.

I had a lot of preconceptions about maple guitars, based on a) things I've read on the internet or heard from others and b) one brief experience a long time ago with a maple guitar that lived up to all the worst maple stereotypes I've heard (sweet but thin, trebly, overly bright, lacking in bass frequencies).

This J-185 shattered what I thought I knew about maple. It was sweet, yes, but rich, balanced and warm, with an astonishing bass response.

I had gone to the shop to look at a used J-45, but the J-185 nearly came home with me.

And the back is stunning.