NGD 2017 Gibson J-35

[elasticman]

Originally Posted by pdx

I pulled the UST, put in a bone saddle, and threw on some new strings. It’s a much more vibrant guitar. Light too. 3lbs 10oz. I’ll probably take the saddle down a touch, but I think the guitar needs to be played hard for a few days first to really get that top moving. All in all, I am quite happy. If I count the profits from an amp and an old Goya classical I sold in the last 24 hours towards offsetting the cost of the guitar, I paid in today’s dollar what a new J-35 would have been in 1936.

Another big fan of the J35!

I also have a 1951 J50 and sometimes swear my 2018 J35 sounds like an old dried out (in a good way) Gibson!

I was also considering removing the UST? Easy to do? Or do I need a tech?

[pdx]

Originally Posted by elasticman

Another big fan of the J35!

I also have a 1951 J50 and sometimes swear my 2018 J35 sounds like an old dried out (in a good way) Gibson!

I was also considering removing the UST? Easy to do? Or do I need a tech?

Super easy. Took me 5 min.
Unthread the strap button.
Unthread the washer underneath
Take off strings and pull the saddle
Push the UST lead up from inside the body and it will allow you to grab the UST, then gently straighten it out and push through the bridge into the body.
The hardest part was slowly pulling the controls off. I used my thumb and once I was able to jam a pick in between, I used the pick to support the controls as the double sided tape slowly peeled away.
There are three metal tabs which hold the wiring that easy fold open with your fingers.
Pull battery holder off the neck block
Install new saddle and adjust until you are happy.

You will need an oversized strap button as the hole is larger.

[madhat]

Congrats!
I love this Gibson model and would definitely own one if I could still manage to play dreads...
have fun

madhat.

[Martin_F]

Beautiful guitar! Congratulations! I love the banner logo on the headstock. I just got a J45 Standard and L-00 Standard(in the last day) and I wish they had the banner logo too.

I like the idea of a pickup in mine, so I wouldn't remove it. But, before pulling it out I might have tried to reseat the saddle and adjust it to make sure the contact was good. If you make good 100% contact, you shouldn't be losing any sonic quality from the pickup. Switching to bone is, of course, a personal choice. Sometimes bone can improve the sound, sometimes not. Bone can vary pretty widely in quality and tonal abilities. I have had bone that was extremely hard and I have also had bone that was ridiculously soft for the purpose. The hard stuff took forever to shape properly, the soft stuff wouldn't have worked well and was thrown out. Most bone falls in the middle of those extremes.

Enjoy the new guitar! I'm sure it sounds great. Gotta love that Gibson sound!

Martin

[pdx]

After a bit of time and slight truss rod tweak, I am over the moon with this guitar. Right now it is the living room guitar, so it gets played the most. I agreed with the GF that I would only leave one guitar in the living room. So far it’s my sons favorite too. He is doing the single string thing at the moment, but he has the rhythm and the ear, so I’ll show him chords shortly. Smaller hands and fat necks don’t mix well.

I’m not sure how or why, but this thing is voiced like an old guitar. It does old timey fingerpicking completely differently than everything else I own. It definitely changes with intensity of picking/strumming too. I was just thinking earlier how it reminds me of a good 335, one that can do a LP convincingly, though in the acoustic realm. I think the lack of shimmery overtones and more of a mid heavy greasy sizzle when strummed hard is why it reminds me of an electric.

Anyway, just thought I’d do a quick updated review in case anyone is interested in buying one of these.

[emtsteve]

I acquired my J-35 in a trade a couple years ago, not having played one and just going on the Youtube reviews (Eddie's Guitar's review was great) and comments here on the AGF. Boy am I glad I took a chance. The guitar I received was in very clean condition and I love the look, but the pickguard had to grow on me a bit. I've thought about switching to a J-50 style batwing as I like that look better, but have left it alone.

I agree with the descriptions of woody and vintage tone. This thing is fantastic for fingerpicking and strumming is very good too. I also have settled on the Masterbuilt 80/20's or GHS Bright Bronze light strings. I prefer a thicker pick with this guitar. The medium Fenders that I sometimes use don't work well with this guy, but a 1.4 Wegen is perfect for fat tone. The neck is very comfortable and the guitar is feather light. I've left the stock pickup in as it sounds fine through my Loudbox mini.

All in all, this J-35 is my number 1 and it ain't going anywhere.

[llew]

Always thought the J-35 was a great guitar. Not sure why Gibson chose to discontinue that model? Certainly different (as has been said) from the standard J-45 but they both have their place IMO. Great find...congrats and enjoy!