Loud, Bassy, Warm J-45? - Page 4

zoopeda · #46 08-17-2022, 01:54 PM

Historic Jumbo 1934 is a bigger body than the J45 with advanced x bracing. Short scale. Louder, bassier J-45. That or an Iris DF would get the tone you’d want. Thicker necks though. Don’t underestimate either impact of neck girth on tone or the ability to adapt to a bigger neck. Good luck.

There’s a reasonably priced one listed here:
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=651493

Br1ck · #47 08-17-2022, 02:00 PM

I don't recognize rosewood guitars as being J 45s. So there.

By far the most appealing J 45 I've played was a J 45 vintage. It came the closest to a 40s/50s J 45 of anything I've played. Only drawback was the color of the burst on the torrified top. Fine guitar with a nice neck.

Dean Riley · #48 08-17-2022, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Br1ck

I don't recognize rosewood guitars as being J 45s. So there.

By far the most appealing J 45 I've played was a J 45 vintage. It came the closest to a 40s/50s J 45 of anything I've played. Only drawback was the color of the burst on the torrified top. Fine guitar with a nice neck.

Sweet! This makes me happy because I have one coming in the mail lol.

How would you describe the neck?

I actually like the subdued sunburst look a bit... sorta makes me think of a ambertone martin but darker on the edge... Mine is a bit of a more traditional looking burst... I'll post pics once it's in.

thumblead · #49 08-18-2022, 06:04 PM

I've had a J-45 Vintage and a custom J-45 whose main difference was an Adirondack top and different burst. The custom had the same neck as the standard J-45. The Vintage had better bass and a more comfortable neck. The necks on both were not that large and were both playable to me (I don't like super-big vintage-style necks), but the one on the custom felt less rounded and so slightly less full. The fuller-feeling Vintage neck also had rolled fingerboard edges, so there was some extra comfort from that. Overall the Vintage was easier for me to play because of those differences.

paul300 · #50 08-29-2022, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dean Riley

Sweet! This makes me happy because I have one coming in the mail lol.

How would you describe the neck?

I actually like the subdued sunburst look a bit... sorta makes me think of a ambertone martin but darker on the edge... Mine is a bit of a more traditional looking burst... I'll post pics once it's in.

would love to hear your opinion (and photos!) once it has arrived

Dean Riley · #51 08-29-2022, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paul300

would love to hear your opinion (and photos!) once it has arrived

Glad you said something - I was just about to post up my new to me guitar day :-)

I've had her for a little over a week now - and it has been probably the most interesting week with a new guitar that I have had...

My overall impressions - she's absolutely gorgeous! Love the neck... I was worried about this part but it's actually one of my favorite necks I have played... very comfy... alllllmosttttt a "soft V" - feels like you took a j-45 standard slim taper and whacked the shoulders back a hair and maybe added a hair of thickness... but you don't think "V" when you play it... hard to describe, but I dig it.

Edit to add: The one thing I'm not digging is the tuners... they just feel course and "cheap" - not sure if anyone has any drop in suggestions? After my setup it holds tune well now, so I think they work (Low E tuner feels loose tho) - I'd love a set of open waverlys but I think the hole spacing is wrong...

So tone... this has been where the really weird "journey" has been for me.

Initially, I was pretty underwhelmed - it came with very dead lights - I put some new mediums on, and that helped - but it was a bit brighter then I was anticipating and seemed to be lacking low end girth and was sorta meh honestly. I do a fair amount of acoustic set up work, so I set up the relief, nut, and the action was a hair low (2mm) so I shimmed the saddle using a Colosi shim. This helped but it was still not quite what I was wanting.

Now, this is my first Adi-topped guitar and I had read they sometimes need a decent thrashing to "wake up" + the guy I bought it from was almost exclusively a finger picker... so I busted out a heavy pick and went to town for a couple hours. This seemed to really open it up and help.

Day by day over the week it got better and better... then I decided to look up the humidity where it came from "80%" for the last 2-3 weeks... hmmm maybe she was just wet... so I left the case open for a few days and left her on the stand - this helped a bit too... so we are like 4-5 days in at this point and a good 20% better then where we started. I got out my mirror and light... and good grief - Gibson must have used and entire can of hide glue on this thing... oozed out around and on the bridge plate, several braces had "globs" on it... so I pulled out some 300 grit paper and sanded the bridge plate down to clean wood, and lightly sanded as much of the braces as I could reach to get some of the obvious "globs" of glue off and down to clean wood... better still!

The final piece was over the weekend I installed a full height, compensated bone saddle - sanded it to a snug, but not tight fit, set the action at 2.25mm... and with a couple hours of playing a day - it's basically to the "monster" level now lol.

Very resonate, loud, and fun to play! Adi is a bit brighter then I'm used to, but as the strings wear in, I think I'm starting to appreciate the adi top. I would like a tad more bass, but every day it seems to get bit bassier then the previous day - and it's in my "i'm good with it, anything else is a bonus" category now... it's full, warm, and even sounding and will thud when you dig in.

Blind testing with my wife and it hung with the martins better then I expected. It's still all "gibson" but it's light weight and resonate and just seems to be getting better as it dries out/plays in... it's also getting louder - from pure DB standpoint it's approaching my D-18, with a different EQ curve, but in a blind test listening to my wife play, it was not as different as I was expecting it would be... And actually in her blind test she thought it was the D-18.

I have never had such a "meh" to "awesome" journey over a week with a guitar as I have had with this one.

I'll keep you updated... I'm excited to play it everyday when I get home from work because it just seems to keep improving lol.

If anyone has any tips, or similar journeys let me know - I know humidity and all of those other factors added up make a difference, but it just feels almost like a different guitar then it did a week ago... very interesting. Day one it was sorta lifeless and uninspiring... Yesterday I sad outside for an hour and marveled at how it felt alive and resonate and "light".

Couple pics: