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  #1  
Old 05-08-2019, 04:05 PM
bayoubengal bayoubengal is offline
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Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
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Default NOGD (Gibson Related Content) 2006 Jubal Jumbo.

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!




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1974 Martin D-28 (A gift for my 20th birthday from Mom and Dad)
"Frankenstein" 1948 Gibson J-50 Body/1938 L-00 Neck
2008 Martin 000-18 Norman Blake
2006 Jubal Jumbo
2016 New Era Crooked Star Prairie State Jumbo
2016 New Era Crooked Star Senorita
2020 Iris Smeck
1972 Guild Killdeer F112-6 Part Deux
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Old 07-24-2019, 12:04 PM
KalamazooGuy KalamazooGuy is offline
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Nice! I own a jubal Brazilian jumbo. I live a few minutes from his shop. Congrats.
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Old 07-24-2019, 01:45 PM
bayoubengal bayoubengal is offline
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Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KalamazooGuy View Post
Nice! I own a jubal Brazilian jumbo. I live a few minutes from his shop. Congrats.
Cool. I love gigging with it.
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__________________
1974 Martin D-28 (A gift for my 20th birthday from Mom and Dad)
"Frankenstein" 1948 Gibson J-50 Body/1938 L-00 Neck
2008 Martin 000-18 Norman Blake
2006 Jubal Jumbo
2016 New Era Crooked Star Prairie State Jumbo
2016 New Era Crooked Star Senorita
2020 Iris Smeck
1972 Guild Killdeer F112-6 Part Deux
Reply With Quote
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