Gibson acoustics, let's see 'em!

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).
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Jonesie
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Re: Gibson acoustics, let's see 'em!

Post by Jonesie » Wed Nov 17, 2021 6:49 am

Mine's not as fancy as some of the other ones on here, but I'm still a fan. 2020 G-45 Standard. I haven't seen a ton of these around, the Studio seems like it was the bigger seller, and with the fact that Gibson already discontinued both of these and replaced them with the stupid side sound hole ones mean that I have a "rare" guitar? We'll see if this increases in value down the road with the "rare M@J@."

Anyways, it's based on a J45 with a very slightly shallower body, walnut back and sides, richlite fingerboard and a walnut veneer on the headstock. I had my tech pull out the electronics (#1, they were shit. #2, I don't gig.), replace the saddle with a bone saddle and replace the tuners with some Klusons, because those giant-ass Grovers can go to hell. I replaced the plastic bridge pins with some bone ones too.

The guitar's a bit bright, but now that I have the bone saddle (which brightened things up slightly more) it sounds much better with settled in (dead) strings. It has a bit less thump than your usual J45, but I kinda dig that.

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Larry Mal
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Re: Gibson acoustics, let's see 'em!

Post by Larry Mal » Wed Nov 17, 2021 7:06 am

Dok wrote:
Tue Nov 16, 2021 9:54 pm


I have been almost exclusively using a non-standard tuning this year. :D Those Epiphone "Inspired-by-Gibson" models are pretty tempting, but a good chunk of the reviews I've been reading discuss how they're built a little heavy and sound somewhat muted compared to the real thing. Well, that and I haven't been able to find anyone near me who has them in stock. And I know I won't be happy until I have the real deal anyway...
Yeah, I've been thinking about those also, there's the one that is basically a Dove with a different name, maple bodied and all that. If one shows up used I might get one.

I've heard the same stuff about them being built heavy and having a little less "magic".
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Re: Gibson acoustics, let's see 'em!

Post by bossaddict » Wed Nov 17, 2021 6:31 pm

I've added three more since my last post in 2018.

Spanning 1943-1968...

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Re: Gibson acoustics, let's see 'em!

Post by shoule79 » Fri Nov 19, 2021 1:19 pm

My 04 Hummingbird. I played a lot of birds and J45's over the span of a year or two before I landed on this one as my forever Gibson. Best sound of them all, but still has the high factory action and some checking. I guess that's a feature?

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Re: Gibson acoustics, let's see 'em!

Post by sookwinder » Fri Nov 19, 2021 6:47 pm

Does that 04 HB have the original 60s scale length of 25.5 or the (same as a J45 has always been) modern version of 24.75?
Looking at the position of the end of the neck relative to the rosette I would predict it is the longer scale length
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Re: Gibson acoustics, let's see 'em!

Post by Fiddy » Fri Nov 19, 2021 10:46 pm

bossaddict wrote:
Wed Nov 17, 2021 6:31 pm
I've added three more since my last post in 2018.

Spanning 1943-1968...

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1961 J50 is my guess... :w00t:

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Re: Gibson acoustics, let's see 'em!

Post by bossaddict » Sat Nov 20, 2021 7:52 am

tribi9 wrote:
Fri Nov 19, 2021 10:46 pm
1961 J50 is my guess... :w00t:
'68 Dove, '62 Country Western, '57 J-200, and '43 LG-3.

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Re: Gibson acoustics, let's see 'em!

Post by Fiddy » Sat Nov 20, 2021 10:33 am

Beautiful collection. Have any of the necks needed resets?

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Re: Gibson acoustics, let's see 'em!

Post by gishuk » Sat Nov 20, 2021 11:54 am

Not the most exciting picture I know, but my 2017 Hummingbird.

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Not to bash on Gibson QC but considering this is pretty much a new guitar and I've owned it since 2019, but in that time I've had to re-glue the bridge as it was lifting at the back and remove and re-attach the pickguard with some 3M adhesive sheet as it was curling up and coming off. Not really very impressive on a guitar that would have been about £3000 new, and theres some finish blemishes too! Being able to do that work myself made it slightly less annoying though.

Despite that it plays, sounds and looks wonderful and I have no plans to ever replace it. Also out of everything I've owned, vintage or modern, this guitar is the one that every non guitar playing friend and family member ooohs and aahhs over, noone cares about vintage Jazzmasters :D

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Re: Gibson acoustics, let's see 'em!

Post by Scout » Sun Nov 21, 2021 6:36 am

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My forever Gibson. J-180 from a custom order that went to Europe from Bozeman in the ‘90’s.
Just perfect in every way , the maple back and sides give for me the perfect balance.
I also have a mid ‘60’s Hummingbird that lives with my daughter, that’s a close second
but the mahogany body doesn’t sing like the maple.

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Re: Gibson acoustics, let's see 'em!

Post by Dok » Sat Dec 04, 2021 10:07 pm

Okay, so this is technically only "Inspired By Gibson", but probably not worthy of its own thread, and I did mention I was looking at one earlier. 8) Sweetwater was blowing these out in Aged Wine Red for $549 compared to $749 for the sunburst models. I picked the lightest one I could find at 5 lbs, 2 oz (at least 1/2 a lb heavier than most of the Gibson J45 standards out there), but it felt pretty good straight out of the box.

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I determined it was a keeper after playing for a few minutes, so I put a new saddle, strings, and ripped out the useless under-saddle pickup like everyone says you should do. Sounds really balanced so far, and it has that textbook growl when pushed. I bought it for recording purposes so I could have a good strummer that I can dig into when needed and it seems to excel at exactly that, whereas my Martin CEO-7 is a beautiful delicate instrument that really requires a light touch. The fit and finish on this were absolutely immaculate, like truly flawless. I've certainly never laid my hands on an Epiphone this nice. The pickguard is super thick though and I'm thinking of removing it and hopefully opening up the sound and top even more.

Now, I also bought an Inspired By Gibson J-200 at the same time, because why not compare the two? I think that one's going back, however, - fit and finish are again outstanding, but it's a much quieter guitar. Really too bad though, because it's super comfortable and beautiful, but I don't think pulling the electronics and getting a new saddle will provide as much room for improvement on this one. So once again I'll just have to keep my eye out for a real one locally. But Epiphone has really stepped up their game here!
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Re: Gibson acoustics, let's see 'em!

Post by cincinnatiharry » Sun Dec 05, 2021 11:30 am

I have a 2016 J-35. I got it new from an online retailer for just shy of €1200, two months later the 2017 models were selling for almost 2k.

Anyway, this guitar has gotten the most gig action. I have another acoustic, a USA Made, all solid wood, Martin “Custom D” that was $1000 w/ hard case. This model of Martin is a Musicians Friend online exclusive.

Anyway, I love the Gibson and Martin, having both for life.

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Re: Gibson acoustics, let's see 'em!

Post by cincinnatiharry » Sat Dec 18, 2021 1:27 pm

Dok wrote:
Sat Dec 04, 2021 10:07 pm
Okay, so this is technically only "Inspired By Gibson", but probably not worthy of its own thread, and I did mention I was looking at one earlier. 8) Sweetwater was blowing these out in Aged Wine Red for $549 compared to $749 for the sunburst models. I picked the lightest one I could find at 5 lbs, 2 oz (at least 1/2 a lb heavier than most of the Gibson J45 standards out there), but it felt pretty good straight out of the box.

Image

I determined it was a keeper after playing for a few minutes, so I put a new saddle, strings, and ripped out the useless under-saddle pickup like everyone says you should do. Sounds really balanced so far, and it has that textbook growl when pushed. I bought it for recording purposes so I could have a good strummer that I can dig into when needed and it seems to excel at exactly that, whereas my Martin CEO-7 is a beautiful delicate instrument that really requires a light touch. The fit and finish on this were absolutely immaculate, like truly flawless. I've certainly never laid my hands on an Epiphone this nice. The pickguard is super thick though and I'm thinking of removing it and hopefully opening up the sound and top even more.

Now, I also bought an Inspired By Gibson J-200 at the same time, because why not compare the two? I think that one's going back, however, - fit and finish are again outstanding, but it's a much quieter guitar. Really too bad though, because it's super comfortable and beautiful, but I don't think pulling the electronics and getting a new saddle will provide as much room for improvement on this one. So once again I'll just have to keep my eye out for a real one locally. But Epiphone has really stepped up their game here!
That looks really nice. Gonna keep my eye out for a good deal in the E.U.
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Re: Gibson acoustics, let's see 'em!

Post by Dok » Sun Dec 19, 2021 9:31 am

cincinnatiharry wrote:
Sat Dec 18, 2021 1:27 pm

That looks really nice. Gonna keep my eye out for a good deal in the E.U.
Starting to notice a few pop up on Reverb now. I do think you have to be willing to dive into them and do some work which might explain why people are moving them on, but it's much the same work that many people end up doing to their new Gibson acoustics, too.

I took the pickguard off mine and that also seemed to help matters quite a bit. I'm really happy with this guitar, and I don't think there's $1400 worth of difference between it and a Bozeman J45. It does that thumpy, woody thing really well. And it still allows me to set my sights on a J100. ;D

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Re: Gibson acoustics, let's see 'em!

Post by rbrcbr » Sun Dec 19, 2021 10:22 am

Currently my main acoustic is a 2007 (?) J-45 True Vintage, but super early in the run, before they added True Vintage to the label. Called Gibson to confirm this. It's also Sitka spruce instead of Adi, and so early in the run they hadn't used Hide Glue yet. Oh well. I was hoping for both of those specs when i was looking at these but it was too good of a deal to pass up and I'm glad I held onto it. It's one of the best J-45s I've ever played, loud and articulate and sounds so frickin good.

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This is an 80's Epiphone NV-185 that kind of had that jumbo thing going on. Wish I'd kept it, it was a surprisingly nice guitar

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