aerohead Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 I start developing G.A.S. once my Guitar Acquisition Saving reach $1000+ which I have recently surpassed. I am now starting the research into the 2 guitars of which one will be my next new Gibson. Just from reading other members posts I know if I go with the J45 I will be leaning towards a TV model. I actually really like the reviews of the J45 Custom but since I already have a J200 Custom I think I should resist the rosewood. Keep in mind I am not a hardcore traditionalist that feels there is no such thing as a rosewood J45 or a maple Bird. On that note I really love the Quilted Maple Birds I have seen. As was the case with my J-200 I will probably be purchasing from an online dealer which means I won't get to a/b the guitars unless I go on a 6 hour road trip. Any thoughts. advice or purchasing tips are welcomed. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul E Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 I know exactly what your talking about when a Gibson dealer is at least a 5 hour drive away. I've bought my Gibson's from 5 Star Dealers over the phone and never have gotten a guitar that I wasn't completely happy with. Choosing a True Vintage model will get you a guitar you'll have for life. A J-45 TV will give you a guitar that you can play most styles of music on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry K Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 I have a fairly heavy right hand. I often prefer the standard versions to the TVs. The standards are a bit more robust, shall we say, and as a result can take a very hard attack and just keep getting louder. The TV's are a lighter guitar. They resonate well with less effort on the picking hand. I have to dial back my right hand strength on a TV. They sound good to me and yet the standard seems to fit my way of playing better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
music4love Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 According to your signature , you already own a maple and a rosewood acoustic. They both happen to have round shoulders (jumbo). I would be looking to add a square shouldered mahogany guitar to the collection. Jerry pretty much hit the nail on the head. IF you are a heavy handed player, you might prefer the modern classic version . If you have a light touch, The True Vintage Hummingbird might be the sweetest sounding guitar you've ever heard. Mine is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 You guys sure have lot of rules and mathematical equations for picking guitars. Best advice I can give you do not take anyone's advice. Forget all the research stuff and just go play a bunch of guitars. There will not be a test afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Apparently I live within at most a cupla hours of Paul E... Our conclusions on this are somewhat different, but the idea is that each one of us needs to do what trips our own "guitar feeling and emotion" trigger - as Zombie noted. I refuse to spend more than $1,000 - heck, much more than $500 - on a guitar I haven't played and messed with a bit - with my own planned-to-play strings installed. Then I know if it'll be "my guitar" or just one that I bought. I "bought" far too many pricey guitars in my time as a picker that simply were instruments I bought rather than guitars that were mine in feel and touch for how I play. Each guitar is different regardless that they may have come off the line next to each other. That's the nature of wood and a bit of human craftsmanship. I personally don't care so much about much of anything but how a guitar feels and plays as long as it sounds good to me when I play it. Also all of my "acoustics" are actually AE - dating back to the early-mid 1970s when they first came available. I have a cheapie purchased-used 12-string that's the sole exception and it has an aftermarket mag pup. Oddly it plays and sounds decent. All but two of my guitars are strung and set for fingerpicking. Two big-body flattops and my original AE, an early '70s Ovation electric Legend, are set up for a bit heavier strings and flatpicking. Personally I figure if you're going to spend a Gibson/Martin price on a guitar, it's worth an overnight trip that costs a cupla-three hundred bucks. I just haven't had the time off work to do so in the past 11 years. @#$%@#$% m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rambler Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 "...often prefer the standard versions to the TVs. The standards are a bit more robust, shall we say ...' There's a J45 FS in the trading post. Good sound, save a few bucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry K Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 snip Personally I figure if you're going to spend a Gibson/Martin price on a guitar, it's worth an overnight trip that costs a cupla-three hundred bucks. I just haven't had the time off work to do so in the past 11 years. @#$%@#$% m One alternative to a $300 overnight trip is to order something online from a place that has a good return policy. You get to live with the instrument for a few days in your home. If you don't like it you may have to eat the return shipping cost, but that's nowhere near $300. If there is even the slightest blemish on it, the big ones like Musician's Friend will pay the return shipping. I have gotten some good guitars like that. Of course it's best if you can play lots of guitars but sometimes circumstances prevent that. Shipping guitars via fedex, UPS and so forth is actually somewhat more gas efficient, I suspect, than a dedicated trip in a passenger sedan if you are mainly interested in a small number of guitar models. If your search is more open ended, a visit to a distant big store might be justified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 Jerry... True... But there's so much variation that frankly I'm not going to do it. One might think one has "the" guitar but... it may well not be. At Gib/Mar price tags, I'm simply not going to do it. Hell, my first car, used, only cost me $75 and ran forever. The idea of spending 20 times that for something I haven't test driven is not something I'll do. Other folks have to decide how to spend their money. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jab Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 I just went through this long process myself. Spent the last year playing 45's, Birds, and every other Gibson acoustic I could get my hands on. For my top 2 I kept coming back to the 45 and the Bird. My ear and my fingers kept preferring the Birds but I didn't give up easy, I spent months going through the whole lineup repeatedly anywhere from Guitar Centers to the Gibson store in Memphis to specialty shops. In the end (as in yesterday), the Bird won. I preferred the fuller sound of the Bird over the 45 and in general thought the Bird played a little easier. So which Bird? Well that took a long time too - spent months going back and forth from Modern, True Vintage, Quilted, Moderns with the traditional Hummingbird finishes and Moderns just in the plain brown and plain pickguards, cutaway, non-cutaway, different versions of each, etc. I went True Vintage yesterday because it overall just had a richer sound to me, and they look incredible. Only a couple hundred more $ than the Modern traditional looking Bird (albeit you don't get the pickup). All of the Birds played equally well, different, but equally well. Modern and quilted tended toward the brighter side, True Vintage a little more full and rich. Once I narrowed down to True Vintage, sure enough the 2 they had in stock sounded different. I had my opinion then had to have the salesperson play them with my back turned but we both heard the same difference. Could just be strings too, but one was darker/full and one was a tad brighter/tighter sounding. Fact is, I don't think I've played a Bird I haven't liked be it the plain $2100 ones or the quilted $3600 ones. I purchased from Wildwood Guitars (www.wildwoodguitars.com). This shop in Louisville CO I believe is the largest Les Paul dealer in the world, and the largest Fender custom shop dealer in the U.S. They do most of their sales through shipping and sell to a lot of pros. Given their stature with Gibson, they seem to get the pick of the litter and all 4 custom shop Gibson's I have purchased from them were in impeccable shape. I had just as much fun buying yesterday as I did watching one incredible instrument after another get set up for shipping. Their inventory is huge and well cared for and you are to expect it showing up set up perfectly. No tax and free shipping too. Just don't expect much if you ever visit there - most everything is stored in a warehouse and they have to pull them for you to try, kind of like a library. So of course the best thing to do is find a place with inventory and go play them. But in the absence of being able to do that, find a great return policy or a place you know will only send you the best conditioned guitars with a good setup. Sure would like a 45 too....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rambler Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 That J45's still there on the TP, ripe for the pickin'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aerohead Posted April 24, 2014 Author Share Posted April 24, 2014 1397164729[/url]' post='1508411']I have a fairly heavy right hand. I often prefer the standard versions to the TVs. The standards are a bit more robust, shall we say, and as a result can take a very hard attack and just keep getting louder. The TV's are a lighter guitar. They resonate well with less effort on the picking hand. I have to dial back my right hand strength on a TV. They sound good to me and yet the standard seems to fit my way of playing better. With that being said I guess I will NOT be buying a TV model because my right hand is made of cement (like my head) lol! This whole time I was leaning towards a TV model if my next guitar is going to be a J45 (yet to be decided). I think I've now got it narrowed down to a J45 Standard, Hummingbird (quilt?), Guild (Orpheum Jumbo) or an F5G mandolin (this one might have to wait a few years til I get the G.A.S. reigned in). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.