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Ist post, new member, need opinion and advise!


warpdrive

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Hello, i have been a professional bluegrass musician, off and on the road since i was 17, primarily a banjo picker! I haven't owned a guitar in several years, but am getting ready to purchase an advanced jumbo, i have been looking at the ones on wildwood's web sit, but i have a friend that has one in mint conduction, on pick marks or capo dents, beautiful, he just bought it at least 5 years ago from a man that needed money, he will let me have it for 1800.00, is that a decent price, and is there any distinctabel difference in a brand new aj and one that is maybe 7-10 years old or older? thanks for all opinions and response! Btw, i want a gibson because they are so anti-martin, have always loved gibbons!

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yeah, i don't know if he will haggle, that is what he has in the guitar, and he himself is a professional musician(used to own a music store and still goes to trade shows and guitar shows!) I always like the sound of really good gibsons as a kid, but in the 60's and 70's you had to really cull through them to find a hoss! i was visiting a friend in nashville last week, and was playing his 42,j-45, and when he was out on the road, i would play his aj that he used on stage, i have heard that the advanced jumbo's are the most powerful, but i like there darker than a martin tone! like i said, i am taken with the sound of some the vids on the wildwood guitars site, but greg koch could string up a 2x4 and make it sound good!

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I feel the savings of $800 on a guitar you can attest to quality in person, is as good or better than full priced new. It should be more broken in and loosened up, and any issues that would have popped up would have probably already done so. This would be my logic on it.

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if it is the same guitar i think it is, i remember him trading for it about 10 years ago, and it was killer back then, and he often buys and trades for ax's and just puts them away and never touchs them again, he's a died in the wool martin man, has several old 18-s and brazillian bones! i have always marched to the sound of a different guitar! guess that is why i want a nice gibson, i think i am a rocker at heart!

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if it is the same guitar i think it is, i remember him trading for it about 10 years ago, and it was killer back then, and he often buys and trades for ax's and just puts them away and never touchs them again, he's a died in the wool martin man, has several old 18-s and brazillian bones! i have always marched to the sound of a different guitar! guess that is why i want a nice gibson, i think i am a rocker at heart!

 

unless you are a dope like some of us, who horse trade guitars too frequently, I would buy it. if you like the sound, what would 200 bucks be over the life you will own it? Just make sure the braces and neck angle and action are cool

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Lots of good advice so far. Definitely agree that the price is in the ballpark, but on the higher end.

 

$1600 would probably be my target as well.

 

Having said that, the value of knowing it is an exceptional guitar and a friendly transaction could make the extra $200 worthwhile.

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it will be sometime next week before i can play it, the owner is out of town at a gig(as i said, he is a martin man, so its not getting played) but i have not seen many used ones in the local venue's, and wildwood seems like a person wouldn't have to wait long for a good one to come in, should this deal fall through!, at least on wild woods site you can actually hear the one you like being played, but that is a new price!

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Play it -- if you like it -- buy it.

Well, this may come as a shock, but i totally went the other direction as far as my wanting a slope shoulder, (kinda sorta) i went and played several j-15's, 29- 35 and a 45 in cobra burst, and then just before going to my friends and playing the advanced jumbo he had for sale, i got a call from a local music store i had been in last week. They had just taken in a 92 model j-180 every brothers, pristine mint conduction, i had never ever seen, let alone played or heard one, i was expecting a small sound, WOW, is an understatement, the guitar lplays like butter and has a wonderful midrange tone and after it was all said and done, the j-180 is now in my living room, and my fingers are now developing joyous blisters that will soon turn to caliaus , but i guess the 180 is just what i wanted, something 180 degrees from what i have been used to, thanks for all the input and advise, even though this isn't the same animal as a slope shoulder!

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Well, this may come as a shock, but i totally went the other direction as far as my wanting a slope shoulder, (kinda sorta) i went and played several j-15's, 29- 35 and a 45 in cobra burst, and then just before going to my friends and playing the advanced jumbo he had for sale, i got a call from a local music store i had been in last week. They had just taken in a 92 model j-180 every brothers, pristine mint conduction, i had never ever seen, let alone played or heard one, i was expecting a small sound, WOW, is an understatement, the guitar lplays like butter and has a wonderful midrange tone and after it was all said and done, the j-180 is now in my living room, and my fingers are now developing joyous blisters that will soon turn to caliaus , but i guess the 180 is just what i wanted, something 180 degrees from what i have been used to, thanks for all the input and advise, even though this isn't the same animal as a slope shoulder!

 

Best of luck with it! Its always a special occasion when one bonds with a guitar and buys it! Even more so when its a Gibson!

 

QM aka Jazzman Jeff

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thanks guys, i have been sponging licks off youtube all afternoon, i don't even think about my banjo anymore, i just play cord riffs in my head, and google what i want to hear and steal from, maybe i will be a decent guitar player in a year, but i am inspired so much by the tone and actions and ease of play of the instrument, i can see now why on would collect more than one, maybe a slope shouder(should the right one come along, maybe a jumbo or super jumbo? but when they play as easy as the evebro, its hard to say no!

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Yeah, this is something special for me, i am a road professional banjo player, have worked with many good groups and single stars and musicians, and yet, all i can think about is playing this guitar, and learning the lickes that i like to listen to in pop, rock, blues, and jazz, hip-hop , my banjo seems foreign to me as this time, i want to play beatles, i want to play jerry reed, i want to bang out texas swing cords and this guitar will do it all, where have i been?

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