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J45 Rosewood


Jim Wilson

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What year did Gibson-Montana begin making the J45 with rosewood back & sides?

As I mentioned in the earlier thread, it was introduced in 1999 as a regular model in the lineup.

 

The first ones had MOP "floret" fretboard markers that were rather triangular in shape, and an abalone rosette. There was also a "J-45 Rosewood Custom" with the same fretboard markers (but done in abalone) & the same rosette, but it also added abalone binding on the top.

 

By at least 2001, the J-45 Rosewood was made plainer, with the traditional plain rosette & dot inlays, while the Custom version carried on with it's original adornment - clearly distinguishing one from the other.

 

Both models featured an ebony fingerboard & bridge.

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So what are the differences you guys are hearing/feeling between the old war horse mahogany J45 and the newer rosewood J45? I guess when I think of a J45, the first thing that comes to my mind is the warmth of the tone. Almost like the sound of a crackling fire. Is that lost in the rosewood? On the other hand, I suspect the rosewood has more volume and crispness.

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MP, to my ears the Custom w/ Rosewood IS a crisper sound. Mine doesn't sound out of balance or anything just more on the top end. It's always hard to guess w/o looking at a spectrum analyzer view of some of the string notes (should bring mine home from work that we use setting up Surround Sound & audio room systems. My belief is the midrange is still there nice, maybe not totally as warm but sometimes it appears something is warmer in the mids when it's lacking much in the treble!

 

Now to me, my Hummingbird sounds much like a HOG J-45 with much deeper bass. I don't have a Mahogany J-45 but have played a few when I had my Bird handy. Also, I use D'Addario EJ26 Phosphor Bronze, Custom Light, 11-52 on the Bird & Custom.

 

All I can say is mine sounds great to me and can make it fairly bright (not Dove bright) or more mellow if I want and yes it's loud. My right ear can attest to that for sure!!! [biggrin]

 

I may get a chance some weekend to just graph my Dove, Hummingbird, and J-45 Custom and see if I can get an output printout that I could post in a jpeg or something. Never tried that but it seems like it should do it with the gear & software I have for the Spectrum Analyzer. It a pretty nice unit, maybe not the best on the market but $10K worth of hardware anyhow.

 

Aster

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Thanks for the video. I think I remember watching it sometime before. Tony always seems to do a good and fair job. On these two guitars I didn't hear a lot of difference. The rosewood sounded a bit brighter a couple of times. A bit louder at times. The mahogany was mahogany. Overall, I think they both sounded excellent. They looked like twins and many times sounded identical. I'm in the market for another Gibby and I'll look at whatever is available.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a Custom J45 Rosewood, and it does sound crisp, but has a lot of warmth to it as well. It's not super crisp, however, as I discovered when I tried out a Collings D1A (Mahogany), the other day, now that thing was super crisp. I love the Custom, it's a great guitar for just about everything.

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I've often thought of my J-45 as being similar to a Martin D-18. The difference being that the J-45 has more "soul", if that makes sense to anyone else. Does the rosewood J-45 admit of a similar comparison to the Martin D-28? Curious because I've been seriously considering adding a rosewood guitar to my accumulation and would rather it be a Gibson (if the earlier comparison applies).

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Gibson makes a lot of nice rosewood guitars. I had one of the J45 Custom RW but did not care for it but like all guitars it could have been that particular guitar and the model itself.

 

I have a J200 RW that sounds great but not like a Martin.

 

I have a Dwight Yoakam Deuce that sounded pretty good but when I went to a lighter gage strings it really woke up. I truly believe you need to try different gages to find the one that matches your particular guitar.

 

I got a used '34 Jumbo RI (RW) a few years ago that sounded okay but switching gages did nothing for it. Besides just taking care of it and getting it properly humidified, I left it alone for a couple years. I recently gave it another try and it sounds great. I think some guitars get over humidified easily and sound like they're stuffed with socks. I remember a J200 that had the same problem.

 

My favorite sounding RW Gibson is the Stage Deluxe RW. It sounded good out od the box and will do nothing but get better. Comparing to that great Martin RW sound this one is equal or better to my ears. I am a Martin fan and have a few great sounding ones to compare to.

 

Good luck with the search.

 

 

 

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