Gibson Gospel c.1974/75

[TellyzGuitars]

The Gospel according to me...

 

Bought from the original owner. It'd been floor stock in a shop for a year or so when he got it in 1976 in Sydney and gigged with it for many years. When it was purchased the ebony bridge was split right through, a rosewood replacement was made and fitted. The finish he said never properly cured so he had it stripped in the 90's, the cracking binding was replaced with mahogany binding and the whole guitar refinished in what looks like poly to me and very nicely done too. The mahogany binding looks great and contrasts nicely against the maple. Frets were redone a couple of years ago. To accommodate the owners arthritic hands it had been set up with a super low action at the expense of tone and volume, addressed since I revisited the setup with some decent ramp angle on the strings behind the saddle, good action at the 1st fret, new Elixir Nanoweb PB 11's. I custom make nuts from blanks to standardise string spacing for all my guitars. The saddle was custom made with some compensation. I do find the playing feel on this harder than my J50 Deluxe (PB 12's) which has a very light feel in comparison, the plan is to go to 10's next string change and compare the difference.

 

Cosmetically it looks fantastic after a clean and polish. The solid Spruce top has some very nice figuring that combines with the Maple giving quite a unique tone that fades quickly. I like that. The Ebony fret board is very hard with a very tight grain. The trebles are brighter and louder and very different to the J50 Deluxe and combine very nicely with the signature Gibson bass, bright mids and fairly well weighted across all strings, compared to the J50 Deluxe weighted more towards bass and mids. Separation is really clear, very crisp and clean tones weighted towards the fundamental side, this is a very cool and interesting guitar.

 

 

 

[TellyzGuitars]

For those demanding to hear what is suposed to be heard!

 

[E-minor7]

Congrats - you are building yourself a niche with these almost old squares. A good contribution to the Board

I really like the look of this one. A hello to the Dove flying the olive branch across ☮ and what a terrific back.

 

 

Have fun with switching back'n'forth. A combo-clip would give us the ideal perspective.

Perhaps when you have the time, , , in between playing.

[TellyzGuitars]

 

Have fun with switching back'n'forth. A combo-clip would give us the ideal perspective. [/font]

Perhaps when you have the time, , , in between playing.

 

 

DOUBLE X FOREVA

 

 

[livemusic]

DOUBLE X FOREVA

 

 

 

Hi there Telly, loved it. Of these two, I prefer the Gospel sound, it sounds great! Both do, but the Gospel has less overtones or something. Love the Gibson tone of both of these.

 

Are you playing a real song or just noodling around? Nice picking.

[zombywoof]

The key to those guitars comes down to one thing - the arched back. To my ears the Gospel and J-55 remain the best Gibson acoustics built in the 1970s.

[TellyzGuitars]

Hi there Telly, loved it. Of these two, I prefer the Gospel sound, it sounds great! Both do, but the Gospel has less overtones or something. Love the Gibson tone of both of these.

 

Are you playing a real song or just noodling around? Nice picking.

 

Whiskey Before Breakfast.

 

Here's another take of the Gospel without the capo, seems to be nicer with the open strings, but still tuned down half a step.

 

[Jinder]

I could listen to that Gospel all day and night. What a beautiful sounding guitar! I’ve always loved them. Missed out on a couple and have kicked myself ever since. I’ve not played a ‘70s Gospel I’ve disliked, the ‘90s Mahogany reissues were nice but the ‘70s Maple iteration is what does it for me. Wonderful guitars despite the double X.