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My new "J-45 Custom" Rosewood


Jack6849

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Okay, here's something I don't understand... I just bought, from Dave's Guitar Shop in La Crosse, Wisconsin, a "J-45 Custom" Rosewood with a "Natural" top. Mine has a "bound" fretboard and its truss rod cover had the word "Custom" engraved into it.

 

Now I look on the Gibson website and I find pictures for this Model, both at the same place in the site, and the photos of the one with the Sunburst finish show an unbound fretboard and no truss rod cover engraving, while the pictures of the one with the Natural finish show both my bound fretboard and my engraved truss rod cover.

 

That wouldn't bother me, except that, first, in one place, Gibson says the "J-45 Custom" has a Rosewood fretboard and in another place, the say it is Ebony.

 

Any idea which fretboard description is correct? (I thought mine was Ebony, but with the binding covering the edges, I admit it's difficult to tell...)

 

Did Gibson actually offer the "J-45 Custom" model in two variations, or is one of the pictures possibly of a "prototype" with an unbound Rosewood fretboard, that was changed before production of the model actually started. Maybe Gibson changed the specs for the design, in which case, the pictures they used of the Sunburst guitar shouldn't have been posted on the website at all.

 

As I say, on the guitar I actually own, the fretboard is bound, the truss rod cover has the word "Custom" engraved into it, and the fretboard looks like Ebony to me.

 

The difference between binding the fretboard or not, and using Ebony instead of Rosewood for it seems like it would be enough to cause Gibson to alter the guitar's "model name" designation as well as its "Suggested Retail Price", but I haven't been able to find any such variation in the company's literature so far.

 

Any help or ideas?

 

Maybe someone from Gibson can explain what's going on here?....

 

 

 

Thank you,

Jack6849

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Something Gibson has done with some models - slightly different versions based on the finish. Checking the spec sheet - it specs out the burst appointments, leaving out the binding and TRC of the natural.

 

I would expect the spec sheet, which specs ebony fretboard - http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Acoustic-Instruments/Round-Shoulder/Gibson-Acoustic/J-45-Custom/Specs.aspx - to be correct over what the marketing copy about the features says; I've seen mistakes like that before.

 

BTW, you've got a beautiful guitar.

 

Congrats. B)

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Thanks for looking into my question, BK. Much appreciated. I didn't know finish differences could change other specs (like fretboard binding and materials), so that's very interesting. Once again I get help and valuable information from the Forum.

 

My "J-45 Custom" is a a great-sounding acoustic, and Ren Ferguson's uniquely-designed headstock inlay for that model is especially unusual and beautiful.

 

Thanks again to you,

Jack6849

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The difference between ebony and rosewood are very easy to distinguish. Ebony has a basic black look to it where rosewood is more "brown" with the woodgrain very visible. No matter, you have one helluva nice guitar there!

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Since the sunburst top is usually an additional cost over a natural top because it requires additional work, they likely give the natural top some upgrades over the sunburst so that the price point can stay the same for either finish.

 

But the standard J-45's appear to be the same price, same appointments, and same cost for both finishes. SO that theory may be completely off.

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No matter what the advertising/spec situation, you definitely have the nicer of the two guitars described.

 

How do you like the rosewood so far? You should eventually try some DR DragonSkin strings! They sound light-years better on my J45 than ANY other string I've ever tried.

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hey hi Jack6849 that's a great choice of guitar! There are a few of us here with that model j45 I picked the natural top too.

The custom logo on the trc generally denotes that there's something different or special from the standard issue j45

Here's a pic of a special dealer order limited run of 200 tri burst no binding on the neck j45 so it got a custom trc too. You'll notice it has an orange label your has a white label and that's another whole can of worms ...lol... its nice!

But IMHO its just not as nice as yours.... pics of yours would be great if you get a chance.

031.jpg025.jpg

 

Rob

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The difference between ebony and rosewood are very easy to distinguish. Ebony has a basic black look to it where rosewood is more "brown" with the woodgrain very visible. No matter, you have one helluva nice guitar there!

 

Usually, but not always true. My cherry Nashville '59 Historic ES 335 has a rosewood board that could easily be mistaken for ebony, since it's essentially black. You can only spot the difference if you put it side-by-side with one of my guitars with a "real" ebony board.

 

Sometimes, the guy in the custom shop building the guitar will choose an exceptional piece of wood that strikes his fancy. It happens in the Nashville shop, and probably does in Montana as well.

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The difference between ebony and rosewood are very easy to distinguish. Ebony has a basic black look to it where rosewood is more "brown" with the woodgrain very visible. No matter, you have one helluva nice guitar there!

 

(IMHO) ... rosewood fretboards are stronger & stay straighter, flatter & "true-er" over time than ebony, but the darker ebony always looks way better!

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