Cougar

Nope, never played one until now. Actually, I've been playing mostly 12-strings for the past couple years. Not sure why I succumbed to this purchase.... other than nostalgia and sucked in to a pretty good deal. And it's a gorgeous guitar, of course. But it's hard to put down my 12-strings....

Sorry to hear, Tman. Music is therapy for the soul.

Wow, they really increased the price from its "IPO." Apparently they were listening to the reviews and how everyone loved them! That back on yours is what I mentioned -- really nice! I guess mine is bookmatched, too, but it's harder to tell. And of course Gibson does great teardrop bursts. I would have preferred a burst, but a close look at the top of mine reveals a super fine apparently AAA soundboard. Yeah, just a super guitar!

Well, now I see that's not the case! Thought I made a great deal, lol. It was $1195. Still a good deal for a great all solid wood Gibson in excellent condition.

Thanks, Duane and everybody. As I recall, they were $1350 when they first came out. Gibson's site has them at $1800, which I guess was in 2019 when they discontinued. Oddly, most for sale used are for MORE than they cost new in 2014. Well, this one was less than that -- in fact a little less than the lowest priced sold listing on reverb. 😁

I guess it was a couple years after they first came out, I had Music Villa in Bozeman keep an eye out for me for a new Gibson J-15 burst. The reviews were through the roof on this new Gibson model with a walnut back. Just as one came in, a New Hartford Guild F50R popped up on reverb which I ended up getting for a great price (and which I still have and love). I put the J-15 idea behind me.... until now. A guy over on AGF had one for a good price I couldn't pass up. Not a burst, but the top is stunning. It's in great condition, 2014, abalone rosette, very nice silky top, walnut back -- not the greatest figuring on the back like some I've seen, but it's weird -- the dark areas change to light and vice versa, depending on the angle you're looking at it. I think 12-strings are easier on the fingers, lol. (I guess that's why I have 5 of those -- 4 Guilds, 1 Epiphone.) Still, I'm liking it! Haven't taken photos yet - here's the ad photos....

Yeah, we got down to -10 a few days ago. Pend Oreille is a DEEP lake and never freezes over, but some areas are shallow, and the bay below our place is half iced over! Never seen that before!

Exactly. Nowadays (and for quite a few years now) you can load up a program to your computer that turns it into a recording studio. I'm using Cubase Elements, which is around 100 bucks. As mentioned, you'll also want a USB audio interface like a Focusrite Scarlett. I plugged my synth straight into the Scarlett, but for guitar playing, you'll likely want a mic. Multitracking is a kick!

Oh, for sure. At first I was wondering what the heck was going on, then realized it was just a messed up stamping job, and as mentioned, that's apparently pretty common. Yeah, no big deal. It's a fantastic little 6-string compact jumbo.

No, not really. 😉

Haha, good to know! Yeah, after looking at it then looking at it some more, I can kind of see that they were trying to come out with "Made in USA," but the "US" is basically ". ." and the "MADE" is something like "*ASE" (not sure how they got to "S" in there). Well, at least the serial number is legible.... 🙄

So I'm taking a pic of the back of the headstock of my J-165... which is easier said than done since the serial number is dark on dark. Anyway, below the serial number I expect it to say Made in USA, but it looks like they really screwed up the stamp when they stamped this one. It's definitely not "USED" or anything like that; I think it's supposed to be Made in USA and the stamper just botched the job. What do you think?

Great story. My dad had always played guitar -- mostly a very old beat up 1939 Epiphone Zenith -- and when he almost died from some stomach problem, I bought him a wine red LP Studio and my brother got him a little Fender amp, and he was totally jazzed during his convalescence... and beyond. That also kind of reanimated my interest in guitars, even though I'm mainly a keyboardist, and now after a brief stab at electrics and many years of trying (initially) cheap acoustics then various models, I'm pretty well stabilized in my retirement with three excellent jumbo Guild 12-strings -- F512, F212XL, JF30-12 -- and a beauty of a jumbo Guild 6-string -- F50R.

Those don't look like they're ramped very much, if at all. Ramping is usually done when the saddle has been shaved so much, there's hardly any break angle to the strings. Ramping helps increase the break angle. It's usually done to postpone an expensive neck reset. Here's a pic of some ramping....

Sorry I'm late to this question. I happen to have an FT-160 myself -- a sunburst. Amazingly good sound coming out of this 12-string that's probably only worth a couple hundred bucks. I'm figuring it was made in the early 70s.