ALD323

Good move. You are correct. You will find another J-45 that sounds just as good without the defect mark. Remember that the next J-45 will be stiff and not warmed up, and may take a while to vibrate as good as the old one, but it will come around. My guess is that you will get lucky this time and find a J-45 that sounds even better than the one you have once you have played it in for for a few weeks.

I can only tell you that this defect you are showing, and that is what this is, a defect, and it would never be acceptable to me on an over $2700 Gibson, Martin or Tayor guitar. Back it would go, and pronto, tone or no tone, good sound or no good sound...BACK it would go! Don't let people tell you defects don't matter if the guitar sounds good. They DO matter, and you will look at that defect for the rest of your life, and hate it knowing you paid upwards of $3000 for a fret board which should have been reserved for a $99.00 Epiphone where such defects are acceptable.

It's warm and delicious summer night, the air is clean, the sky is clear, the moon is full, a young couple in love sits by the crackling midnight fire, enjoying eachothers company under the stars. And in the background, a song is playing quietly. It is rbpickers cover of Harvest moon. What could be better? Excellent!

The $799 Hummingbird is the "Inspired by Gibson" ...a new model just recently released. The $799 Hummingbird is an all solid wood guitar which is always a better sounding instrument. The $369 Hummingbird Pro model is the same model as always, a good guitar but it is not solid wood..the back and sides are laminated wood, only the top is solid wood on this model. Expect the $799 Inspired by Gibson model to sound much better in tone than the $369 model, the tulip tuners are also a nice touch. In acoustic guitars you get what you pay for. Both models are very good...but one is better than the other, And as expected, the better sounding Hummingbird guitar..is usually the most expensive Hummingbird guitar. Good luck, let us know which one you chose, and do give us a pic of it if you get it! Best wishes! Hummingbird guitars are just plain dynamite. I own the Gibson Hummingbird verson, the Epiphone Hummingbird Artist all laminate model, and am now considering the $799 Inspired by gibson version when it becomes available. The Hummingbird is my all time favorite guitar in the entire world!

Big Neil Young fan here. I do this song also, but not nearly as good as you! This cover is really good. I will use it to improve my own version of Harvest Moon, thank you for posting! The guitar playing is great...but the voice...oh yes rbpicker...the vocals are just so soothing and exquisite, exactly as they should be. Nothing more need be said! Well done!

Oh my what a beautiful Gibson Hummingbird! If this doesn't make you want a Hummingbird, nothing will! And the song and singer are just delightful too! Thanks for posting!!! One look at that guitar and all I can think is ...Yum!!👌

Not sure, but it has a Fender look to my eye!

There's only one way to deal with this difficult comparison issue, and that is if you want to have a nice sized stall of 6 beautiful guitars. Just order one of each for Christmas and your done!!

I have tusq pins on my 2020 Gibson Hummingbird ...and my 2019 Gibson J-45 M (both guitars came with tusq. Apparently Gibson no longer uses those cheezy plastic pins) My 2013 Gibson J-45 standard came with the old plastic molded pins....so I replaced them with tusq pins just to see what would happem. Loved it. Pins make s difference on all my guitars not just those three mentioned above. I would describe tusq pins as crisp, lucent and very clean and clear notes. Ebony darker, warmer, a tad fuzzier in tone. And plastic molded pins just plain obstruct proper sound to me.

I would return it. That looks like a rather large stain and lots of water damage...now, that may not affect tone, but for there to be that much mold inside...and it is visible..that guitar must have spent a lot of time being either wet, or over humidified. Mold is a very hard thing to remove. Mold spores are 10.000 times smaller that a human hair..and they embed in the wood deeply, usually for life, unless you find some way to remove them.

Thank you for your detailed descripton on a fabulous guitar. I own one of these AJ-45's as well. For singing and song writing it is simply delightful. The sound, the natural volume and warm deep tone are unmatched for singing along with. I also own a very wonderful Gibson J-45 standard...you know, those pricey ones! And I enjoy my AJ-45 epiphone ..EVERY BIT AS MUCH, as my Gibson J-45. Both have the rich Gibson tone. Some people actually think that you need to pay almost $3000 for a nice J-45 type round shoulder short scale guitar. Others, like you, are wise enough to realize they are wrong. This guitar is perfect in every way. And it is the most comfortable guitar to play and hold that I have owned, and I've owned over 40 high end guitars. Most of them are sold off now. No more squandering of money for me. Guitars like the Epiphone AJ-45 make GAS easy to overcome. Because for under $700, this guitar will give you everything any good performer in the world will ever need to make his or her audience happy.! Best wishes, and good luck on that all solid wood, Hog/Spruce, bone nut and saddle, short scale gem, that drips of the Gibson tone! It was a very, very smart move on your part, having done the research. And if you are a singer, the short scale of this guitar offers an enormous advantage for vocalizing songs. It stands BEHIND your voice...not in FRONT of it, letting your voice shine through in a way I have never found with a full scale guitar. All of my remaining herd of 6 guitars (Three Gibson and three Epiphones) are ALL short scale because I never play without singing, and the short scale acoustic can be a secret hidden gem for the true singer/performer! Keep it humidifed to the usual 45% area just like you would for a $3000 guitar because it's made of all the good same stuff......just has a different name on the headstock. Best of luck with it!

Hi Your AJ-45 and J-45 studio should be all you need..they are both super great guitars! ...Unless of course you want a Hummingbird too.!There were a several of those new inspired Epi Hummingbirds in Sweetwater for sale last week...they were gone in a heartbeat! I have an Epi Hummingbird and a Gibson Hummingbird....they are enough to make your tongue hang out. I had to give in....I may even go for the Inspired by Hummingbird and sell the Epiphone Hummingbird artist. The 45 series are growley rich...The hummingbirds are sweet and refined, great to sing by. Either way, your good to go!

Get well Jinder, get well soon! Relax, do what the doctors say, and you will be fine. Best wishes! ...Alan

AND....AND! ...Take a close look at the new Epiphone headstock shapes on these models.....much more Gibson like in shape...not that horrid penis shaped bulbous Epiphone headstock they have been using for years...BIG IMPROVEMENT! I'd buy one just for that reason alone!!

The flubberguard procedure brought up previously will work. As far as Gibson fixing the problem, the answer to that is simple in my humble opinion...and there are one of two ways for Gibson to do this. Gibson are you listening?🧐 1. Gibson could leave the newly molded pick guards in their hot mold, untouched, not removed, until they slowly cool down inside the mold, so that they do not curl when removed as they cool, and so remain flat after removal from the mold to install on the new Hummingbird or other Gibson guitars which sport the flubberwar (which is very durable by the way.)... However this may not be possible or practical as there may be just too many pick guards to be manufactured, and not be enough molds to wait that amount of time. ....Or 2. Gibson could continue to remove the newly molded pick guards from the hot mold, allow them to cool and curl as they have been doing, then place the pick guards on a flat hot preheated tray for a specified amount of time..hot enough to soften and reshape the pick guard, but not hot enough to melt or damage it, allowing the pick guard to relax and flaten from the applied heat, and then slowly cool it once more, perhaps pressing them with weighted material till they have cooled. ...They may otherwise alternatively apply a blast of hot air instead to the tops of the curled pick guards to flatten and relax the curl as described in my precedure above kindly reposted by Dave F, using a hair dryer to flatten it on a counter after it has been removed from the guitar. Which ever method is the most cost efficient for Gibson at the factory, is the one they should naturally use. It would require only a minimal investment to create a very permanent solution to a decades old problem. ....Gibson, are you listening? 👁️‍🗨️ For those of you alreading experiencing the infamous Gibson pick guard lifting problen, follow the procedure above as reposted by Dave F. And your pick guard will never lift again. ..... Gibson, are you listening? Having said all this, one should remember that these Gibson flubberware pick guards, when installed proberly at the factory will never fade, the image will never wear off no matter how hard you use the guitar, or how much touching of the pick guard you do during play time. It is a significant milestone in production and quite brilliant on Gibsons part....the procedure just needs tweaking. Best wishes...ALD

What next! ...First someone steals the guitars,! ...then someone steals the election! 😁 ....oh..never mind..lol ...I'll just play my guitar and block it all out lol!

Unbelievable. Read about it here. "The highly sought-after guitars were likely targeted and not randomly stolen". ...All $95,000 worth of them. https://www.wane.com/news/crime/pallet-of-specialty-gibson-guitars-bound-for-sweetwater-stolen-off-truck/

Your in the minority you say??? Um yea, I would agree with you.

The AJ100 will be all laminate...I own an AJ100 and LOVE it, it sounds deep and beautiful and is much more stable than the AJ220 I owned and sold in which the top buldged out and was ruined. I sold that. I had the AJ100 set up, plays like butter, and never warps with heat and humidity. The 200 will sound brighter, and a bit better tome but not by a mile thats for sure. Both sound great....the 100 is rock solid, and tolerates heat and humidity fluctuations better. The 220 with the solid top will require careful humidification, and should not be over humidified as this will cause top buldge as it did in mine which ruined its tone and look. That will not happen on the 100 model with the laminated top. If you are used to humidifying a guitar to about 48 degrees year round, then the 220 would be a great choice, if not, perhaps the 100 is the better deal. Good luck.

Four letters drscribe this guitar. ..OMFG! ... As the employees at the end of the Gibson quality control line call out... SHIP IT!!

I have a 2015 AJ-45me and love it, particularly for the comfort of the short scale it sports, which the Gibson J-45 also has. It is extremely comfortable to hold and play. It is a great guitar for singing and supports the voice without over-riding the voice. It also has thinner neck profile than the Texan which has a thicker neck. The Texan with the thicker full scale neck is good if you like a thicker neck. It may produce a deeper louder sound. The AJ-45 has what is called a "slim taper D" neck...very slim and sweet and easy to play as I prefer thin necks. I may produce a slightly sweeter, slightly thinner yet full rich sound. I have my AJ-45 for 5 years now, it has aged well and sounds delightful, almost competing with my Gibson J-45. (particularly after I had it set up) They are both very different guitars, both sounding wonderful. I would say the AJ-45 is easier to hold and play, very, very comfortable in your lap if you sit while playing. It's main drawback to me is the non-gloss matt finish on the top..which I hand polished to a gloss finish on the top, and replaced the pick guard and pins...making it look even more like its expensive sister the J-45 Gibson. So scale, volume and matt finish as well as neck thickness should be considered when comparing the two. Good luck, both are fine guitars! For me the Epiphone Masterbilt AJ-45 is the perfect compliment to the Gibson J-45 standard, and sounds closer to a Gibson J-45 than any other guitar I have ever played including the Texan. It has that iconic Gibson sound and feel.

Two birds are better than one I say! And those are both beauties. I also love the keystone grover nickel tuner buttons on your Dove! I ordered a set of those for my Hummingbird and they really fit and look beautiful on both the Dove and the Hummingbird! Congrats!

It sounds like a bit of fret buzz to me. If it has been set up, perhaps the neck might just need a tweak of relief to remove the buzz, if you know how to adjust the truss rod on your own. Heat and humidity conditions can cause this variation. If it has not ever been set up, that would likely be quickly fixed. If it has been set up it's possible the neck or top may have changed particularly under low humidity conditions which can cause the top to sink...lowering the strings closer to the frets, causing them to buzz slightly during play.

So, here's how it happened. I came up with it on my own after I had sent for a new Gibson Flubber pickguard from a well known and approved supplier...only to find that when it arrived it was more flexed and uneven than the one I took off the 2013 hummingbird. I sent it back for refund. Now the old HB flubber pick guard began to lift and fail at about 6 months. Dissappointed, I removed it, but soon found that I could not appreciate the Hummingbird without the guard, nor could I tolerate all the continuous lifting corners which kept popping up when I pushed them down. I began to look at and ..."study my pick guard lying on a countertop." I quickly realized why it was lifting even tho it had been put on with strong 3M glue, or similar type adhesive. I noticed the entire flubber guard was slightly bowed from the deep middle and rose up higher at the tips of the guard pointed up as it lay on the counter top. It layed very uneven, and refused to lie flat at all bouncing back to the curl every time I pressed it to the counter top.... I concluded that the curled and flexed flubber guard represented a "constant stress point" which eventually caused it to pull away from the top even with the 3M glue holding it. I realized that if the pick guard were FLAT..like most celluloid guards are..that it would not stress the 3M glue because there would be no constant subtle pull up pressure..and then it should stay put. So I decided to experiment by applying the heat as indicated in the process, knowing at the time it could possibly ruin the soft flubber pick guard..but by now I was willing to take the risk..as there simply was no other solution. It did not destroy or disfigure the guard or its bird motif in any way..the only thing it did was soften it and relax it to lay fat on the counter top. It is my belief that when these guards are made and still in the hot molds, they cool too quickly and unevenly, causing the guard to curl up at the tips since the heat would be dissapated from those thinner areas faster than the thicker body of the flubber guard itself. As it cools, and while the atoms are still in liquid form, they "re-arrange themselves to the cooler temp ..and the atoms then remain in that position permanently. Stubborn little buggers they are lol! What I needed was a way to "re-arrange the atoms," warm them up to a relaxed state, and then allow them to cool slowly in the flat position with a heavy book on top the guard, forcing it to remain flat as it slowly cooled under the heavy books pressure. I knew that once the atoms had cooled in a flat position, it would be impossible for them to ever rearrange them selves to the curled position again. Long story short...Having worked and retired in a Bell Labs research and development center where both molecules atoms were a common daily subject in the process of developing electronic products and computer chips, I was aware of how "atoms" react in various circumstances, particularly the effects of heat on atoms while in the heated or molten state, and then simply applied the basic physics to create a simple process to correct the flex or curl. This would allow the flubber gard to be re-installed FLAT instead of with flex or curl, and then the 3M glue would do the rest for the next 30 years hopefully! Sorry to be so long winded but since you seemed interested in how this came to be, I thought I would share it with you. Thank you for asking. And so it was no big deal for me, just simple logic in developing the simple procedure.