Kwlsky

Those stampers are pretty cool, I have to look into one. I've come to love the tone I get flat picking with a Big Stubby 3.0mm pick. One of those will outlast any mortal man.

I completely agree. With the used Gibsons I bought I always had a Cheshire Cat grin getting a better sounding/broken-in guitar for less money. Finding an excellent condition secondhand guitar is not hard to do.

To my ears the deeper the body the better and deeper the tone. I know that's a monster of a generalization, but every time I have compared studio vs standard models, the standard model sounds better hands down - acoustically.

I have heard other people say the thicker neck gives the J50 a darker/meatier sound over the J45. I'll bet it's not your imagination.

Nope. Actually both my Gibsons were purchased used, because I could never afford a new one. I'm just a happy guy who likes being generally nice to people. What makes me sad though, is that a new guy joins this forum and posts an honest question, only to get quickly blasted with two negative responses, and has never revisited here since. Unfortunate. P.S. I'm also not very bright, sorry for the incorrect grammar(moot/Mute) There will certainly be more of those in the future.

Choosing to be negative on a Gibson forum, instead of being positive on the unofficial Martin forum……….. Boy, you must be miserable.

I played a 50’s Original J50 at my one locally owned Gibson dealer. Loved it. Congratulations and can’t wait to see yours!

I find it interesting how price is such a targeted topic against Gibson. Anything is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Otherwise money doesn’t exchange hands. Your same mute point could be made for buyers of coins, stamps, beanie babies, bottles of wine…………..

It’s the negative self image, negative view on life, and general unhappiness is what propels people to frequently think/post in a negative way. Anyone even moderately happy wouldn’t waste their time doing such things.

I have a J-15 that knocks my socks off. I feel the many similarities between the J-45 and the J-15 might cause me to never want to get a J-45. Up here I Maine I get to play a J-45 in GC about twice a year-maybe. So it’s hard for me to be able to compare them live. Any thoughts out there on how distinctive the J-45 is from the J-15?

One J45 + kids(plural) = who’s gonna get it?

Likely some impact, but having owned 3 newer ones and currently a 1963, honestly, it's not a guitar where you pick it up and think "there's some tone dampening happening here." If it's a dud, it's not b/c of the pickguards. We’ll, that’s a great case for pick guards not having that much affect on guitar’s sound. Always a controversial topic.

What do you guys think about all that pick guard material dampening the tone?

Wow. Ugly guitar. Fantastic picture.

Some of the Signature guitars are just ugly to me. I'm still trying to figure out the thinking behind the Tom Petty awful giant pick guard. I grew up loving Tom Petty, and I don't think that Pickguard represents him at all.

Saw a nice picture of hank williams with an SJ-200 recently. I think he played mostly Martins though.

I've read a few interviews of professional guitarists who said they wished they learned to have a lighter touch much earlier in their guitar careers. When I taught my kids how to play guitar, in the beginning I always told them to play the game of "How lightly can you fret the strings and still have them ring out." They all rolled their eyes at me, but I think it helped them.

This makes good sense. I'm going to do this.

I find that a light touch with my fretting hand has made the biggest difference with speed and accuracy of changing cords and flatpicking all over the neck, not to mention comfort in extended playing time. This was very difficult for me to learn to do on the guitar, as I'm a squeeze the hell out of everything kind of guy. (Which is why I will never be good at golf). But a tender touch on the strings with either hand has also really opened up my ability to express the same notes and chords in different ways, which has opened up a whole new aspect of guitar playing for me. Now that I've finally gotten good a setting up my own guitars, a light touch is all that's needed.

Some of us don't even have the option of getting out hands on multiple Gibsons to compare. There are two authorized dealers in the entire state of Maine. And one of them typically only has one or two gibsons at any given time. Neither of them ever have more than one of the same model.

Ha! My guess is that the colder wood takes on a more dense quality and therefore a more complex and sustaining tone.(?)

The pipe is due for a good brushing.

My guitars hang on the wall as well. So easy to grab and play when the mood hits. I do have a humidifier next to them and monitor the humidity. If they ever cracked I would never forgive myself. They are in a different part of the house than the stove. If I knew what condition combination that is making these guitars sing, I would absolutely try to reproduce it.

Thanks for the responses. Could it be that I'm hearing a more wet tone? I remember reading that a dryer tone is more desirable, but man these guitars have never sounded so good. I haven't even thought about the barometric pressure. It's been wet lately, which would mean a low pressure front, and maybe that combined with the cold livened up the resonance? Man, I hope this positive change doesn't go away.

Hello all. I live high up in the northeast where it is still pretty chilly, but we stopped making fires this week due to the damp conditions and bad draw out the chimney(we heat our house exclusively with a wood stove). So now the house sits at about 60-62 degrees until the weather warms up. Anyway, These last couple of days when playing my J15 and J185 quilt, I have noticed a definite increase in resonance, sustain, and overtones, even on the maple J185 - that guitar is killer. I am positive it's not my imagination. There's a definite difference. I have hygrometers close to every guitar so I know humidity is the same 50-55%. Strings are the same, same picks, same chair I sit in........all the same. I don't remember this happening during all of the other early springs, but maybe I just didn't catch the change. Am I crazy to think the 10 degree drop in temp. is improving the tone of my Gibbys? Anyone have an opinion on this, or similar experiences with their acoustics?