62burst

Congrats- should make a sweet couch guitar that also packs some serious eye candy. Beautiful condition, too. One of these had my interest for quite a while. Looking forward to hearing your impressions.

The deep bodied short scalers like the Stage Deluxe Rosewood seemed to be the right formula for producing good bass, but that depth of sound without any great projection is of little use. Of what use is great bass if it doesn’t project it cleanly.? (check the clarity of bass on a maple J-185 just for grins)

Set a straight edge on top of your frets & see where it contacts the bridge- I'm betting' your J-45R has a great neck angle, and the saddle height & resulting string break makes for some fairly decent dynamics. . . that stuff is also a big part of the equation when combined with the slope shoulder body design of the J-45.

That is the price of white table cloths. Well, one of the prices. Pretty much.

Very nice photo of a guitar that often gets relegated to Acoustic Underdog status when getting caught up in the comparo craziness of so many a/b comparisons. The 180 series can do their tone and bring attention-grabbing appearance to a performance. When getting lost in doing a little "guitar therapy", sometimes it's the player, not the guitar. Here, Peter Schilmöller shows how a J-180 Everly can do more than Wake up Little Susie (P. gets a pass for coming down with some guitar face- he's just enjoying the guitar):

Is drilling into the fretboard to install the pickup’s pole pieces an option? Looks to be a fairly haphazard install- amazing the drilling for the low E pole didn’t split the ‘board. Then there’s the effectiveness transmitting (partially) through wood (?). Also- no center strip on back ? Even the ply ‘160’s had ‘em.

There is full gloss under the 'guard. 'Woof- was it you that had some info about the graphics being on the underside of the pickguard on the Hummingbirds, etc, in the early 1960's ?

Nice photo, Mo’Pic. . . very “worldly”. The photo off to your shoulder is a good one, too. Boats made for open water. . . Pacific ? Many will say that the thick flubberguard dampens the sound too much, but it did have an advantage when it was used on the Hummingbird. It’s the flubber.

A massive undertaking, Gumbino. And re-stringing four guitars? Who does that? Even two minutes each in a comparo as broad as what you've offered up would've satisfied the most ardent fan of a/b's. Yes, tuning down to the D throws off the ear that is accustomed to Standard tuning, and is kinder to the long scale instruments, but next to each other, some favorites do emerge. People would've lost their minds if this was made as a blind tape guessing game, to be offered later with the video of who was who. The long scale Dove does keep it crisp in the de-tune. I've come back to liking the dry sound, and that J-45 V represents it so well. The big '200- such a round, big smooth sound. And that super sweet short scale Hummingbird Vintage has a very special place here. Thanks for putting all of that together.

Good info, Juan Carlos. Reminded me that I heard about Ren's development of the Songwriter. . . this video, straight from Ren (with Tony P.), explains the Custom Line to Songwriter lineage in the first 4 minutes:

Definitely. Having dings nicely spread across the top really takes the pressure off. . . ‘woulda felt bad if I’d done that myself. Looks like an Elvis impersonator wearing a few rings had it.

Yes, gotta expect Emin7 to answer an NGD with a request for a sight &/or sound. ; ) . And, yes, sold the 2007 200TV- it was a 5-yr old new old stock when I got it. It went to a very good home. Got a 185TV from Japan. Won't be getting any more of Bozeman's finest from there again. . . it's a wonderful guitar- shapely, comfy, with the round sound of a jumbo and life-of-the-party good looks, but return shipping on a guitar's misrepresented condition from half way 'round the world makes it a "you bought it, you're keeping it" situation.

That's when you know- it's simply a matter of time. Congrats on the Dove- that back does look amazing. Judging by the grooves in the fingertips in photo 1, you're already having a blast with it. (I'll be lucky if I get out of this whole Gibson thing without getting a Dove). Enjoy. 😀. That had me wondering, too.

Sorry, but after searching videos and photos, doesn't look like there's a photo of the static cling guard over the Bird graphics. I do know that I'd played many a jam with it, and it's presence was never noticed by any of the (other) guitar geeks.

Rumor has it that when designing the original pick guard, Hartford Snyder had spec'ed for Panzer paint to be used for coloring his design, but that just might be an acoustic urban legend. Lacquer is quite fickle- you can clean the pickguard glue off of a guitar's top when replacing the 'guard, but I wouldn't risk it not attacking the paint on modern Hummingbird graphics. I also wanted to keep fingers from wearing off the design, so I purchased some clear static cling pickguard material off of eBay. Worked fine. 'Wasn't too critical about getting the air bubbles out. . . as a matter of fact, I kinda liked the mosaic pattern that resulted. I lifted the clear film after a few months to make sure it wasn't attacking the paint. All good. It wasn't pulled off until I sold the guitar a few years later- no damage, and the new owner got a pristine-looking pickguard on their new 'Bird. screen capture from a Bozeman tour that was posted on YouTube: Congrats on the incoming Hummingbird- post a pic!

'Don't know how I missed that. Good one, Lars. . . . and it's wrapped in You've Got a Friend" wrapping paper.

'Read your post a few times- the strings all uniformly going flat is fairly common. . . and that would draw attention away from a closer examination of the tuners. How long have these strings been on the guitar? Since you'd mentioned sore fingers, are you just getting back into playing? There are a few tricks that can help settle down new strings. . . I like to stretch them in, from the bridge to almost the first few frets. . . to the extent of preferring to stretch a string down, rather than touching a tuner when the string is sharp (especially the G). But you also mention occasionally all strings uniformly going sharp? That's more uncommon, and it would normally point to swings in humidity, as Murph had mentioned. Do you keep it out on the stand? Near HVAC or a doorway? Just throwing out some ideas. Nice looking Dove.

Curious, yet very studious of you to research that in forum archives. I could've sworn I'd mentioned "orgy of overtones" as a reason for parting ways with my D-41. Then again, maybe not. But, to return to Grace- is this how Bonnie Raitt came across back in the day?

Or vice versa. D.Dan- good news/bad news: your guitar got relic'ed by Grace Potter. Maybe she's saving up for a J-45 of her own. Or maybe she can get the deal that Mr Jinder had, and get Gibson to have her as an endorser, and provide her with a guitar.

It's all about punctuation on that one. Gotta watch for that pesky autofill on our devices, these days.

Certainly sounds like the case here- many people remove the battery prior to shipping to lessen the likelihood of it coming loose and bouncing around inside the guitar. Hopefully it was just the battery bag that had come loose. Congrats on the NGD, and remember- pics of the new J-45, or it didn't happen!

yes. I'd say treb roll off. Keep the vol knob at least -> 80%, and dial it back at the amp.

Yes, had to look at the strings to believe it wasn't butter. Especially the all-hog or koa 000. Good to see several acoustic food groups represented. The last minute was a bit like some of the groups who had multiple guitars doing the same overlapping leads. Must've been a definite workout on an acoustic.

Have you decoded the serial #, or maybe the final inspection checklist date so see just exactly how fresh this guitar is? Also- it would be good to know relative humidity. Or, if you were in the southwestern US. Or high altitude. You should be ok with that- just watch humidity levels for a while, esp. with such a new lacquer finish. You can have a look inside the guitar with a UV light/lamp. . . it'll give you some information. . . maybe too much information. ; ).