bobouz

A beautiful instrument - well done!

A return to the use of ebony vs the Richlite era? Nice.

Shades of the 1970s Epiphone-Japan bolt-on necks!

Seeing as I’m partial to maple acoustics & the DIF is one of the few square-shouldered models I like, I’d very seriously consider it. Two very different guitars, but fun to ponder.

Jim is correct, that’s where you should find it - but sometimes the ink can be almost totally faded out.

Apparently some very nice stuff coming out. Thankfully, my current collection covers the bases quite well & GAS ⛽️ is in remission!

Indeed!

Martin has recently had systemic problems with bindings popping loose at the waist, and new instruments needing neck resets after only a few years. And these are on 28 thru 45-Series instruments, not the entry level stuff. Pick your poison - Gibsons tend to have minor finish issues, but not all. I have a number of Gibson electrics and acoustics with no flaws. That said & speaking to your particular issue, twenty years ago I bought a new J-100extra. A lovely instrument that I still have, I didn't notice until sometime down the road that there was a slight crease in the back of the neck that could only be seen under light. It was simply a matter of how the neck had been shaped by hand at the factory. I then of course could feel it once I'd seen it. This immediately bugged the heck out of me, being the OCD creature that I am. But I liked the guitar too much to let it go because of such a minor issue, so twenty years later, the only time I think about it is if I happen to notice it under the light - and my next thought is, "I can't believe I ever let that bother me." If you can't live with it & want to keep the guitar, the only thing I would try at home would be to work the area with Virtuoso Cleaner. Used with a rather heavy hand (on a clean & soft cotton cloth), Virtuoso will act as a mild abrasive and will slowly cut into the finish. It's a crapshoot - if you are skilled, you might level it out to be sufficiently satisfied. But there's the risk that you might make it more uneven, or possibly break through the finish & go down to the wood. Personally, I'd leave it as & enjoy the heck out of it for the next twenty years!

Nice to see another red-knob fan! Yes, the tube Super 60 is excellent, as is it's sibling, the Super 210. All the red-knobs I have were made in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Some were also made in Corona, but the majority I've run across have the LO serial number, whether tube or SS.

Models sold by Gibson with a VOS finish are named as such in their marketing. For example: ES-330 VOS, J-50 VOS, etc. It's a very specific treatment, but unfortunately a seller could try to pass the term off as anything they want. That said, BBP's descriptor above is right on the money. The idea is to open the case and have a new guitar which convincingly looks like it's an old guitar that's been stored under the bed since the '50s or 60's - Not beat to death as is sometimes seen with "reliced" pieces. I have a natural finish 2012 ES-330 VOS (Gibson's first ES-330 done with a VOS finish). It's supposed to mirror the look of a 1959 ES-330. Personally, my feeling is that the VOS finish is most effective when applied to a natural (blonde) guitar. I have indeed had people look at mine and think it was a very clean vintage piece (not that I care one way or another). But where the VOS finish looses me is when it's applied to a sunburst or red guitar. In those finishes, to my eye it just looks rather dull & lifeless, so it becomes somewhat of an odd effect that's not quite as convincing in terms of looking like a vintage closet queen (imho).

Those very rarely come up for sale, as they were only produced for a couple of years. I used to own the Korean version that Gibson put out after discontinuing the Terada (Japan) Elitist version. It remained in the lineup for a number of years (mine was a 2010), and it was quite well made by the Unsung factory. Most importantly, it came with the same USA-made Gibson P-94 pickups. If you happen upon one, it would be worth a look.

Yes, it's legit. AldoMcD1 has pretty much nailed all the key info above. When this model first came out, I believe the asking price was $1299, perhaps even a bit less. By 2009, the price was $1495 (the year I bought mine). By 2018, it was still available for $2199. Then it went out of production. Quite a few people on Reverb try to sell the Elite/Elitist Casino for a lot more, but they often go for around $1200-$1300. With yours being stamped used & having gone through MIRC with the stickered serial numbers, If I had to throw out a number, an asking price of $1100 would seem fair, and I'd be happy getting anything north of $1000 for it.

Never have liked shaming comedy, especially when the one doing the shaming is drinking from the exact same trough. Additionally, a lot of those folks he's shaming choose to give back to society in meaningful ways. Does he? Like any group of people with wealth, such as pro sports stars, some use their gobs of money to generously give back to their communities & others do not. Imho, trying to paint any group of people with the same brush misses the mark badly.

I'm after a super clean sound for Merle Travis/Chet Atkins style fingerpicking. After a lot of trial & error, I've settled on an assortment of Fender Red Knob USA-made amps from the '90s (both tube & SS), combined with a variety of Eminence speakers (Patriot & Legend series).

Jay - The various forums here on this site have gone through numerous cycles of people. You'll find a few cranky ones on any site, but the vast majority who post here are helpful folks. There's a lot of knowledge to be shared & enjoyed..... Welcome!

Well, that makes two of us that have put it together, but it was easy for me per contact in other forums - Hence the “welcome back” in another thread.

As a kid in the ‘60s, I was much more into the blues-oriented early releases by the Stones, Yardbirds, Animals, Kinks, Them (Van Morrison), etc. Imho, the Beatles were more Bubble-Gummish by comparison. However when Rubber Soul came out (US version), it hooked me in & it remains my favorite Beatles album. I think growing up with their work as it was released would tend to strike the listener quite differently, compared to having it all in front of you at once in the ‘70s or later.

Indeed, the most glaring “problem” is the price tag!

Congrats on a lovely guitar! Oh, and welcome back!

I'd much rather leave the future in the hands of a bunch of young informed & involved tree-huggers, as opposed to a bunch of young keyboard-glued & game-playing dolts who basically eat, crap, and sleep day after day. There's a lot of World that needs to be saved. If walnut helps just a little bit - Bravo!

I had a 2014 J-15 that was one of the earliest ones made. I thought it had a wonderfully full & robust tone - more in the ballpark of maple with this particular example. As much as I liked it, it had a lot in common with my 2002 J-45 Rosewood (which still beat it out tonally) & that made it expendable. When something came along a few months ago that I absolutely had to have, the J-15 was sold to fuel the GAS. Imho, the bottom line is that walnut has the potential to sound darn good - but they've got to be assessed piece by piece, as always.

Looks very nice! Just curious - was it built in Nashville or Memphis?

In 1971 at the age of twenty, a friend showed me a few chords & a fingerpicking pattern. Within days, I bought a new Yamaha FG-160.

The J-50 was a regular production model from 1999 into the mid 2000s. It appears in the ‘99, ‘01, and ‘03 catalogs. I bought one new in 2001. There also have been a number of recent special runs. I have a gloss Custom Shop J-50 from 2015,, and later a VOS version was released.

Since I happen to have both a J-50 and a J-185, it was rather easy to spot that the guard on this guitar is virtually identical to a J-45/J-50 pickguard. I’m wondering if perhaps the original guard peeled & was replaced. Easy to change out if you choose to, but regardless, it’s a beautiful guitar.