Jinder

If you are looking for an acoustic amp with a view to playing out at some point, I absolutely recommend the AER Compact 60. I’ve owned so many amps over the years and the AER is so far ahead of everything else on the market. It’s great for guitar AND vocals-something that all other amps struggle with at meaningful levels-and the build quality is astonishingly good. I’ve had my C60 for several years and have used it at every show I’ve played since then. I play for a living and regularly do 3-6 shows a week, and it’s been in and out of cars, vans, buses, trains, plane holds etc etc and has never missed a beat. For small to medium sized shows I use it as my sole source of sound reinforcement (I’ve used it this way for everything from house gigs to 800 capacity rooms with a seated and quiet audience) and for theatre/arts centre shows I use it as my guitar monitor and DI. The DI in the Compact 60 is the best sounding and most clean DI I’ve come across, and regularly gets compliments from sound engineers who enjoy working with it. They’re not cheap, but it’s an amp that sounds stellar and will last forever. Super light and portable too. Cannot recommend AER highly enough!

Wow, that looks gorgeous with the SJ200 style pickguard! I had a J15 for quite a while, I traded it for a J180 which was nice but not as nice as the J15, which in retrospect was one of the best slope dreads I’ve ever owned. They’re an incredible bargain for what they are. Yours is the best looking one I’ve seen, love it!

I used D’Addario 12-53 on my L-00s. Anything heavier than 12s seem like too much input for such a small bodied instrument. To be honest I really enjoy 11s on my CF-100 copy, specifically Thomastik-Infeld Spectrums.

Gluing and cleating is definitely the solution…if you’re like me, you’ll overthink it for a bit when you get the guitar back, and convince yourself it sounds different, put it in the case and worry about it for a while…then take it out and fall in love with it all over again, and forget the repair was ever done! I’ve seen plenty of side cracks happen to other players due to keys in the pocket. Mahogany can be fragile when cut and sanded thinly for sides, my Martin D18GE prototype had a key crack when it came back to me recently, after I bought it back from a friend I’d sold it to during the Covid ordeal. I didn’t make a fuss about it as he’s a lovely guy and knew he’d feel guilty/responsible…I glued and cleated it myself, and I never think about it now. It’s strong and has stayed a stable repair so I’m happy.

Hey Buc! Great to see you. Hope you’re well. Looks like a wise swerve on that guitar, as beautiful and rare as it is. Would have suited you if it was in better shape!

It can certainly be done-I’ve recently seen this J45 that had a 2005 neck grafted on by Robbie Gladwell. Likely affects resale value, but also makes the guitar more valuable than one with no neck!

The factory setup (which, as you said, is supposed to be 6/64 and 4/64, but wasn’t for the OP’s guitar) is the ballpark in which I set up all my guitars-it’s a sweet spot that works for me. I play a mixture of flatpicking, hybrid, strumming, fingerstyle, lead, slide, allsorts. I absolutely agree that, as a setup guitars should be shipped with, it’s a starting point that will work for many players but allows wiggle room for those who like a lower action and wish for their guitar to be worked on to achieve that. I appreciate that a new guitar will need a setup according to the preferences of the player, but 8/64 and 6/64 (more than, according to the OP) is really too high for anything other than slide or, depending on action at the nut, first position cowboy chords. That sort of action will send intonation out of whack anywhere north of the 5th fret. I can’t help but wonder if that guitar was put aside for online sales as it was unsuitable to be put up for an in-store demo. The end result is that the OP was shipped a guitar which was uncomfortable to play and didn’t sound very good. Weird resonance, hard to play. Obviously everyone likes to tweak things to their liking, but after dropping a couple of Gs on a guitar it should at least be somewhere near usable. Instruments seem to be the only commodity that can be sold from new in a state that’s bordering on unusable, with the end user being expected to sort them out. It’s very curious and something I’ve never really been able to get on terms with. I love my Gibsons and have always been/will always be a Gibson player, but can say objectively that Gibson acoustic guitars tend to be the most extreme examples of this.

I wish Gibson could get on top of this stuff. That’s unreasonably/unusably high action for a new guitar. Not a single player I know would actually pick up a guitar with an action of 8/64 and 6/64 (3.2mm and 2.4mm for those of us on this side of the pond) and say “let’s go!”. Even 6/64 on the bottom E at the 12th is too much for some people, and is considered a medium/high action in Lutherie terms. It’s not hard to put a basic factory setup with a playable action on a guitar just prior to the QC stage of manufacturing, takes about 10 mins per instrument. Given that Gibson are charging a premium for something that is considered a high end instrument, shipping a guitar with an unplayable action is totally unacceptable. That odd low E is something I heard a few years ago on a 2014 “Brown Top” J45 which had a gigantic neck. Sort of a booming, vibrating wolf note at the low E. Made the guitar quite unbalanced and odd to play.

Beautiful! I’ve owned a few L-00s and enjoyed each one on its own merits. They’re very toneful and user friendly little beasts! My small body fix has been supplied for the last few years by a Sigma copy of a CF-100, which unexpectedly blew me away when I tried it out. Having said that, I will own another L-00 one day. They’re special machines. Enjoy!

My Dove has immaculate intonation, the best I’ve ever experienced in an acoustic guitar. I can’t find a duff note anywhere…it has had a bridge replacement in the past though. My SJ200 is a bit snicketty but is due a refret, so pulls sharp in places. Getting that sorted asap. ‘67 J45 gets wonky above the 7th, but is also due a luthier visit as the bridge is lifting a tiny bit. He’ll get it straightened out. My D18GE Prototype has superb intonation despite a medium action and worn frets…no idea why, but despite appearing to need fettling, it gets a great deal of work during sessions and always sound fabulous on record. I’ve had some Gibsons that intonate horribly though…they seem a bit unpredictable intonation wise.

As Em7 wisely said, Doves ARE amazing, and I’ve never come across a guitar that records anywhere near as well as my Dove does. It was the only acoustic guitar I used on my most recent record, it’s just perfect under a mic-so articulate and balanced. Gets out of the way of vocals and just fills the gaps in a mix with marvellous musicality. Mine is a ‘95, natural finish top with red back and sides as usual…I LOVE that red burst top though! What a score!

If I was amplifying a new Gibson and wanted a non-invasive install, I’d go with the new(ish) Baggs Hi-Fi. Similar to a K&K but active, great sound and super lightweight. No glue etc, will need the endpin hole reaming to accept the strapjack but that’s it. They are relatively feedback resistant and are very natural sounding. I’m seriously considering putting one in my SJ200.

It doesn’t get any better than that…absolutely stunning!! Thanks Murph 😎

Indeed, you have to wonder why an artist of her magnitude doesn’t have an endorsement deal-maybe Gibson aren’t doing that nowadays but I’m sure she would qualify. There are people who live in my house who don’t know who I am, so I’m sure GP is more popular than that!!

My workhorse guitars for pub/club/function gigs (two Takamines) get a fresh set of Ernie Ball Everlasts every four gigs. The guitars I use for my theatre/arts centre gigs (SJ200 and Dove) get restrung as and when they need it, but usually every two or three shows. Those usually get regular non-coated D’Addario or DRs. The others (Martin D18GE, ‘67 J45, Sigma CF100 copy) usually get a fresh set of whatever they like best around every 3-4 months, depending on what session work they’re needed for.

It’s not uncommon, I’ve had a couple of guitars with similar lacquer separation on the headstock wings. It’s not necessarily a sign of anything-just three different pieces of wood that are joined together and can shrink/change shape at will and at different rates. Wood is an organic thing of course and is an unpredictable thing!

Another downtuner here! Eb standard for me. 13-56 strings down a half step is one hell of a sweet spot in terms of tone, playability and string longevity. Just try it and see what happens!

Absolutely agree with this. In fact, I used my ‘95 Dove for everything on my new record…it was all I needed. The Maple banner in this video sounds heavenly to me-a real winner!

I really liked my J165. Great little guitar. Maple or Rosewood, they are sweet and toneful. Usefully compact, too. Would make a great guitar for flyaway gigs or travel otherwise.

Thanks Murph! I had so much fun making that record, did the whole thing in three days-one day of rehearsal, one day of tracking and one day of mixing. I’d just gotten divorced and was living in my car at the time (I was on the road a lot so it was easier than renting a room that would be empty most of the time), so decamped to my parents’ spare bedroom and recorded it there with some rudimentary kit. A super happy and creative time, even though life had thrown me through a flaming hoop or two!

The good news is you will LOVE your J180. If you dig the Everlys, there is no guitar that will get you there quite like a 180. I had a cherry red one, super cool guitar and so iconic with the twin pickguards! I’d drop Gibson an email and ask about the eta of your M2M order. I’d imagine you’re counting the days, I know I would be!

Well that is certainly a curious one…the neck looks to have been changed at some point (different headstock shape, obviously different logo, truss rod is further away from the nut than usual) and the bridge has certainly been changed (the pyramid shouldered bridge is not a Gibson design, was common to early Martins and Chicago built instruments such as Lyon & Healy, Washburn etc), but the body looks like a ‘40s-ish J50. Intriguing instrument! Do you have any more history on it?

I borrowed an Amistar built Regal Tricone for a blues/roots album I made back in 2017, and that thing was GREAT. A little more trashy and less honey drenched than the National Tri, but still complex and rich with loads of sustain. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was second best to a National, just different. Having played both, if money was no object I’d probably pick the National for build quality but there isn’t much in it, honestly. Listen here:

Bit of a derail here (apologies Anne!) but I am a huge fan of G7th capos. The company was started by my friend Nick Campling who is a fantastic human being and a really innovative chap. I’ve used their capos since the original Performance came out in 2004 and I never play live with anything else. The ART system on the Heritage and Performance 3 capos is brilliant when you want to capo up and go without having to retune between songs. If you do a lot of bending, the light touch of the ART system may not be best suited…I’d recommend the Performance 2 or Newport for that. The latter is particularly tension-adjustable so may suit best. Nick is quite a picker-he and I have bought and sold guitars with one another a few times over the years and he owns some stellar kit, including some from John Pearse’s private collection. Wonderful guy.

This post has intrigued me…having done some sleuthing online it appears it’s very much a case of “they all do that, Sir” when it comes to the Indonesian Frontiers. That said, I don’t believe it would cause a tuning stability issue in practice-if you tune all strings from low E to high E, it should effectively be quite stable. If you’re dropping the low E to drop E, it could be worth checking the A after downtuning, but I always retune the whole instrument after dropping into altered tunings as everything changes in terms of neck tension. If you dig the Frontier, I’d just keep it and live with it. The String Butler is a good idea. The other option is to have a luthier fill the low and high E tuner holes and move those two machineheads out a little way. Some colour matched staining and a fresh coat of lacquer on the headstock faceplate and the job would be pretty much invisible. Would be 2hrs work max for a good luthier. Of course the above would invalidate any warranty but we’re not talking about a massively big ticket guitar. If you love it, modding it a little is no biggie. I’ve done allsorts to my guitars to get them exactly where i want them, and it’s so worth doing rather than falling out of love with an otherwise great instrument.