Jinder

Anne, this totally caught me off guard this morning and I’m unashamed to say I shed a tear or two. A beautiful rendition, really tender and heartfelt. I miss JP immensely, and was really torn up by his passing. His music has soundtracked so much of my life and his beauty and elegant economy as a writer has been something I have striven for since I first started putting songs together. The L-00 sounds great too!

I played a show in Glasgow in late 2019 with JJ Gilmour, who played one of these on the night. He let me play it for a while backstage, what a gem! So even and balanced, lovely snap to it but with a bloom to every note and wonderful, detailed overtones. As KB said, that’s a lifetime guitar. Enjoy!

Great to see you in these parts, BBG!! I absolutely love Clive’s playing. It’s lyrical, clever, beautiful and mischievous. He’s criminally underrated, possibly because he is unshowy and doesn’t seem to have much of a social media presence, he just lets the music do the talking. I’ve never met him, but have had the pleasure of sharing a few festival bills with him over the years. He’s a sensational live act.

I have seen an improvement in every guitar that I’ve removed the undersaddle pickup from...which is all of my acoustics! I use soundhole pickups, which to my ear sound a ton better than USTs. 185s are incredibly balanced guitars-this is often mistaken for a sterile tone compared to something big and boomy like a D35 or SJ200, but get it on a mic or in a mix and that tone is unbeatable. I have a Dove from 1995 which, compared with my gigantosaurus-toned Maple AJ, sounds a little neutral and undynamic. In the studio though, every producer and session client picks the Dove when they hear it on mic-it’s so balanced and wonderful in a mix. I would give the 185 time and try some different strings. They’re normally superb instruments...yours may be a duffer of course, but I’ve never met a bad one.

A Hummingbird had a shorter scale neck than a D35, so will have lower string tension and will be easier to play. The Hummingbirds I've owned have been amongst the most comfortable and easy to play guitars I've had the pleasure to tuck under my arm. In terms of comparison to the '60s Birds, I would argue that the modern Bozeman made guitars are the equal of anything Gibson has made since the '50s, and don't have the tonal vagaries of adjustable bridges and so forth. You'll likely be very happy with a contemporary Hummingbird, both in terms of playability and tone.

Buy the new one. You have comeback on it if you have any issues that way...the '01 looks nice, but in those pics it looks like it has a very low saddle, which would indicate a shallow neck angle and possibly a neck reset required, which would cost more than the $300 difference in asking price by some way.

Holy twelve year old necro-thread, Batman! Funny to read this so many years later. Still have an SJ200, Dove and Hummingbird by my side, although not the ones that I had many years ago...these are the keepers.

Beautiful herd of Dreads!! I'm partial to a dread or two myself (Dove, Maple AJ, '67 J45, Hummingbird 12...in fact the only guitars that aren't dreads in my herd are my SJ200, old Tak jumbo and little CF-100 copy) and love the look of your collection. I bet that Koa bird is killer!

Thankyou! I'm really relieved to have reclaimed my faculties somewhat playing wise. I think the time away maybe forced me out of some habitual playing routines, and some re-learning was required when I came back to the guitar which pushed me further from my old habits. The memory issues caused by scarring left where the brain abscesses were has, in some ways (always looking for the positive of course!) Been a blessing. I've developed a slightly different lexicon as a writer and the material I've written for what will be my next record is perhaps more relaxed and less overwrought that my recent output. The enforced break probably reinvigorated me more than I realised, mainly because there was some uncertainty as to whether I would be able to play/write/drive/walk/generally operate in the way I was prior to becoming unwell...thankfully, other than ongoing fatigue and periodic joint pain, it looks like I can do all of the above, which is a huge relief. It was a timely reminder of how much music means to me and how grateful I should be to be able to play and write. I was a little more burned out creatively than I realised, having put out two records last year, so the enforced layoff and the emotional rollercoaster that went with it certainly gave me plenty of food for thought as a writer!

I haven't tried the Hi-Beams but I will...they sound perfect for my Dove, which tends towards the warm side of the spectrum. I currently have Veritas on it which sound superb, but the Hi-Beams may add an extra few percent of sweetness. Will try and report back!

Optimas! That's it, not Ultimas...apologies, my memory isn't quite what it was 🤦‍♂️ The Optimas are weird strings...12-52 gauge, gold plated. I don't like the feel of them at all, and they sound decidedly odd on my SJ200. Very little sustain, which is strange as my 200 usually rings for days. I bought them on a whim as they were heavily discounted, but they're normally astonishingly expensive and, in my opinion, not worth the journey. The DR Veritas with the Xenon B and E are magic strings...the 11-52s sound beautiful on my Sigma CF-100 copy and my Dove. Very highly recommend those!

I don't normally get six months out of a set by any means...normally I get two or three gigs from them, or six weeks if it's not one of my live guitars. The timeline was skewed by the fact that after putting these on and doing one show with them, I was in hospital for a month then musically sidelined for another couple of months-I've only started playing my AJ again recently as my illness buggered up the connective tissue in my joints, so 12s and a long scale neck were "you shall not pass" territory for me until recently...accordingly, the strings essentially did one gig, then spent four months in the case!

As I've said many times in the past, I love the Sunrise. I've never heard or played a pickup that pleased me more, and I've tried more over the years than I care to remember. I run my Sunrise pickups into my Boss AD10 preamp, and that's my live tone. Sounds great on any stage, however good/bad/flat-out awful the FOH rig is. I find the the Sunrise much less vulnerable to poor quality PA gear than piezos and similar-it seems to retain a solidity and detail whatever you run it through. Love 'em! Pickups are SO personal a choice and deeply subjective to the player and the playing style, though. I very much like the K&K Pure Minis that I have in my Hummingbird 12 string and '67 J45, but the K&K is a bit of a delicate flower with feedback susceptibility and always requires a "feedback buster" style soundhole cover. I find good quality passive magnetic pickups better suited to my playing and a bit more versatile. I cover a lot of bases in my playing and the Sunrise (plus honourable mentions to the Fishman Blackstack and Seymour Duncan MagMic) will go with me, wherever I wander off to stylistically.

I just wanted to share my experience with these strings...I ordered a set on a whim last Summer, 12-54s, and slung them on my beloved Maple AJ. They were a little bright to start with, and I wasn't overly impressed out of the gate. I played a show with them (the last gig I played to date, last October, in the brief window here in the UK when live music was permitted between lockdowns), and two days later was admitted to hospital, where I was stuck for a month as an inpatient and a further month as an outpatient. Since being discharged, I spent most of my time playing my little Sigma CF-100 copy with 11s on it to build my hands back up...recently, though, I've been building strength in my hands and have been picking up my big guitars with 12s again, particularly my AJ which is perhaps my favourite guitar of all. Now, after being on the guitar for six months, the Tommy signature strings are absolutely incendiary. So expressive and toneful, very quick response (the AJ is quick anyway, but still...), the perfect blend of definition and warmth, no dead spots, just glorious tone up and down the neck everywhere. Soft feel too, they handle more like 11s under the fretting hand. I could play this guitar with these strings ALL DAY. Will definitely be getting some more sets in, I'm keen to try them on my SJ200 after my experiment with the bizarre gold-plated Ultimas that are currently incumbent is mercifully over. I'd recommend the TEs to anyone. So impressed!

It's a handsome guitar and I'm sure it will sound superb, but what is the deal with these weird "orange peel" lacquer finishes that Gibson have been using on certain acoustics recently? I am all for gloss, satin or matt finishes, but I keep seeing the type of finish beading/pooling that usually indicates silicone ingress prior to spraying, which is very visible on the headstock of this guitar. Is this a vintage correct spec lacquer or just curious finishing practice?

This kind of thing is so subjective. It doesn't matter whether it would bother US, what matters is whether it bothers YOU. Personally, I haven't bought a guitar new for quite a while...even the ones I own that I was the first purchaser of (2015 SJ200 and 2016 Maple AJ) were kicking around in stores for a year or two before I liberated 'em, so I am used to dings and dents. All of my guitars are road instruments so tend to show their age after a couple of years anyway. That sort of thing wouldn't trouble me at all, but I'm not you. All of my blather is irrelevant compared to your experience-if you bought your J45 as a home use instrument to be kept pristine or an investment-grade keeper/heirloom, you're absolutely right to be aggrieved by that spot that you can't keep your eye away from. I know exactly how it is...that fixation on the one thing that isn't quite right can drive you insane. If you can't live with it, I'd recommend returning it and seeking a replacement from your dealer. Make sure you play them side by side first though so you don't trade a slightly cosmetically imperfect tonal dreamboat for a pristine duffer!

The Matrix Infinity is a great pickup. I used them for a decade or so until I was very kindly gifted a Sunrise by Buc and had my head turned forever by the world of mags. I found the Infinity into the Fishman Aura 16 pre to be a genuinely great sounding rig. I prefer the unplugged tone of my guitars sans UST, and don't miss sorting the string balance issues that were always present at installation, but tonally they were-and are-very good. Even without the Aura they're still more than capable of holding their own.

Have you changed the strings since it arrived? If you're used to using strings such as Elixirs or similar coated wires, something like fresh 80/20s may sound a little clanky against recently polished frets in comparison. My recommendation would be to treat it to a new set of your usual strings, and see how differently you feel once they've been played in. I'd bet the farm that it's unfamiliar strings throwing you off.

In other news, apologies for threadjacking. I owned a J15 and really loved it. One of the "ones that got away"...wish I still had it. I predict a gradual rise in used prices if Gibson don't reintroduce them.

The thing is, guitar manufacturers trade in aspiration, as I wrote in a post a few weeks ago...look at it from a business perspective-if a 16yr old kid with a summer job can buy a Gibson off the peg for $750, why would they be motivated to upgrade further down the line, when so much of the strange, liminal romance that young players have with guitars is based around the name on the headstock, and the dream of owning one of the guitars their heroes play/played? I love "real" Martins, but don't dig the cheap HPL/Stratabond/Micarta/Laminate recipe Mexican offerings. I've never played one that felt or sounded like it deserved the name on the headstock. Just my take on it. I feel like they cheapen the brand somewhat. Call them a Martian or a Matinée or something...they're nowhere near the same league as an OM18 or D35, not even in the same county. They're not terrible, by any means, but if an Epi isn't a Gibson, an HPL Mexican Martin isn't a Martin. FWIW, I feel that Gibson have got the ladder of aspiration set just right with Epiphone as the subsidiary brand. That kid with their summer job money can buy an basic Epi Dove, Hummingbird of J45, wail on it and be happy...when they start gigging and making some extra money that way, they can ramp up to the all-solid Inspired By Gibson range, of which the J45, Hummingbird and SJ200 are excellent value for money, or the Masterbilt line, all of which sound and play like pro, working musician level instruments. Not Gibsons, but very serviceable guitars nonetheless. From there, after a couple of years of working the bars, clubs and small venues, maybe that aspirational picker is really starting to live the dream, make some decent money and thinks "I'm going to trade in my Epi for the real thing, I've done the hard yards and I deserve a Gibson", and the ladder of aspiration has been climbed, with said picker brand-loyal all the way up. I'm not for one moment suggesting that anyone has to do any "paid my dues" bunkum to buy a Gibson (hell, if you can afford something-anything-you want, just buy the damn thing!), Just giving an example of how the stairway of aspiration thing works in business terms. If you make someone's dreams come true for nickels and dimes, why would they ever spend the big folding money?

C-Ville has always looked beautiful to me...have never visited but my friend Devon Sproule lived and played there for a long time.

I think this especially applies to the vaguery of Gibson specs...my J180 was cherry red, had J185 parallelogram inlays and was the same depth as a J185! It did have the 180 pickguards, but overall was a sort of mishmash of the two models. A nice sounding and unique looking instrument though, and a great live guitar with excellent feedback rejection thanks to the large pickguards.

These are GREAT guitars. I've been after one of the Iron Mountain J60s in Adi/Maple for years...whenever I've had the money in hand, I haven't been able to find one. My AJ Flame Deluxe and Dove scratch my Maple dread itch now, but the J60s in all flavours are absolutely spectacular instruments. I very nearly bought a '93 in Rosewood a couple of years ago, but the action was unusually high and I was concerned that it may have a broken truss rod, so regretfully passed on it. It sounded stellar though...one day.

So much better on mobile now!! Hurrah!

Interesting to revisit this necro-thread. Rather perplexing to see a few folks complaining/musing that the J200Jr doesn't have the same deep well of clear bass that an SJ200 has. The name and decoration aside, they're VERY different guitars. I've played J200Jrs and L200s, and owned a J180, and none of them sound anything like an SJ200 at all...the Jr is a glorious guitar in its own right, but the name is something of a misnomer I think. Buying a Jr and hoping for it to sound like it's 17" namesake is a bit like buying a Westie and keeping your fingers crossed that it will bark like a St. Bernard. One thing is for sure, though...this thread has really re-ignited my desire to own a J185. I really enjoyed my J180 and was very sorry to part with it, so I definitely see another 16" jumbo in my future.