Twang Gang

Saw one of these advertised for sale, about $7200 so roughly double the price of a non-artist 335.

No offense, but ghost or not, that is one ugly looking Les Paul. The pale green body with black knobs, maple board and black headstock - nothing seems to fit together. Oh well to each his own. Never heard of "ghost" builds before so can't offer any advice on values.

I don't play bass so have no idea, but try e-mailing customer service instead of tech support and you might at least get a reply.

I live about 20 minutes from Clemson and the best thing about this game for us is that one of those teams is going to have a loss on their record!! Maybe that will get Clemson back in the top four rankings. I realize Clemson's schedule has not had tough opponents - but those schedules are written in stone years in advance. Not sure all the criteria they use to make the rankings, but hard to understand how the National Champion who remains undefeated all season is not in the top four to make the playoff. Next few weeks in college football will be interesting. Have fun at the game!!

A year ago almost to the day I bought a new Taylor 814 CE with the V class bracing, and it was everything that it was advertised to be, but I just never bonded with it for some reason. I had gone from their Grand Concert size to a Grand Auditorium and the tone and punch I was looking for just wasn't there. No point in having an expensive guitar sitting in the case all the time so I went on a quest for a new acoustic. Solution - SJ200 Standard: Spruce top, maple back/sides, two piece maple neck, rosewood board, tusq nut and bridge pins - this is what an acoustic should sound like to me. It has an LR Baggs Anthem system which I haven't quite got dialed in yet, but only fooled with it less than an hour so it will get there. I traded the Taylor in as well as a LP I didn't play much anymore so very little out of pocket and now I have an acoustic that I will really look forward to playing. 😎

You must be playing pretty loud if a Blues Jr. is drowning out a Bose system in your kitchen. The Bose you have is very good - just turn down the guitar you should get along fine with that. But if you must get more I agree with the others above. My band uses powered speakers and a mixing board. We have electronic drums so that volume is easily controlled - everything goes through the mixer and then is sent to the powered speakers adjusted for volume depending on the venue.

Well my dilemma was solved. The guitar center that is closer to me (still over an hour drive) had a J-45 Standard (mahogany) and a studio (walnut) and a SJ200 Standard (maple) so I went over there to try them out. Turns out they didn't have the J-45 Walnut as it had just sold in the past few days. I played the J-45 Standard and it was very nice but then I played the SJ200 Standard and it was all over but the cryin'. I traded a Taylor I had bought a year ago but never bonded with, and a Les Paul that I didn't play much anymore and was happy with the deal. So here she is: I really like the tone - I have had maple body acoustics before and this is mellower sounding and the guitar is lighter than I expected for a maple body. So very happy and comfortable with Gibson neck, rosewood board, gold grovers etc. ☺️

Generally a trade-in value of any used guitar is about half what you paid for it originally. If you sell it on your own maybe 75% of original price. Each case is different so that may not hold true for your guitar. You can look on e-bay and reverb and some other sites that sell used guitars and see what other are asking for the same model - although what they ask and what they actually sell for can be different. There are a bunch of them on Reverb right now and the asking prices range from about $1400 to $2000.

Very cool. I really need to work on my right hand strumming ☹️

Thanks ALD for your advice. What you say about the walnut tone is pretty much what I imagined the differences would be. I would have GC ship me one, but I want to trade in another guitar so that doesn't work. I found a J-45 walnut as well as a Hummingbird walnut at a GC that is a couple hours drive from me. I think I will go over there and play them and see how I like the tone and if the walnut sounds good to me then I may have the SJ200 shipped to a store where I can then go and trade in my other acoustic. Thanks again I appreciate your response.

I am interested in an SJ200 Studio which has a spruce top, but a walnut back and sides. Wondering if anyone has played one and what the tone is like compared to a maple body or a rosewood? I have a solid body guitar that has a sapele back and a walnut top, and it has a darker woodier tone than similar guitars with mahogany body and maple top. The SJ-200 also has a walnut fingerboard and of all the guitars I've owned they were either ebony, rosewood, or maple fingerboards. There are no guitar shops near me stocking this model for me to go and try out so wondering if anyone has any experience with the tone of them. I like the slightly simpler look of the studio and see that the body is a little slimmer than an old school SJ200. Plus the studio is quite a bit less expensive than the Vintage, Deluxe, or Standard. I realize tone is subjective to each individual, but any help would be appreciated.

I have liked Taylor Swift for quite a long time - not that teenage angst "break-up songs" as she referred to them are my thing. Bob Taylor recognized her as a talent (and marketing tool) many years ago and started giving her guitars and even making signature TS model guitars to sell as well as making some custom models for her to use on stage. First time I've seen her play a Gibson, and didn't know she played piano as well. Two things I like about her; first, she writes her own songs (not too many pop stars doing that these days) and second when she performs she seems to genuinely get lost in the song and feel it. Maybe that isn't the case in the big production concerts where it is more about the look and glitz of the performance, but seems to come through in this type setting. Refreshing and enjoyable.

As I stated I know little about drumming, just an observation of mine over the years. No question there are many great ones using the matched grip, Bonham being one of my all time favorites as well.

I think all you can do is find as many as you can and try to play them. There were great mid-sixties 335s and great Norlin era 335s, there were also some that were not so great. You just need to find one that feels right to you and it really doesn't matter which year it was built. Guitars are not great investments overall so that shouldn't be a primary consideration - you might find one that goes up in value, you might not. The future of the guitar market is fickle at best. Just try to find one that you enjoy playing as much as the 125 you found and the value will be in the playing and making music with it.

That is an odd problem I have not heard of before. Suggest taking pictures of the guitar (with serial number) and then a shot with the saddles out and the bent screws and send those to Gibson. To avoid having to ship the guitar back to them etc. they might just send you a set of screws?

Ever notice how many great drummers held the stick in the left hand with the palm up? That was the old school way all drummers played at one time, I think Ringo Starr popularized the both palms down method. Looks like Mitch switched a few times during this solo, but most of the time the left hand was palm up. I just always paid more attention to a palm up drummer as I figured he might be a little more old school and been at it longer or was taught by an old school teacher. Not that I know the first thing about drumming methods, but just an observation over the years.

I saw him a couple times in later years. One he had a larger band (with horns and girl back-up singers etc) and that was really entertaining. Might that have been the 10 Years Later? Also saw him once with just a 3 piece and if I recall his son was playing drums.

No, say it ain't so Pip.😲 We need your voice of wisdom and factual info on this forum!!

Fun Series to watch. I didn't know who to root for as the Astros beat the Yankees (anyone beating NY is OK with me) and being a lifelong Cub fan I liked that Washington beat St. Loui in four straight. So it was fun to watch and not be too concerned about who won. Weird that neither team could win a home game. Washington fans think it a really big deal because it's this franchises first World Series in 50 years. Us Cub fans know what it's like to go more than 100 years between WS wins!!

The "Big Red Story" interesting. I was not at Woodstock, but saw the film a few times. Saw Ten Years After in Person a few times after 1970 and didn't recall there being a Bigsby on the guitar. Turns out he removed it late 69 so I'm not crazy ☺️

Looks legit to me 👍

OK, now that I see the COA - I don't think you have a problem. I though all it said was ES55. What you have there describes the guitar just fine. And yes I think that second to last letter is an M for Maestro.

In a word - NO - not at that price. You can probably find a nicer one for less.

I'd be a little wary of this guitar. Not that it's a fake Gibson at all, but why change the finish from Trans-purple to a Goldtop? The back has a few dings (not unusual for a almost 30 year old guitar), but what happened to the front that it needed refinishing? There are lots of used Goldtops out there if that is what you are looking for. If it plays and sounds good I guess no worries, but I'd just be reluctant as when you go to trade or sell it potential buyers are going to wonder why it needed a refinish.

MT - I'm afraid you've gone to the dark side. That guitar is very pointy looking, and only has one volume and tone control - scary 😲 Sounds like fun though so enjoy it. It does certainly have an interesting finish. Interesting to see how long a $600 guitar lasts, could be we've all been spending more than we needed to?