[J35 hype or for real]

Threr all THAT and a bag of chips. The J-35 is a perfect giging guitar.

[Gibson String Height]

I believe that as much as I believe that the nut on my Advanced Jumbo grew in transit making the guitar play horribly sharp below the first five frets. Maybe it hit puberty.

And yet you bought it anyway.

[Gibson String Height]

The action on my new HB seems fairly high especially as it moves up the fret board. The 12th fret measures 9/64ths with no strings depressed. It's around 3/64ths on the first fret. Is this high? My Taylor seems to much lower.

If you installed med gauge strings on your Humingbird it could raise the action. Gibson ships the Humingbird with light strings.

[Gibson String Height]

I know for a fact that Gibson QC lacks some times and that their acoustic guitars tend to come with higher then normal action as seen on just about every Gibson hanging in my 5*. Where as the same 5* has a dozen Taylors which all have low action. Taylor is laser accurate on their guitars across the board with all their specs but Gibson is more on the hand finished end of things so specs will tend to wander. My 416 measured 3/32 out of the box where my J200 was 5 to 6/32 when my tech initially set it up to 3/32 (which was too low for me BTW). My SWD was pretty close to the same before I installed a new TUSQ saddle I had laying around and it is now at 7 to 8/64s where I like it.

 

In my observations which are based on personal experience and reviewing over a dozen Gibsons and Taylors, I find it hard to believe that one can say Gibson would never ship a guitar with a high action setup.

Gibson , would not ship a guitar out of the factory with 9/64 bass 3/64 treble action.

[Gibson String Height]

Bryn,

 

That's really interesting. But I have to say, I've never been in a guitar shop with both Martins and Gibsons where the string height has been the same. New Gibsons are nearly always higher than the other brands.

 

Taylors are the only ones that consistently set like a Telecaster.

Taylor guitars may sometimes have a lower action but a properly adjusted Gibson or Martin acoustic will play/sound just as good. I'm a Taylor guitar guy but It is hard to beat a Gibson that is set up right. There is somthing about the smell and feel of a Gibson that has me hooked. I just bought a Gibson Les Paul Standard two months ago. My next acoustic guitar will be a Gibson. I have been looking at a J-45 true Vintage or a Country Western Sheryl Crow but I played a Gibson Songwriter Deluxe (no cut away) that really spoke to me the other day. I also played a Dove that was amazing but the price is out of my comfort zone and it was just to pretty, Flame maple everywere.

[Gibson String Height]

Bryn6490, I assume those measurements are not using a capo to depress any strings and measuring from the fret to the underside of the string, correct?

You are correct, the measurments are without a capo.

[Gibson String Height]

String height on a Gibson acoustic guitar should be 4/64 at trebile side and 6/64 at the bass side measured at the 12th fret when set at the Gibson factory. It's odd that the treble side is below spec and the bass side is way above spec. Either there is too much neck relief,too much humidity for your guitar, someone filed the saddle wrong. somthing is in the saddle slot and the saddle is not all the way in the slot, or your guitar needs a neck reset. Gibson would not ship a guitar from the factory with the set up this bad. Factory set string height for a Taylor guitar is 3/64-4/64 on the treble side and 5/64-6/64 on bass side. Martin guitars set the action at 4/64 on treble side and 6/64 on bass side.

[What's your Les Paul's name?]

Here are some pictures of Beaulah. Beaulah means bride.