Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

Traded a VERY sweet guitar, for a VERY sweet guitar today.....


onewilyfool

Recommended Posts

Got a very nice J-45 True Voice custom A-3 today.....Man, this pickup on this guitar is very true-to-acoustic sounding I must say.....Now off to play til my fingers bleed!!!

 

IMG_5821.jpg

 

 

Gibson J-45 Pure Voice A3

 

Strings: 6 string

Body Shape: Jumbo

Construction / Acoustic: Full Solid

Colour / Finish: Vintage Sunburst

Finish: High Gloss

Top: Adirondack Spruce (AA Grade)

Back / Sides: Mahogany

Neck: Mahogany

Fretboard: Rosewood

Fretboard Inlays: Dots

Nut Width: 44 mm

Saddle/Cross piece inlay: Bone

Bridge: Rosewood

Tuning Machines: Gold grover rotomatic

Rosette: triple Ring

Nut: black graphite

Pickup Details: Pure Voice A3

Pre-amp system: Gibson

Controls: Volume- and Tone-Control

Hardcase

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I came REAL close to buying one of those. Very nice guitar. I ended up buying the SCSJ and then putting the Trance Amulet system in the AJ I already owned to solve the plug in problem. Really impressed with the Trance system.

 

Congratulations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll tell ya - the Trance Audio Amulet really is the "bees-knees", love both of mine, about to add a third. So many folks default to K&K as the standard best pickup, and never having owned one, I can't really say - but I find it hard to believe there's anything beter out there - I'll bet my bottom dollar that most K&K advocates have never tried the Trance in person. Would love to find a valid A/B. That J-45 Custom - does that mean Rosewood? Sweeeeet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Trance. No contest.

 

I recently got the Trance system too. All of a sudden I want to play plugged in which I haven't been doing.

I did have the K&K in a Martin 000-28EC and I was impressed with it but not like this Trance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Soooooo, now I need a break for my fingers, and can type some of my observations:

1. Beautiful Sunburst , much nicer in person than in that pic! No one better than Gibson on these bursts!

2. Nice touch on the B&W truss rod cover with "Custom" script

3. This is a 2012 guitar and clearly, by this time the factory has gone with the lazer cut "Gibson" script logo. VERY tight tolerances, no fill, neat as a whistle.

4. Note: pickguard is located so that the rosette is fully visible, which I like very muck...just like the old days.....

5. Speaking of pick guard, this one has a nice bevel at the edges, which I also appreciate. Looks more finished, less cheap than the square edge pickguard on my AJ.

6. I changed the plastic bridge pins for bone, like the increased brightness of the sound. Also changed the D'Addarios for Elixir 80/20's, much easier on the hands AND a lot brighter since the old strings WERE old indeed.

7. This guitar is a SWEET strummer, better than my AJ. Not a cannon like the AJ, but beautiful tone. Bass and mids very strong, easy to do bass runs without heavy attack. this a great acoustic guitar, BUT

8. This guitar REALLY shines plugged in. And this is why I got it. I've been playing at my cafe gigs, with my small amp, just to add some "fullness" to the guitar, and to save my fingers from having to play so hard to be heard over the cafe "din" of coffee prep. This pickup, and the amplified sound, are virtually the same....the guitar sounds the same acoustically AND amped. I turn the volume up on my little amp, just so I can hear the acoustic over the pickup, and it works perfectly! Gibson really knocked it out the park with this Pup!

9. I like the white/black/white/black multi layer edge trim on this one. My AJ has simple white band. This one looks a lot more finished

10. The gold open back grover tuners took a little getting used to. I just look at any sunburst Gibson and I want white knobs on the tuners....just seems to go hand in hand. That being said, the tuners work perfectly, I'm getting used to them.

11. Graphite nut...my friend says, that the strings slide better in the grapite grooves???? Who knows, it does take some getting used to visually, as I'm so used to seeing bone or white plastic.

 

So,I'll play a little before I hit the sack, but needed the finger break, and wanted to summarize my impressions....thanks for all the congrats, guys!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My Martin Custom 00-18V......very sweet guitar....I wanted to get something a little more powerful and with a great pick-up system, I think I did....

 

Martinfront.jpg

 

As much as I love Martins, their bursts are terrible....nobody does bursts better than Gibson.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I forgot to add.....This one is REAL mahogany, every time I open the case, it just smells so good!

 

 

I DO love that smell. I keep my L-OO Legend case closed all the time, just for that wonderful smell when you open it up. I actually associate that smell with Cuban mahogany, which seems to be a bit more fragrant than Honduras. Not sure what mahogany species Gibson is using these days, but it has a wonderful aroma.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I DO love that smell. I keep my L-OO Legend case closed all the time, just for that wonderful smell when you open it up. I actually associate that smell with Cuban mahogany, which seems to be a bit more fragrant than Honduras. Not sure what mahogany species Gibson is using these days, but it has a wonderful aroma.

I hear ya Nick.....I'm not sure of species or country of origin, but I much prefer Mahogany to Sapalle, and African Mahogany, and other species that are being passed off as Mahogany. I know Mahogany is under stress from world demand, but there is nothing quite like it. I read somewhere that the demand on world's supply of woods from guitars is only about 1% of production. Furniture, construction materials, etc. making up the rest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...