Lars68 Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 Lars, Gibson hasn't communicated with me about the project since returning my guitars. So, I now get information the same way you do: on this forum. A while back, someone here posted information that the replicas (limited to 50 guitars) of my SJ will be available this fall. But, again, I've not had an email inquiry returned in a very long time. Interesting, to put it nicely. I recently instituted a project with another leading acoustic guitar company (a guitar for James Burton as part of the Buddy Holly Educational Foundation that I formed). That has been a very different experience. The company's CEO and founder has communicated with me directly, courteously, and efficiently. A very different experience from that of the Banner Gibson project. John, I'm glad that it seems like your SJ will be reissued. However, I am sad to hear about the circumstances... Lars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bram99 Posted October 13, 2013 Author Share Posted October 13, 2013 I have a few questions. I tried to look this guitar up on the Gibson website, but nothing there. If custom orders are no longer, did this one just appear out of thin air? Ordered before the custom orders were cancelled? Back door productions? Specs? Price? Details? NADA. BluesKing777. This is a five star dealer exclusive limited production of 50 and is part of John Thomas's Banner guitar series for the Kalamazoo Gals Book and companion CD. I don't think any of the limited run guitars are showing up on the web site......When John described his project here and the MV upcoming list was posted on this forum showing a mahogany banner LG-2, I just kept calling around. I have a great five star dealer who was able to find out as soon as I could get an order in, and I put my money down about a month ago. As I learned some of the details on this model, I did not think it was appropriate for me to get ahead the Gibson marketing dept. by broadly announcing it on the forum, but I did PM a bunch of folks about features, cost and availability here who were in the conversation a while back. I am not sure word is out on these yet so I bet they are not all spoken for. This little gal is everything you think she would be...so if you are even thinking about it, I would call your five star dealer tomorrow. If I recall correctly...$3875 retail $2999 MAP....I got it out the door with taxes for just under $3k. That may seem like a lot, but I think Gibson really went for it with this one in every detail. Every feature of a Gibson acoustic is executed better on this guitar when compared to my other LG-2 or J-45TV or ones that I've seen in the shop. The neck wood is straight grained and perfectly quarter sawed, the open book headstock has the cleanest cut and finish I have ever seen....someone even took the time to bevel the edges of the standard Gibson pick guard (funny too because this is the first time I think the standard Gibson pick guard color looks good on a guitar). The fretboard and bridge have the nicest pieces of East Indian Rosewood...perfectly straight parallel grain ..Yesterday the sun was out so I took some more pics in better light that better show the color and wood on this guitar....I will post those later this morning. The big neck on this guitar is great...it is as if the Kep Mo neck (1.8") was squeezed down the the standard 1.725 resulting in a soft V.... It is full in the hand like the KebMo neck, but steeper angles give it a soft V at the nut which gradually transitions to a rounded C around the 7th fret....just lovely. Up until yesterday I was convinced that the LG-2 is just the coolest guitar there is (and most under appreciated in the broader guitar market). Now that I have this all mahogany version, I think I need to see if my son has been putting his socks in my other LG-2. This baby just rings. It is so responsive and clear. It is hard to describe but for finger picking it is like it has an on and off switch....so quick and so articulate....but you can really make it sustain and hold single clear ringing notes. Some of us on this forum have talked about the ability of an LG-2 to produce a haunting echo like reverb sustained (too many adjectives) sound that pulls you in. On my other LG-2 that sweet spot is around the 5-9 frets on the G, B and e strings...on this guitar you can pull that tone from everywhere....hard to describe, but if you have an LG-2 you might know what I mean.... We all gush over our "keepers" when we get a new guitar.....but this is a very special and unique guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bram99 Posted October 13, 2013 Author Share Posted October 13, 2013 Here are some more pics..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpbiii Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 Well maybe. Both Martin and Gibson have always used mahogany tops on their lower end guitars. We have quite a lot of mahogany top guitars -- our 1942 LG-2 above, a 1929 L-0, and four different Martin 17s: 33, 34, 43, and 55. We also had a 1957 LG-0 which I gave to my son. Now we are guitar lovers, and we love these too. But historically, the market has not judged these to be too special -- and their are perceivable reasons for this. As it turns out, we also have spruce top versions of these same guitars -- 00-18 and 0-18 from 32, 33, 33, (37, 37, 41 Hs) and 52 and 26 L-1, 31 L-2, 35 L-00, 39HG-00, 46 LG-2, 52 CF-100 (basically a fancy LG-2) , and 59 LG-1. For those of you who are into old guitars, you can see for every mahogany topped guitar we have a very similar (body and bracing) spruce top guitar(s). The real reason we collect guitars is so we can do comparisons like this -- and we have. Now like I said, we love mahogany topped guitars -- but we would never argue they are somehow better that their spruce topped brothers, which generally deserve their historical accolades. Overall in our experience, the mahogany guitars have a tone that is thinner and brighter than their spruce topped brothers. This is not a secret -- this as been conventional wisdom for at least 70 years. There are certainly genres and music where this tonality excels and far be it from me to argue you should go with the flow -- I never do. I am really glad you like your new guitar -- I know you will make great music with it. I guess a place where we thing our 42 LG-1 works well, as well as our ladder braced LG-1 is on folk revival era (sort of) ragtime. All the best, -Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry K Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 I'd like to try that. Looks lovely. I was surprised when they went with a mahogany topped LG-2. I probably would have bought one if it were spruce. My impressions of those tops are similar to tpblii. Also sorry to hear about the cavalier treatment of the whole exercise by whoever at Gibson was in charge of the project with jt. I guess the GM got fired and all sorts of priorities must have gotten scrambled. Hope they get their act together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bram99 Posted October 13, 2013 Author Share Posted October 13, 2013 Well maybe. Both Martin and Gibson have always used mahogany tops on their lower end guitars. We have quite a lot of mahogany top guitars -- our 1942 LG-2 above, a 1929 L-0, and four different Martin 17s: 33, 34, 43, and 55. We also had a 1957 LG-0 which I gave to my son. Now we are guitar lovers, and we love these too. But historically, the market has not judged these to be too special -- and their are perceivable reasons for this. As it turns out, we also have spruce top versions of these same guitars -- 00-18 and 0-18 from 32, 33, 33, (37, 37, 41 Hs) and 52 and 26 L-1, 31 L-2, 35 L-00, 39HG-00, 46 LG-2, 52 CF-100 (basically a fancy LG-2) , and 59 LG-1. For those of you who are into old guitars, you can see for every mahogany topped guitar we have a very similar (body and bracing) spruce top guitar(s). The real reason we collect guitars is so we can do comparisons like this -- and we have. Now like I said, we love mahogany topped guitars -- but we would never argue they are somehow better that their spruce topped brothers, which generally deserve their historical accolades. Overall in our experience, the mahogany guitars have a tone that is thinner and brighter than their spruce topped brothers. This is not a secret -- this as been conventional wisdom for at least 70 years. There are certainly genres and music where this tonality excels and far be it from me to argue you should go with the flow -- I never do. I am really glad you like your new guitar -- I know you will make great music with it. I guess a place where we thing our 42 LG-1 works well, as well as our ladder braced LG-1 is on folk revival era (sort of) ragtime. All the best, -Tom I have a more limited perspective than you, so I appreciate your wisdom and comments on the much larger context in which mahogany top guitars are evaluated. By unique I was not implying better...I mean uncommon. Gibson Montana is producing top quality guitars today and this is a small body mahogany top with historic specs but produced with that modern Gibson Montana flavor. I am not aware of anything else that brings that combination together. By special I mean...I feel like I can just throw my fingers at this and it plays clean and pretty. I play finger style with no nails or thumb picks, so I am experiencing a very different tone than what you are playing in your video. (I really enjoy your videos by the way). I am not hearing ragtime in mine.... I think it is going to draw me down the Blues road more than anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bram99 Posted October 13, 2013 Author Share Posted October 13, 2013 I'd like to try that. Looks lovely. I was surprised when they went with a mahogany topped LG-2. I probably would have bought one if it were spruce. My impressions of those tops are similar to tpblii. When they come out with a similar guitar with an adirondack spruce top, I will be the first in line. Then I will have Sitka, Adi, and hog topped LG-2s and experience guitar Nirvana. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuanCarlosVejar Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 WOW that's the best custom shop gibson I've seen them do this year ! JC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 This is a five star dealer exclusive limited production of 50 and is part of John Thomas's Banner guitar series for the Kalamazoo Gals Book and companion CD. I don't think any of the limited run guitars are showing up on the web site......When John described his project here and the MV upcoming list was posted on this forum showing a mahogany banner LG-2, I just kept calling around. I have a great five star dealer who was able to find out as soon as I could get an order in, and I put my money down about a month ago. Aha! I am going to get my '59 LG3 out for a strum in a minute.....all this LG talk....turn off the work and pluck! BluesKing777 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6stringTom Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 That's a beautiful guitar. I love the mahogany. Although I'm a fan of Gibson's sunbursts, this one stands out with a beautiful clear finish that should age nicely. I would be interested in knowing more of the history of mahogany-topped guitars. Are there any other woods that are used for back, sides, and top? (I have an all-maple reso, but I don't consider that in the same category.) I find myself wondering who first thought to try Mahogany as a top wood, and why it has continued to be used mostly for small-body guitars--and mostly guitars that are on the lower end of the price range, at least for regular production runs. Such speculation aside, congratulations on getting a stunning guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpbiii Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 I am not hearing ragtime in mine.... I think it is going to draw me down the Blues road more than anything. I was not saying that as a general statement -- it was just our personal motivation for making that particular comparison video. I think your guitar would probably make a great blues guitar -- in fact the conventional wisdom for years has been that mahogany topped guitars are good blues guitars. Music comes from the combination of the musician and the guitar, and I have often been effected by the touch of the Master's hand -- changing my mind because of someone else's take -- and music -- on a guitar. All the best, -Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 Are there any other woods that are used for back, sides, and top? Martin's all koa wood 00-18K was first produced in 1917. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 When they come out with a similar guitar with an adirondack spruce top, I will be the first in line. So is your order in for the adi-topped sunbust Americana LG-2? Four of them are now in stock at Sweetwater. It would look pretty darn cool next to your mahogany version! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisM Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 So is your order in for the adi-topped sunbust Americana LG-2? Four of them are now in stock at Sweetwater. It would look pretty darn cool next to your mahogany version! Weird headstock logo and tuners.......and wrong pickguard placement!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 I share Brian/Bram99's appreciation for all-mahogany guitars. I suspect that anyone who thinks of all-mahogany guitars as instruments primarily for the blues hasn't spent enough time listening to Nick Drake play his all-mahogany Guild. The guitar is a perfect compliment to Nick's sensitive, almost ethereal presentation. Quite the opposite of blues. I believe that all-mahogany guitars have become associated with blues because being cheaper made them more easily available to the blues-playing demographic of the 1930s and 1940s. But, to my ears, the instruments are far more versatile and I'd choose a spruce topped L-00 for blues and a mahogany-topped L-0 equivalent for complex, articulate instrumental fingerpicking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gypsyseven Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Wow, that thing looks damn nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ or Burst Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 Blonde mahogany make me feel warm and happy. I'd love to help you break that sweet guitar in. Enjoy your pretty new best friend, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matters Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 I played one of these the other day. Huge neck! But I really liked it. Congratulations on the new guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
music4love Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Very nice. I would really like the opportunity to audition one of these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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