Label question

[RichG]

EDIT.....Just found some old threads on this.

 

Thanks

 

Rich

[Mojorule]

Of course it's tempting to write that the significance of the label colours is primarily that Gibson is an 'inconsistent' manufacturer. Or to be really facetious and say that orange means that the guitar is good (i.e. mine has an orange label too), while white means that it is a dog. But of course there are many absolutely stunning J45 Standards out there with white labels, and I believe there is even some logic to the distribution of different colour labels. The logic is pretty arcane, though, as I remember - which I only vaguely do. What my vague memory is telling me is that Standard series guitars (J45 Standard, Hummingbird Standard, etc.) come with a white label. Meanwhile Custom Shop guitars, which as we now know are neither necessarily custom-ordered nor customized in Bozeman, but in fact usually made on the standard production line with different features from the Standard series, receive an orange label. Not all guitars with orange labels are Custom Shop models, however. If my memory serves me well, all signature models also receive orange labels, though not all of them are classed as Custom Shop models. Your Sheryl is both a Custom Shop guitar and a signature model, so it is doubly orange. My Woody Guthrie, meanwhile, is anything but a Custom Shop model, but still qualifies as a signature model because it was endorsed from beyond the grave. As a result it too has a lovely orange label. Your AJ is more of a puzzle, but I have a hunch that there is no AJ in the Standard series, with the result that it automatically qualifies as a Custom Shop model, and is blessed with an orange label too. TV Series guitars have an orange label, and I believe generally now come without any Custom Shop logo on the back of the headstock (if they ever did). I think they qualify as Custom Shop because they are not Standard series. There may be a further difference between Custom line and Custom Shop line models (both still opposed to custom-ordered models), which means that some get the logo on the back of the headstock while others don't. But at this point my memory no longer serves. As a rule of thumb, if it has Grover kidney tuners, it probably has a white label, and if it has Klusons or Waverley/vintage Grovers, it probably has an orange label. Unless it's a J35. Oh, I give up. My Gibson electric has a white label, and it's every bit as good as the Woody.

[Smurfbird]

I have no idea why, but my Southern Jumbo has an Orange Label despite no mention of being a Custom Shop, while my 2003 Sheryl Crow C&W is signed but with a white label. My standard J-200 and Dove both have white labels.

[RichG]

Thanks. I guess you got to read my post before I did the edit. I think my AJ was a "5 Star Exclusive" whatever that means in the big pictiue, so perhaps that explains the orange.

 

Rich

[Sitedrifter]

On sweetwater.com all standards have plain white labels. All the limited or special editions have red labels or white labels with a gold ribbon.

[J-1854Me]

Just wait till they introduce green labels, for those guitars built using sustainable woods.....