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What do you think is the best acoustic guitar Gibson makes?


guitarlegends1

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Continuing Ramblers maple-section, let's not forget the Firebird Custom. Extraordinary good dreadnought guitar.

 

 

Would have mentioned that relatively new release anyway - frankly think it flies over the Dove. .

 

 

Still there is no 'best' -

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Maybe it is a fig newton of my imagination but it does seem in the past decade prices on 1940s and early 1950s Gibsons has really jumped. Even six or so years ago I could snag a 1954 J-45 in the mid- to upper-$3,000s all day long. A 1955-1959 guitar could be had for under $2800.

 

Anyway, from where I stand when it comes to J-45/50/SJ the best I have ever played all were built between 1942 and 1949.

 

In terms of new guitars I would probably go with the Jackson Browne (without electronics) guitar. After that I have always thought the Woody Gurhrie and Kris Kristofferson SJs were extremely nice guitars. Why they would sound better than a run of the mill SJ though, I do not have a clue. Just an impression I walked away with.

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Even six or so years ago I could snag a 1954 J-45 in the mid- to upper-$3,000s all day long. A 1955-1959 guitar could be had for under $2800.

 

I just saw a '53 J45 for $2800 over the weekend...looked nice but I wondered if it had been oversprayed....it was kind of shiny. I don't know that era of guitars well enough to make an informed decision so I left it...

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I can only go by what I have played and heard, but I would have to say the Hummingbird, followed by the Songwriter deluxe as a really, really close, 1, and 1A

 

to my ears anyway, and out of the seven Gibson Acoustics I have played. The Songwriter has some tones that I think are better than the Hummingbird, and the Hummingbird has an edge in a couple of tones over the Songwriter, so they are close to me.

 

 

 

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The great thing about Gibson is that they make a guitar that suits pretty much any style of music and player - you just have to find the one that suits you!

 

For me it's my little L-1: not a guitar for everybody by any means, but it perfectly fits my playing style and I love the tone of the H bracing, a nice compromise between the quick attack of a ladder braced guitar and the sweeter, more articulate sound of an X braced guitar. For a more versatile option, I vote for the L-00.

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1441384612[/url]' post='1691043']

Belly Down Bridge? Rosette looks a little strange, and the pick guard. This looks pretty modified to my untrained eyes. This one does not blow my hair back, but this one does. Played it a few weeks ago, but at $8,000 I probably will shy away. http://www.williesgu...s/7/inventory/7

 

Stunning guitar J50s msp_thumbup.gif

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Yeah, I think literally any Gibson can be considered their best, depending on who you ask. I don't believe there is any one guitar that is "best." There's really no "holy grail" when it comes to guitars. For me, we're all looking at and reading about other guitars and what people think of them. That's our primary reason for being here: guitars. If we'd already found the "best" or the "holy grail," so many of us wouldn't have multiple guitars and still keeping an eye open for the next one. I do think that the Hummingbird is Gibson's most iconic guitar. I think lots of people who have little or no knowledge in regards to guitars are likely to associate any guitar called a "Hummingbird" with Gibsons. In music circles, you'll find many, maybe most who also know about the J200, J45, etc. also.

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With the way I nose around the internet like a weirdo, perhaps the appropriate answer to the question is more like, "The best guitar is the one you want"!

 

I do think my Hummingbird is pretty tough to beat for me, but so is my J-15! Doesn't stop me from thinking about an SJ-100 or 200 sometime in the next five years though... yikes

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Thanks for pointing that out, Rambler. I think I read right through the plugged-in part, but to me the answers stay similar to what's already been said. Depends on the sound you like and what you think of the guitar over all. We plug-in our favorite and find out if it stays our favorite once we've added/subtracted highs, lows, mids, bass, added a bit of chorus, reverb and all that stuff the actual guitar doesn't naturally have. It becomes more an issue of how good our pickup and mixer/speakers are. Besides, once we plug-in (and if we've got the right equipment) a guitar can sound like a lot of things (mandolin, piano, banjo, uke). Even just the right preamp or DI can make a huge difference. ....This afternoon at my weekly gig, I played my 1944 Regal parlor guitar. I used one of those pickups that sticks to the guitar top, ran it through a lr baggs aura into my Roland Street Cube. For a couple hours, it was my best guitar...lol.....All kidding aside, I think the inherit sound of a guitar becomes almost irrelevant once I start using the electronics....Just my view.

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Note the the OP is asking for the best Gibson for plugged in stage use. Not the 'best evah." That still gives a bit of lattitude but maybe we could better focus our suggestions?

 

 

Went over my head as well. I have never bought a guitar with onboard electronics and probably never will. For me it comes down to playing through a mic and a PA or a guitar with a magnetic soundhole pickup. So pretty much any Gibson can earn the title of "the best."

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Have to take you back quite a few years when I saw and listened to the Hummingbird for the first time . Unforgettable moment and the guy was an amazing guitarist , not strummed but fingerpicked it just sang .Also Ralph Mc Tells Old Gibson takes some beating to my ears , saw him on the island a couple of years back stunning sounds and songs [thumbup] just listen to "From Clare to Here ".If you asked me for the best all rounder it has to be the simple but complex sounding J45

 

And here the great man is - http://www.gettyimag...photo/169178431 [thumbup]

 

His quote about his J45

"I’m wedded to an old Gibson J-45, one of the finest for accompanying vocals, which I bought in 1966. I’m going to have a new fretboard put on – its third – and that one’ll be a little wider than at present. It’s been messed about so much that it has no intrinsic value, but it’s priceless to me"

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to me the answers stay similar to what's already been said... .all kidding aside, I think the inherit sound of a guitar becomes almost irrelevant once I start using the electronics....Just my view.
Well, a lot of us dig J45s and their kin, they are surely versitle, you can strum em or fignerpick em, but they dont have the wallop on rhythm that one gets from and HB or J200, or the chop of a J200 or Everly J180 (that's why you have the occasional comments here and there on the board that J45's are thin). At the end of the day, yes, its down to preferences, but I do think it helps to focus on what the OP is after.
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Rambler, I guess we just have to disagree and we can live with that. The original post asked about the best Gibson acoustic, and "ideally" it would be one that plugs-in. Every guitar can be plugged-in or mic'ed. To me, what they sound like using electronics is a totally different discussion from the best acoustic......Regarding the J45s sounding thin---those people have never played mine. ........Anyway, this is a good thread.

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I guess I didn't overlook the OP's added criteria that it 'sound good plugged in', I merely discounted it as irrelevant. If the focus is on the electronic-ized sound - the discussion should be of Les Pauls, Marshall Amps, etc. If it is 'acoustic' - then, as many here have already pointed out - you can put some kind of a pickup in any acoustic, and then do all sorts of things (good, bad and ugly) to the sound. But, if you're shopping for 'the best sounding Gibson ACOUSTIC' . the amp part should play second fiddle to that main criteria. Who wants an acoustic that sounds like crap unplugged, but has to fiddle with wires and tubes and transducers to get 'the best sound' ?

To use a hyperolic violin metaphor - it would be like asking "Which is the best Stradivarius ... amplified?"

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The one you have in your hands. Many of you have several Gibsons, be they acoustic or acoustic/electric. You play them all, some more than others and I will bet that you feel they are all the best guitars that Gibson makes. As for me, I have one and it is the best guitar that Gibson makes or made for me, my J-35. [thumbup]

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