J-185 Red Spruce

[docr]

 

 

My "NOS" J-185 Red Spruce Limited Edition has arrived yesterday. Why "NOS"? I bought it from a guitar store in Berlin from the showroom, but it is a 2015 modell and it is a new guitar.

 

Does anybody know more about die J-185 Red Spruce Limited Edition(s)? My research in the WWW gave some information from stores which had a J-185 and some information about the number of guitars which have been in the "limited" series. They differ between 40, 50 and 75 - or have there been more limited runs? There could be another production in 2013. My guitar is clearly from 2015 as the inspection proctoll shows.

 

The second question is about the "Certificate of Authenticity" which was in the case. The first certificate I have got for a Gibson acoustic. Who´s signature is on the certificate (photo is attached)?

 

They made a good job in 2015, a nice and compared to a SJ200 or Dove really lightweight instrument. It´s my only guitar with a red spruce top, looks very goood. The maple of the sides an back is not as spectacular as the maple of my Dove and SJ200, but that´s fine for me. Sound is the main thing and my first tests showed me that the J-185 is not as loud as a SJ200 (not very surprising related to the body size) or a dreadnought, but the guitar has a faster reaction, the mid and high strings have a good resolution, the bass is ok, but not as mighty as for example on my Southern Jumbo (by the way - the top of my 2018 Southern Jumbo looks quite similar to the J-185 top, but the SJ has a sitka spruce top). Fingerpicking makes a lot of fun on the J-185 and strumming sounds very good if you do not have to compete with louder instruments.

 

I hope that historians of the forum members can answer my questions. Thank you!