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Fullers J35ri vs J45TV


skippy

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I for one find it kind of hard to keep straight all of Gibson's nomenclature for different series of their various guitar models. Could you please remind me what the differences are between TV and VOS?

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about 600 bucks' date=' i think. [/quote'] Lol. Besides that? The J35: red spruce top. V Neck. 30s appointments (rect. bridge, open back tuners). Punchy tone. 45TV: sitka. fat C. 40s appts (belly bridge, closed tuners/plastic), glassier tone, more or less.

 

Both a nice pieces, so it really gets down to things like playing style, with the 35 getting the nod for old time music, rags, blues (not that the TV would sound bad for any of these); the 45 sings out for folk, Lightnin' Hopkins, Buddy Holly & the Fabs. Oth, if you play rock, you might want something else entirely!

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I've been wondering about this myself, as I have a Fuller's J35ri, but would like to a J45TV, as well. I can't fnd a J45 TV red spruce top edition locally, so I can't comment on the sound. I'll tell you what I know, and think I know about the differences.

 

Contrary to what one of the other posters said, the TV is available with either a sitka or red spruce top. The Fuller's J35 (if it is a new model) has a red spruce top.

 

Both the TV and Fuller's Vintage J35 models have AJ bracing, from what I can tell. However, that term seems to be used rather loosely by both Gibson and the online retailers, so I can't say for sure whether the bracing is the same. When I use an inspection mirror to compare my J35 with my AJ, the bracing certainly seems the same.

 

The J35 has the AJ style bridge, which is thicker on the bass side. The TV has a belly up bridge.

 

The J35's neck is fairly chunky (at least mine is). I would not call it a V shape. My Epiphone Masterbilt AJ500RC has a very pronounced V. I also have a maple bodied, short-scale AJ, and that one has a neck that is more of a soft V, with a french heel (the type of neck that some of the very first late '30s J35s did indeed have). The J35 I have has a more rounded neck, and feels bigger to me than my standard AJ's neck, which feels flatter to me.

 

The J35 has the old-style headstock, without the wings, and script logo. The TV has the bigger headstock, block logo, and banner decal, or course. The pickguards are both firestripe, but are shaped different, as the TV has the tearpshaped guard, as was original on the first J45s. The J35 has the guard that follows the countours of the body, like on an AJ.

 

My J35 doesn't have a black headstock veneer, either. I don't know if they are all like this, but mine is wood grain, and is stained about the same color as the fretboard. That veneer is long grained, so it may be rosewood, but I don't know exactly.

 

My J35 was sprayed with a different burst pattern, more like the OJ's, though I have seen some that have the more familiar style Gibson burst, like the TV has. The J35's finish is not aged, though, while I THINK the J45 Red Spuce TV is scuffed up a bit, and an aged toner is used to darken the binding. I'm not certain about that, though.

 

Again, I'm sorry to be unable to compare the sound of the two. That's what I'd like to know more about, too. I will say the J35 sounds wonderful. It's a very dynamic instrument, sensitive when fingerpicked. Sparkling high end (but not a thin sounding guitar by any means). It has more low end than the short scale maple AJ, but is livelier sounding than the long-scale rosewood AJ I have. Very clear note seperation, and admiriable sustain.

 

The three guitars in my AJ family all sound similar, but if I had to use short descriptions, I's day the J35 is a big, sunny sound, the AJ is darker, and the maple AJ punchier, for what ever that's worth.

 

A final note: I don't think the Fuller's J35 is supposed to be a literal recreation of a 1939 J35. For one, the logo inlay is in white pearl, and not a decal, like the original. And the tuners are the individual, vintage style, open back Gotohs with metal buttons, rather than the strip tuners with white plastic buttons that a vintage is likely to have.

 

Let us know if you learn anything more about other similarities in the J35ri/J45TV. As I say, I'd like to know more, myself, as GAS is never out of one's system completely, it seems.

 

Red 333

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I've played the TV Vos ( TV with ADR) top and loved it . Now is the bracing the asme as the

J35ri?' date=' because if so the should be the same guitar cosmetics aside.[/quote']

 

I think the 35 and the TV have forward shifted braces. Dont know about the VOS. If it does, those 2 (35/VOS) are going to be pretty close--but not quite the same. Bridge, neck, etc. But at that level, we are talking the difference between 2 chardonneys, not a chard and a pinot grigio (opps,Gibson forum, the diff between 2 single malts and .... lol).

 

btw, Skippy, great avatar. Who's the picker?

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