J45 Original 50's or J45 Standard with Red Adirondack spruce top?

[RHANK]

I know that this an open question and will garner support for probably both, but I am looking at both and if you could buy the standard for $300 more is the top worth it? I like the tuners and yellowed binding for the 50"s Original, but the top on the standard looks great!

Also the Standard is a Custom Shop because of the top.

Please let me know your thoughts.

[J185cat]

I am a fan of Red Spruce. I have two guitars with that top, a Gibson AJ and a Martin D28. I have not had a lot of opportunities to play other AJ’s so trying to say what the difference is with RS vs Sitka is difficult but my ears hear a crystal clear tone with lots of headroom. I play hard, too hard actually and it just does not compress. Similar for the Martin, mostly more volume but I don’t notice the”boominess” i have heard in some D28 or D35’s. Maybe the RS keeps that under control? One consideration, my experience is it does take RS some time to loosen up when new>

[Twang Gang]

Do you have a chance to play them side by side and compare how they sound?   Generally the red spruce is considered more desirable.  I was convinced I wanted a guitar with Adirondack (red) spruce top and found the one I was looking for at a small shop.  I played it and then the shop owner suggested I try one with a German (alpine) spruce top.  I ended up buying the alpine topped one - it just sounded better to me.   That being said the best sounding acoustic I ever played had a red spruce top, but at the time I couldn't afford the price tag. 

[paul300]

Hmm did you have the chance to play them?

i would say 50s is a more safe choice. I had a so/so experience with my j45TV wasn’t too crazy about the non aged Adirondack top and heard quite some comments from people trying strings over and over to get their Adi guitars sound softer and fuller.

Edited January 12, 2022 by paul300
Misspelling

[egoidealmusic]

I'd go for the 50s, but that's because I'm absolutely in love with mine--sounds better than any new guitar I've played.

[zombywoof]

I own two Gibson flattops with red spruce tops.  Both guitars though date to the days when that was the standard wood Gibson used to fashion tops from.  We own two other Gibsons with sitka tops.  Darn if I do not like them all.  When choosing between two particular guitars I really do not care what the top wood is.  I choose the guitar I like better.  One of the first things about the two you are looking at I would, as example, consider would be the neck carves.  But if I were to ever order a custom built guitar I have wondered what top wood I would go with.  With me it would probably be Englemann spruce (old growth if possible).  But if I had to choose between red spruce and sitka I would likely go with the former.  But that might just be because I like the idea of it.

[Red 333]

I'm a big Red Spruce fan myself.  I have four Gibsons with it, and seven with Sitka. The Red Spruce topped guitars are my favorites. The differences are not earth shaking, though, but pleasing to me.  If I had to choose between Red Spruce and Sitka without playing them, I'd as a rule of thumb bet on the Red Spruce. But certainly, if you can audition them, let your ears and hands be your guide.

Red 333

 

[Jinder]

Adi is beautiful but can sound a little hard and tight on a new build. I tried a J45 Red Spruce a few years back that a guitar dealer friend had in stock, in fact I drove for 4hrs to try it, such was my intrigue.
 

It wasn’t for me. It sounded like it needed a whole world of wailing on it to loosen it up, and was way too cold and hard sounding out of the box. Oddly enough, that day I did come home with an Adi topped guitar, but a Martin…a D18 Golden Era prototype which was astonishingly good. I sold it at the start of the pandemic when things were desperate, but in the couple of years beforehand I gigged it a great deal, and the top really benefitted from regular playing. It blossomed from really good to genuinely great.

Adi is definitely a curate’s egg in my opinion…needs some legwork to open it up, but once it’s there it’s glorious.

I’d buy the 50s Original, personally. Sitka has a confident swagger right out of the box, whereas Adi is shy and retiring. I prefer immediacy!

[zombywoof]

Many years back, John Greven wrote a piece entitled Martins, Myths and Other Nonsense or something like that.  In it he quoted a luthier whom he greatly respected who would say "spruce is spruce, get over it."  Greven thought there was a great deal of truth to that.  Although offering the opinion that the various varieties of spruce did differ structurally and tonally such differences were only slight and what came into play more than the type of spruce was the skill and knowledge of the builder. 

[Mime]

When I bought a J45 about 14 years ago, I choose between a standard with a spruce top and one upgraded with an adi top.  Between those 2 guitars, the adi sounded significantly better, but I could only get them to significantly reduce the price on the standard with spruce.  The original price difference was about $700 and discounted about $1,000 more for the adi. I bought the spruce guitar. Since then, the spruce guitar has really come into its own, so there might not be that much difference in the long run.  But  for $300 More, I would probably go with the adi.  

[olie]

So much of perception is between the ears.

[MorrisrownSal]

On a slope I’d go Adi, although I Love the look of those 50s with their batwings.

on a hummingbird, I’d go sitka!

[BoSoxBiker]

On 1/12/2022 at 4:28 PM, paul300 said:

Hmm did you have the chance to play them?

i would say 50s is a more safe choice. I had a so/so experience with my j45TV wasn’t too crazy about the non aged Adirondack top and heard quite some comments from people trying strings over and over to get their Adi guitars sound softer and fuller.

For my HC 1942 Banner J-45, my thoughts echo those you have heard on going through strings for a softer and fuller sound. Mine was also a new build, which others here have suggested as another aspect to consider. The baked adi on my HC Pre-War SJ-200 with RW B&S was sweet sounding the day it was delivered and got sweeter and sweeter in the 18 months I've had it.

[RHANK]

Thanks for all of the input. I settled on the ADI top mostly because it was custom shop stamped so it might be worth more some day. The 50's original series is pretty cool. It comes with the button tuners and the larger pickguard. The sound it great but a little hard....I'm sure it will loosen up with time. I got this for $300 more that the J45 standard and I think it was worth the upcharge for the things that I mentioned.

The Mahogany back and sides are also stained lighter which makes the wood grain look really nice. where as than the J45 Standard which is almost black in color

I'll post some pics.

 

[MorrisrownSal]

My 10 year old adi has "loosened". I can get projection, and I can get warmth, depending on attack.

Also - check out different strings. I kind of think Daddario Nickel Bronze strings will tame the guitar and warm it up. Martin Titanium strings will too, but they cost a kidney (last forever though)

[vw1300]

On 1/17/2022 at 6:30 PM, Jinder said:

Adi is beautiful but can sound a little hard and tight on a new build. I tried a J45 Red Spruce a few years back that a guitar dealer friend had in stock, in fact I drove for 4hrs to try it, such was my intrigue.

It wasn’t for me. It sounded like it needed a whole world of wailing on it to loosen it up, and was way too cold and hard sounding out of the box.

I'm glad you posted that - I went to Fuller's a few years ago with my 2006 AJ to compare to a new custom shop AJ with a very striking natural red spruce top - gorgeous guitar.  The price was within reach too, all I had to do was pull the trigger.  But it sounded stiff and cold, my regular sitka AJ sounded so much sweeter.  Maybe it would open up in 10 years?  They told me red spruce is like that sometimes, but don't buy a guitar that might sound good in 10 years, buy one that sounds good today.  That's one reason why I liked the guys there - no hard sell.  Of course they knew they'd sell it soon anyway.  But still.  

[MissouriPicker]

All things being equal, I’d go with the new guitar.