NPD/NGD 50's Original J50/Baggs M80

[Rosinante]

Picked up a 50's original J50.  Previous owner removed the Baggs VTC and had bone pins and a new bone saddle and was using it acoustically.  The guitar sounds great, a little tight due to being brand new, but very musical with no wolf notes or intonation issues.  I love the 50's neck!  The M80 is a great compliment to the sound.  I had to lower the wound pole pieces a bit, but now I have a great acoustic sound from the pickup.  It's a winning combo and a great open mic and gigging guitar.  Most importantly I am very happy with both purchases.

 

 

Edited February 5, 2022 by Rosinante

[Sgt. Pepper]

Good score. I love a natty top. Why paint nice wood?

Edited February 5, 2022 by Sgt. Pepper

[RvrDxn]

Very nice, congratulations. I also have a 50s J-50 reissue and am amazed by the tone and playability. I am still surprised by it some days and hate to admit it, but it sounds not just different, but better than my standard J-45. And I agree, the neck carve is just about perfect.

[jricc]

Nice J50.  Love the M80, these two make a great combo

[egoidealmusic]

Love that light blonde streak down the middle.  A beautiful guitar!

[pimousso]

Nice, I really like the J50. Simple yet beautiful guitars.

If only my vintage j50 (60's) have had this neck, I'd still have it...

Edited February 6, 2022 by pimousso

[zombywoof]

Back in the day you paid $10 more for a J50 leading to the assumption the white wood foreman picked out a better-looking piece of wood for the top.  But based on posts here it would seem both the 50s and 60s Originals are selling well.  What surprises me is nobody has yet opted to pony up for the current run of 12 fret SJs.  I think this is the first time they have been available since 2015.  But if the latest run follows that one these guitars will become only a memory very quickly.

[62burst]

39 minutes ago, zombywoof said:

 What surprises me is nobody has yet opted to pony up for the current run of 12 fret SJs.  I think this is the first time they have been available since 2015.  But if the latest run follows that one these guitars will become only a memory very quickly.

Is Gibson offering the SoJo 12 fret again? Couldn't find any info on it. It was a no-brainer/relief when they brought out the 12 fret J-45 with tort teardrop p/g and the beautiful tri-color burst shortly after their run of 12-fret Southern Jumbos with the small (mostly black) burst and questionable contemporary firestripe 'guard.

[zombywoof]

1 hour ago, 62burst said:

Is Gibson offering the SoJo 12 fret again? Couldn't find any info on it. It was a no-brainer/relief when they brought out the 12 fret J-45 with tort teardrop p/g and the beautiful tri-color burst shortly after their run of 12-fret Southern Jumbos with the small (mostly black) burst and questionable contemporary firestripe 'guard.

Oops.  Never mind.   I am going to evoke my right to claim having fallen prey to a senior moment.  I generally do not keep up with who is currently offering what.  I went and looked at the post I had run across, it was just somebody responding to an older thread.   It really is a shame though that they have not brought this one back.  I tend to think where Bozeman really shines is with their hybrid guitars such as the AJ35, the 12 fret SJ and 12 fret SJ200 and such.   I know that Fairbanks offers a 13 fret SJ.  But for me one of the other things that has apparently happened when I passed 70 years of age is I started to feel that spending any kind of money on a guitar now just seems plain silly.

Edited February 6, 2022 by zombywoof

[62burst]

 

58 minutes ago, zombywoof said:

I think where Bozeman really shines is with their hybrid guitars such as the AJ35, the 12 fret SJ and 12 fret SJ200 and such. 

Yes, gotta watch when using "SJ"- it can mean Southern Jumbo or Super Jumbo (SoJo= maybe less confusion), but it did make me think about the acoustic unicorn Gibson created when they did a very small number of SJ-200 12 frets. When looking for evidence of a recent Southern Jumbo 12 fret, Wildwood did an "Ultimate" run which had a torrefied Adi top, and a more conventional burst. They were still having Greg K demo the 2016 run as late as mid March 2019, so it kind of jibes with what you were saying about them soon becoming a distant memory re: their popularity.

18 hours ago, Rosinante said:

Picked up a 50's original J50.   . . .  Most importantly I am very happy with both purchases.

Apologies for the de-rail. . . Happy NJ50D- like everything about it, from tuners to pickguard to wood graining. Congrats.

Edited February 6, 2022 by 62burst

[zombywoof]

18 hours ago, 62burst said:

 

Yes, gotta watch when using "SJ"- it can mean Southern Jumbo or Super Jumbo (SoJo= maybe less confusion), but it did make me think about the acoustic unicorn Gibson created when they did a very small number of SJ-200 12 frets. When looking for evidence of a recent Southern Jumbo 12 fret, Wildwood did an "Ultimate" run which had a torrefied Adi top, and a more conventional burst. They were still having Greg K demo the 2016 run as late as mid March 2019, so it kind of jibes with what you were saying about them soon becoming a distant memory re: their popularity.

 

Based on the number of different official names Gibson had bestowed upon those two models, they seem to have given more than a little thought as to what to label them so as to not cause confusion.  If you look at post-WWII catalogs, the Southerner Jumbo was distinguished by being the only Gibson not to have a series prefix to identity it.  The guitar did not show up listed with "SJ" preceding the name until around 1960 which I assume was a nod to the fact that is what people were commonly calling the model.  By that time, of course, the SJ200 had long since been re-designated the J200 with "super jumbo" appearing only in the description.  Now who's on first?

[Kwlsky]

On 2/5/2022 at 5:39 PM, Rosinante said:

but very musical with no wolf notes or intonation issues.

What's a wolf note? 

[Rosinante]

Sometimes for whatever reason certain guitars will have certain notes resonate with the body of the instrument and provide anything from a disharmonic sound to a note that sounds annoyingly louder or duller than the others.  It is usually because the struck note and the resonance of the body are just out of tune with each other.  I had no idea what this was until I had a guitar that exhibited this with the Gb note on the 6th string and other Gb notes at different intervals.  It is really most apparent when playing fingerstyle or single notes, but can be lost in the blend when playing chords.

15 minutes ago, Kwlsky said:

What's a wolf note? 

 

[Kwlsky]

21 minutes ago, Rosinante said:

Sometimes for whatever reason certain guitars will have certain notes resonate with the body of the instrument and provide anything from a disharmonic sound to a note that sounds annoyingly louder or duller than the others.  It is usually because the struck note and the resonance of the body are just out of tune with each other.  I had no idea what this was until I had a guitar that exhibited this with the Gb note on the 6th string and other Gb notes at different intervals.  It is really most apparent when playing fingerstyle or single notes, but can be lost in the blend when playing chords.

Ah, thank you! I think I have this on one of my guitars where ,when I finger pluck the F note on the D string, it's just a dull thud. Drives me crazy.

[Jinder]

Beautiful guitar and great pickup choice!!

I agree about wolf notes/tones. They drive me nuts. Always seem to be around G or F# on the bottom E string and in relative spots elsewhere. My SJ200 has no wolf notes whatsoever, and my Dove rings like a bell all over the fretboard, but my Maple AJ previously had a wolf that had set up home at F#. Not massively so, but enough for me to notice. I tuned it out by adding brass bridge pins, which by adding mass to the top lowered the resonant node enough to drop it “between the frets” as such. 
 

My old J180 was a fabulous guitar but suffered from a wolf at G which was just maddening. Couldn’t tune it out whatever I tried. It seems to happen most prevalently in lightly braced guitars. 

[Rosinante]

17 hours ago, Jinder said:

Beautiful guitar and great pickup choice!!

I agree about wolf notes/tones. They drive me nuts. Always seem to be around G or F# on the bottom E string and in relative spots elsewhere. My SJ200 has no wolf notes whatsoever, and my Dove rings like a bell all over the fretboard, but my Maple AJ previously had a wolf that had set up home at F#. Not massively so, but enough for me to notice. I tuned it out by adding brass bridge pins, which by adding mass to the top lowered the resonant node enough to drop it “between the frets” as such. 
 

My old J180 was a fabulous guitar but suffered from a wolf at G which was just maddening. Couldn’t tune it out whatever I tried. It seems to happen most prevalently in lightly braced guitars. 

Thanks for the help in the preamp thread.  I'm really enjoying the pickup and am hoping to get to some open mics next week.  When I get around to booking some shows I will likely add the Sunn Audio unit.  As it stands the M80 sounds pretty great with a simple mid cut especially since I have lowered the pole pieces to allow more body resonance and less string tone through.  I really wasn't expecting to like this guitar as much as I am.  The big neck really contributes to my enjoyment.