Kirkelstein Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 Greetings! Just joined the forum and wanted to reach out for some insight. I have an SJ-100 I recently acquired from a 90 years young picker. It's FON is 167-F. I asked Gibson for verification and they told me 1942/43, but I keep getting told the FON indicates 1940. I suppose it really doesn't matter, but curiosity is getting the best of me! I posted this on the Vintage section and it was recommended I post it here. What are your thoughts? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 What a cool piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkelstein Posted August 29 Author Share Posted August 29 Just now, slimt said: What a cool piece. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 1 minute ago, Kirkelstein said: Thank you! F= 1940. You got a nice Gibson. That case is clean too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkelstein Posted August 29 Author Share Posted August 29 Just now, slimt said: F= 1940. You got a nice Gibson. That case is clean too. Yes- I've been told the F is 1940. It came with a L-00 that Gibson told me is 1936 or 1938. The FON on that one is 777. I only hope I can play as long as the owner of these did! Thanks for the reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 1 minute ago, Kirkelstein said: Yes- I've been told the F is 1940. It came with a L-00 that Gibson told me is 1936 or 1938. The FON on that one is 777. I only hope I can play as long as the owner of these did! Thanks for the reply. Well you got someones prized guitars. You are the caretaker of these. Enjoy those. L00 Gibsons are pretty cool too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkelstein Posted August 29 Author Share Posted August 29 Thank you Sir! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 (edited) Very, very cool. Here is a write up on the SJ100 George Gruhn did a while back. He has forgotten more about these guitars than the current Gibson company will ever know. Gibson Super Jumbo 100 | Vintage Guitar® magazine Edited August 29 by zombywoof Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkelstein Posted August 29 Author Share Posted August 29 26 minutes ago, zombywoof said: Very, very cool. Here is a write up on the SJ100 George Gruhn did a while back. He has forgotten more about these guitars than the current Gibson company will ever know. Gibson Super Jumbo 100 | Vintage Guitar® magazine That's awesome-Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimR56 Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 As I mentioned in the other thread about this guitar (in the Vintage forum), I'm not a flat-top expert, but the pickguard on this one struck me as being a bit different in shape from what I would have expected. Do any of you guys with more experience with flat-tops have any thoughts about the pickguard? I tried to enlarge the photo to get a better idea of the material, but found that difficult. Anyway, just curious whether it's original, or maybe custom ordered (?), or perhaps a replacement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave F Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 37 minutes ago, JimR56 said: As I mentioned in the other thread about this guitar (in the Vintage forum), I'm not a flat-top expert, but the pickguard on this one struck me as being a bit different in shape from what I would have expected. Do any of you guys with more experience with flat-tops have any thoughts about the pickguard? I tried to enlarge the photo to get a better idea of the material, but found that difficult. Anyway, just curious whether it's original, or maybe custom ordered (?), or perhaps a replacement. Here' a '41 that sold on reverb and one from True vintage. The OP's looks a little different but the last one from HQ looks the same. 1941 Gibson J-100 | Reverb (bing.com) Vintage 1941 Gibson Super Jumbo 100 acoustic guitar – True Vintage Guitar Gibson SJ-100 guitar Gibson J-100 guitar Gibson J100 guitar Super Jumbo 100 guitar info vintage 1939 to 1943 (guitarhq.com) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimR56 Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 Thanks Dave. It's interesting... I hadn't checked anywhere (including GuitarHQ) for more examples, but I was guessing that the OP's guard was perhaps aftermarket. Looks like I was incorrect, and I guess I'm somewhat surprised- not only that two pg designs from the same era would have been so different, but also that they seem to have "overlapped" (Gruhn's article showing examples from '39 and '41 with similar guards, yet the OP's '40 is quite different). I wonder whether there's more to the story here in terms of the evolution of the model's features. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 (edited) 5 hours ago, zombywoof said: He has forgotten more about these guitars than the current Gibson company will ever know. That is because Gibson is concerned about this. $ And this ($) only. Don’t believe me? https://www.gibson.com/en-US/p/Acoustic-Guitar/Johnny-Cash-SJ-200/Vintage-Cherry-Sunburst Edited August 29 by Sgt. Pepper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 Todays Gibson will never be in the same league as the vintage pieces Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkelstein Posted August 30 Author Share Posted August 30 14 hours ago, JimR56 said: Thanks Dave. It's interesting... I hadn't checked anywhere (including GuitarHQ) for more examples, but I was guessing that the OP's guard was perhaps aftermarket. Looks like I was incorrect, and I guess I'm somewhat surprised- not only that two pg designs from the same era would have been so different, but also that they seem to have "overlapped" (Gruhn's article showing examples from '39 and '41 with similar guards, yet the OP's '40 is quite different). I wonder whether there's more to the story here in terms of the evolution of the model's features. Thanks Jim and Dave-Wouldn't let me download large pics so I took a close up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkelstein Posted August 30 Author Share Posted August 30 2 hours ago, Kirkelstein said: Thanks Jim and Dave-Wouldn't let me download large pics so I took a close up. Also-Note there is a crack running along the sound hole edge of the guard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 1 hour ago, Kirkelstein said: Also-Note there is a crack running along the sound hole edge of the guard. Still a cool piece of Gibson history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave F Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 Looks like Gibson used this pickguard on other models 1939 Recording King RK J-55 The J-55 Reissue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanvillRob Posted September 2 Share Posted September 2 Beautiful guitar. I hope it sounds as good as it looks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted September 2 Share Posted September 2 Gorgeous guitar! Yes, that "F" in the factory order number suggests 1940. I write "suggests" because although folks in the vintage guitar community accept the FON letter as definitive regarding the year of shipment, neither Gibson nor anyone else has ever confirmed this. Still, 1940 is safe bet. Somewhere, I have a document on which I've noted (while I was reading through Gibson's WWII-era shipping ledgers) the last shipped guitar of certain models, including the SJ-100. I'll look that up and report back in. I love the binding/purfling of the SJ-100. I am fortunate to own a 1944 SJ from the only batch that used double SJ-100 purflings instead of the typical multiple, narrow SJ purfling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkelstein Posted September 9 Author Share Posted September 9 On 9/2/2024 at 1:32 PM, jt said: Gorgeous guitar! Yes, that "F" in the factory order number suggests 1940. I write "suggests" because although folks in the vintage guitar community accept the FON letter as definitive regarding the year of shipment, neither Gibson nor anyone else has ever confirmed this. Still, 1940 is safe bet. Somewhere, I have a document on which I've noted (while I was reading through Gibson's WWII-era shipping ledgers) the last shipped guitar of certain models, including the SJ-100. I'll look that up and report back in. I love the binding/purfling of the SJ-100. I am fortunate to own a 1944 SJ from the only batch that used double SJ-100 purflings instead of the typical multiple, narrow SJ purfling. Nice!-Thanks for that info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkelstein Posted September 9 Author Share Posted September 9 On 9/2/2024 at 12:05 PM, DanvillRob said: Beautiful guitar. I hope it sounds as good as it looks! Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 17 hours ago, Kirkelstein said: Nice!-Thanks for that info. You are most welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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