Vintage Southern Jumbo Sound ?

[suburude63]

Any oppinions on sound of Vintage SJs ? What do you think ? :-"

[zombywoof]

Check out my last post in your other thread. Describing the sound of a guitar ain't the easiest thing to do but once you have played enough of them you will know old school Gibson tone when you hear it.

[zombywoof]

Lordy, I do love me those SJs. There is just something about them that whenever I play a good one it just brings a big old smile to my face.

 

I would also suggest that the recent little bit of hoopla about the '55 SJ on EBay served up a cautionary tale. The first posts had folks running for the drool bucket. Several posts later enough little red flags were waving to show that had one of us walked into a store, saw that guitar hanging there, and had the cash in pocket to walk out with it, it might not have ended all that happily. At the least it appears at the asking price someone would have been out more money than they ought to have been. So I would just say don't be in an all fired rush. I have seen it more than a few times. Someone gets the notion they have to have a "vintage" guitar (which certainly ain't a bad thing of itself) and they end up buying the first one they run across that they can afford. Sometimes it works out but other times. . .It really does pay to grab enough knowledge to recognize modifications when you see them and familiarize yourelf with what a good example of this or that guitar should sound like.

 

Mind you, this is just my opinion because in the end nobody can really pick out a guitar for somebody else.

 

Good Luck with it and enjoy the hunt.

[jsghome]

Lordy, I do love me those SJs. There is just something about them that whenever I play a good one it just brings a big old smile to my face.

 

I would also suggest that the recent little bit of hoopla about the '55 SJ on EBay served up a cautionary tale. The first posts had folks running for the drool bucket. Several posts later enough little red flags were waving to show that had one of us walked into a store, saw that guitar hanging there, and had the cash in pocket to walk out with it, it might not have ended all that happily. At the least it appears at the asking price someone would have been out more money than they ought to have been. So I would just say don't be in an all fired rush. I have seen it more than a few times. Someone gets the notion they have to have a "vintage" guitar (which certainly ain't a bad thing of itself) and they end up buying the first one they run across that they can afford. Sometimes it works out but other times. . .It really does pay to grab enough knowledge to recognize modifications when you see them and familiarize yourelf with what a good example of this or that guitar should sound like.

 

Mind you, this is just my opinion because in the end nobody can really pick out a guitar for somebody else.

 

Good Luck with it and enjoy the hunt.

 

I could not have said it any better:

 

1964 SJN with my 2004 Belgian Malinois on guard

[tpbiii]

DEMO

 

Comparison

 

Reverse

 

Make me a Pallet

 

Keep on thr summy side

[Rambler]

JT had a video awhile back of 2 banner SJs;, one rose one hog. Tells you all you need to know.

[E-minor7]

JT had a video awhile back of 2 banner SJs;, one rose one hog. Tells you all you need to know.

 

Where could this be found ?

[suburude63]

JT had a video awhile back of 2 banner SJs;, one rose one hog. Tells you all you need to know.

 

Who is JT ? Where are these videos?

[suburude63]

Heres a sound bite from Dream Guitars this guitar was sold just hours before I inquired on it. But the sound was incredible ! Listen for your self. Scroll down to the bottom of the page Al plays it. Its says hear this guitar. Enjoy !

 

http://www.dreamguitars.com/preowned/gibson/gibson_sj_1239231/gibson_sj_02392_31.php

[tpbiii]

Who is JT ? Where are these videos?

 

JT is John Thomas. The videos are on youtube. I would not really agree with the statement above though. They were recorded with a zoom Q3, which really cannot IMO capture the actual acoustic sound of the instruments. It is a nice comparison however, and it sort of captures the RW/HOG differences.

[jt]

Thanks for the plug! I did, indeed, drag out my Zoom Q3 and do a quick comparison of my 1943 mahogany SJ with a visiting 1943 rosewood SJ.

[jefleppard]

kathleen's is a '56(?)and it's tone is mindblowing.

[AnneS]

A little off-topic, but about 2 weeks ago, I attended a house concert here in Asheville featuring Al and Amy. No amplification--just a large living room.

 

I sat directly in front of them, not six feet away. Al played his original Crescendo_Al Petteway Series guitar that Bill Tippin made for him. Pretty sure I've never been that close to a $20K guitar.

 

But those two would've sounded just as glorious had they been playin' an old Kay and a Sears Silvertone. (Glad they weren't, mind you... )

 

http://www.dreamguitars.com/new/tippin/tippin_crescendo_0109002ap/tippin_crescendo_al_petteway_series_0109002ap.php

[E-minor7]

JT had a video awhile back of 2 banner SJs;, one rose one hog. Tells you all you need to know.

 

Found the test, it's fine. In my ears it confirms the common sayings :

 

Rosewood - More edge, clearly sharper, slightly louder and with focused presence. Yang.

 

Mahogany - Softer, rounder, fuller midrange and more dreamish in general expression. Yin.

 

Could be funny to hear some more reactions as noone really knows whats behind all our abstract attempts to describe what we percieve.

[Guth]

Al plays it.

 

Funny how he makes most every thing he plays sound amazing. That's not a knock on the Gibson, but a credit to the player. As pschaafs stated in the "Guitar make the Man?" thread: the man makes the guitar. Sadly, I'm guessing that SJ would sound nothing like that in my hands.

 

All the best,

Guth

[Guth]

Rosewood - More edge, clearly sharper, slightly louder and with focused presence. Yang.

 

Mahogany - Softer, rounder, fuller midrange and more dreamish in general expression. Yin.

 

Could be funny to hear some more reactions as noone really knows whats behind all our abstract attempts to describe what we percieve.

 

I probably wouldn't the same words to describe the two, but I can say that I personally preferred the Mahogany example.

 

All the best,

Guth

[tvguit]

Great video. I really enjoyed getting to hear both of those side by side. I would go with the mahogany b&s myself.

 

 

One question for the experts: how often were belly down bridges used on wartime Gibsons (or any Gibsons before the mid-60s or 70s)?

[suburude63]

Thanks JT! Great comparison !

[EuroAussie]

I loved these clips, hope Im like this in 30 odd years .. and either a J45TV or a vintage SJ WILL be my next guitar. Love the tone.

 

DEMO

 

Comparison

 

Reverse

 

Make me a Pallet

 

Keep on thr summy side

[EuroAussie]

Surprising I found the Rosewood SJ signficantly stronger overall than the Mahogany SJ, probably one of the finest Gibsons I have ever had the pleasure to hear (on youtube at least). The traditional rosewood overtones were really controlled (maybe its the playing) delivering a very sharp, focused tone with amazing depth.

 

Darn, i think Im having a GAS attack .. somebedoy please slap me hard .. now !

 

Found the test, it's fine. In my ears it confirms the common sayings :

 

Rosewood - More edge, clearly sharper, slightly louder and with focused presence. Yang.

 

Mahogany - Softer, rounder, fuller midrange and more dreamish in general expression. Yin.

 

Could be funny to hear some more reactions as noone really knows whats behind all our abstract attempts to describe what we percieve.

[jt]

Thanks for the kind words, folks. It was fun having both of those guitars in the house for a while and I'm glad that I found a few minutes to record that video.

 

As for the belly bridge, those appeared only on the SJ, and they appeared on most SJs. You can see a fair sampling of them on the registry that Willi Henkes and I put up.

[tvguit]

Thanks for the kind words, folks. It was fun having both of those guitars in the house for a while and I'm glad that I found a few minutes to record that video.

 

As for the belly bridge, those appeared only on the SJ, and they appeared on most SJs. You can see a fair sampling of them on the registry that Willi Henkes and I put up.

 

Thanks for clearing that up. I wonder why they only out them on SJs?

[jt]

Thanks for clearing that up. I wonder why they only out them on SJs?

 

The answer, I fear, has been lost to the ravages of time. For my Banner book, I did find and interview in person (and record the interview to DVD) the one and only WWII flattop guitar inspector. (Having her inspect my 1943 SJ -- for the second time -- was an amazing experience.) I'll ask her.

[tvguit]

The answer, I fear, has been lost to the ravages of time. For my Banner book, I did find and interview in person (and record the interview to DVD) the one and only WWII flattop guitar inspector. (Having her inspect my 1943 SJ -- for the second time -- was an amazing experience.) I'll ask her.

 

Wow, sounds like an amazing experience. I couldn't imagine setting out to find that one person! I bet it was really neat. Well done.

[jt]

Wow, sounds like an amazing experience. I couldn't imagine setting out to find that one person! I bet it was really neat. Well done.

 

 

Thanks! I actually didn't set out to find that one person. I set out to find at least one of the women depicted in Gibson's 1944 workforce photo. And, ... I found 12 of them. I interviewed them in person, recording the interviews to DVD (I hired a crew). I toured the old, empty Gibson factory with one of the women. Talk about the ghost of Orville Gibson!

 

I didn't know that the inspector was an inspector before interviewing her. I only knew that she'd worked at Gibson during the war. When she told me what her job was, I said, "Well, I've got something in the car that you've seen before and I'd like to show it to you now." I'd flown to Kalamazoo with my pristine 1943 SJ (in a Calton case) and had it stashed in my rental car. Am I glad that I brought that guitar! It was a magical moment for a Gibson fanatic to sit and watch his 1943 guitar be re-inspected by the original inspector! Simply astounding.