Played some new Gibby's today

[KL]

I played some nice Gibson acoustics today . . . sorry no pics.

 

I was in a store and here's what I found:

 

Aaron Lewis SJ: I'm not into signature guitars at all, but I was interested to see what this one and the next below sounded like. This was a fine sounding acoustic. Lots of bottom end. Horrible set up with a high action and uneven string spacing.

 

John Hiatt J-45: Not an amazing sounding J-45, but pleasant. It was very lightweight, and I like that in an acoustic. Not much bottom end at all, not particularly loud. Not keen on the firestripe pickguard. I am a very big John Hiatt fan though! Tone sounded very similar to my 2003 J-45, but not as loud though.

 

I liked the tuners on both the above models.

 

Hummingbird Custom Koa: Natural top. Very intricate artwork with Hummingbirds all over the place. Engraved gold tuners. Way too much bling for me. This one was set up REALLY well though and sounded quite good, and was very nice to play. The koa back, sides and neck were beautiful. If I was getting a Hummingbird though it would be a cherry burst one without all the bling. This guitar was a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, but I just don't go for all that artwork.

 

J-185 VS I liked this one a lot. Didn't like the Fishman Aura Ellipse though (I didn't plug it in, but straight away I realised I would not be able to use a backbuster). There was very little figuring of the maple compared with a lot of the natural ones I've seen, but it sounded pretty good, midrangey, more bass than the Hiatt 45. Did not like the big heavy Grovers although they work well I could do without the extra weight. Overall this guitar was quite heavy.

 

That's about all there is to report!

[EuroAussie]

Thanks for sharing. I always enjoy folks reports on their Gibby day out in the sun. Espeicially how its everyones favourite topioc to bash th Gibby consistency factor, its always interesting to hear ones report on their Gibby day out.

[BigKahune]

Interesting report. Thanks.

 

 

The Aaron Lewis SJ - tell me it didn't come from Bozeman with that setup.

[KL]

The Aaron Lewis SJ - tell me it didn't come from Bozeman with that setup.

 

Yes I'm sure it did . . . it was brand new out of the box. It was weird. The bridge had a large amount of curvature on it so the G and D strings were a lot higher than the others. I assumed that they must have done it like that because Aaron Lewis (who I'm afraid I know nothing about) has his like that? But the uneven string spacing was very noticeable . . . the nut was cut like that. I was surprised.

 

It was a fine sounding guitar, and it had what I think is a TV style finish . . . not as high gloss as standard models.