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Bracing and build questions about Bozeman Gibsons


slimjw

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I've been keeping an eye out for used Gibson Hummingbirds and J-200 on eBay and my local Craigslist and am wondering if folks could comment about the differences in bracing and build for the Bozeman guitars. I ask because I have a 2005 J-45, that while being a great guitar certainly seems to sound different than the newer True Vintage models I have tried recently. Mine seems to be built somewhat heavier and is brighter and has more overtones whereas the newer TV's seem to have lighter bracing and build that gives that juicy fundamental midrange punch that the originals are known for.

 

Has anyone here owned or had much experience with J-200's or 'Birds from 1999 and/or the early mid-2000's? Can you comment on what you see the differences being in terms of build and bracing and how? I don't think there is anything objectively wrong with the heavier bracing but do seem to prefer the lighter builds of the old ones in terms of sound and am wondering if there are timelines for when they went with different builds and bracing.

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I've been keeping an eye out for used Gibson Hummingbirds and J-200 on eBay and my local Craigslist and am wondering if folks could comment about the differences in bracing and build for the Bozeman guitars. I ask because I have a 2005 J-45, that while being a great guitar certainly seems to sound different than the newer True Vintage models I have tried recently. Mine seems to be built somewhat heavier and is brighter and has more overtones whereas the newer TV's seem to have lighter bracing and build that gives that juicy fundamental midrange punch that the originals are known for.

 

Has anyone here owned or had much experience with J-200's or 'Birds from 1999 and/or the early mid-2000's? Can you comment on what you see the differences being in terms of build and bracing and how? I don't think there is anything objectively wrong with the heavier bracing but do seem to prefer the lighter builds of the old ones in terms of sound and am wondering if there are timelines for when they went with different builds and bracing.

 

Kind of sounds like what you really want is a J45 True Vintage.

 

But the J200 standard is also awesome. Not as familiar with HB's.

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I'd say try to find a True Vintage Hbird from 2007/2008 those were very consistent and just awesome sounding !!!

 

I have a 2007 SJ 200 TV in lefty and it is so awesome .

 

Gibson made great guitars within that series .

 

the original run was done in 2007/2008

 

Thanks for the specific recommendation! This is the sort of info I was looking for in order to pin down which years might be different and/or better. I haven't found many TV's locally but the two J-45 TV's I've played have differently been built lighter than my 2005 and seem to resemble the old ones more in that respect.

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Thanks for the specific recommendation! This is the sort of info I was looking for in order to pin down which years might be different and/or better. I haven't found many TV's locally but the two J-45 TV's I've played have differently been built lighter than my 2005 and seem to resemble the old ones more in that respect.

 

 

this is a clear example of what i stated earlier this guys has a 2007 TV bird:

 

 

I'm not saying you might not encounter a bad one from 2007 , but for the most part they are consistent !.

 

hope that is proof .

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I believe the TV and Legend series J45s featured the AJ-style forward shifted X-bracing, which results in a larger resonant area in the top (ie the unbraced part of the top between bridge and endpin).

 

The result of this is more volume, bottom end and 'bloom'. I'm not sure if the TV 'Bird and SJ200 are braced the same way, but I've played some great examples of both. I played a TV SJ200 a couple of years ago that had enough bottom end to blow over a horse...not the most subtle of guitars, but what a rhythm machine!

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