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'43 SJ at Guitar Center


Dotneck

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I almost wrote that I found a 'used" '43 Southern Jumbo at Guitar Center...but then I realized there aren't many "new" '43 SJs anywhere so I edited the title...

 

Anyway...went to my local Guitar Center (in Raleigh NC in case any of you want to follow up on this one...). It had some work done to it...no surprise there...this guitar is over 30 year old! It had a big repaired crack in the back...and some ugly kind of repair to the back of the neck...but it had a big clubby neck that felt great to me. And it sounded big and full like an Banner SJ should sound.

 

But the thing that turned me off most was the Fishman preamp cut into the the side...I didn't bother to plug it in to see if it sounded as quacky and generic as any other guitar with Fishman electronics...I was just stunned to see the barndoor electronics in a Banner SJ.

 

It was bargain priced at $4995..but I passed...but thought I would pass it along in case one of yu guys wanted to take advantage of it...

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I almost wrote that I found a 'used" '43 Southern Jumbo at Guitar Center...but then I realized there aren't many "new" '43 SJs anywhere so I edited the title...

 

Anyway...went to my local Guitar Center (in Raleigh NC in case any of you want to follow up on this one...). It had some work done to it...no surprise there...this guitar is over 30 year old! It had a big repaired crack in the back...and some ugly kind of repair to the back of the neck...but it had a big clubby neck that felt great to me. And it sounded big and full like an Banner SJ should sound.

 

But the thing that turned me off most was the Fishman preamp cut into the the side...I didn't bother to plug it in to see if it sounded as quacky and generic as any other guitar with Fishman electronics...I was just stunned to see the barndoor electronics in a Banner SJ.

 

It was bargain priced at $4995..but I passed...but thought I would pass it along in case one of yu guys wanted to take advantage of it...

 

 

Uh, I have guitar strings that are more than 30 years old......

 

If this is a 1943 SJ, that would make it almost 70 years old in my book.

 

Putting the pre-amp through the side of this guitar consitutes a criminal act. It can be undone, but the evidence will always be there. The disappointing thing is that this is a fairly modern piece of electronics. It's not like it was something done when the guitar was 15 years old.

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Here's the guitar. It also, obviously, has replaced tuners.

 

Cutting a door in the side of a Banner SJ is a sacrilege. But, I've a 1929 Nick Lucas that had a very badly repaired hole in the side (filled with Bondo, or something such) that I had repaired to nearly invisible status. The luthier cut our the offensive patch and repaired it perfectly with a new insert of Honduran mahogany. So, I'm confident that this one could be made to look right.

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Here's the guitar. It also, obviously, has replaced tuners.

 

Cutting a door in the side of a Banner SJ is a sacrilege. But, I've a 1929 Nick Lucas that had a very badly repaired hole in the side (filled with Bondo, or something such) that I had repaired to nearly invisible status. The luthier cut our the offensive patch and repaired it perfectly with a new insert of Honduran mahogany. So, I'm confident that this one could be made to look right.

 

 

That's a pretty poor photo on their website, but it looks like the guitar may have other significant issues as well.

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That's a pretty poor photo on their website, but it looks like the guitar may have other significant issues as well.

 

Yeah,.. I'm with Nick on this. Definately "Buyer Beware".....

 

It really needs a good looking over. At that price,..... you could end up putting a couple of grand into with a good Luthier and after all is said and done you would have spent near $7,000.

 

That could buy you a darned nice one off of GBase....

 

[scared]

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There is a special place in Hell for people who do that to a Banner SJ!!!

 

 

It is probably best I don't tell ya what I did to a mid-1930s L-00 as well as a few others back in the day. But there was a time when these things were just "used" guitars.

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It is probably best I don't tell ya what I did to a mid-1930s L-00 as well as a few others back in the day. But there was a time when these things were just "used" guitars.

 

Yes it's easy to forget that used guitars had little value to people until the whole 'vintage' guitar market exploded.

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It is probably best I don't tell ya what I did to a mid-1930s L-00 as well as a few others back in the day. But there was a time when these things were just "used" guitars.

 

 

You and me both. When I bought my '48 J-45 in 1966, it was just another beat-up 18-year-old guitar (the equivalent of buying a 1994 J-45 today), worth just about the $50 I paid for it. Ironically, it would probably be worth more if it were still in that beat-up original condition than it is looking (and playing) all pristine, the way it is today.

 

Plus, we were putting medium and even heavy strings on all our guitars to make them louder. I cringe to think of it today. My college room mate at that time had a 1950's D-18 that was an unbelievable cannon. It should have been, with 14's on it! I used 13's all the time, and tried 14's, but they were wicked hard to play. Not to mention that the action got, uh, just a bit high. But she was LOUD!

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