Last night, Alyssa Bonagura and her Brazilian Rosewood J200jr...

[Jinder]

Last night I played a show on the same bill as Alyssa Bonagura-if you don't know of her yet, you will soon. She is the daughter of Michael Bonagura and Kathy Bailie, and is one of the best songwriters I've heard in a long time. You really must look her up if you dig rootsy, real, honest songwriting. She is a huge talent.

 

As much of a highlight as her writing, though, is her stage guitar of choice-a stunning Braz RW J200jr., custom made for her mum years ago and now Alyssa's to use...WOW-I have seldom been so blown away by a guitar both acoustically and plugged in.

[Guest]

Last night I played a show on the same bill as Alyssa Bonagura-if you don't know of her yet' date=' you will soon. She is the daughter of Michael Bonagura and Kathy Bailie, and is one of the best songwriters I've heard in a long time. You really must look her up if you dig rootsy, real, honest songwriting. She is a huge talent.

 

As much of a highlight as her writing, though, is her stage guitar of choice-a stunning Braz RW J200jr., custom made for her mum years ago and now Alyssa's to use...WOW-I have seldom been so blown away by a guitar both acoustically and plugged in.[/quote']

 

Ah yes -- The J-200Jr! What the J-185 aspires to be....... :-)

 

Here's a very fancy one, from the early 1990s, that's been on Dave Rogers' site for some time:

 

 

You can see that the maple back and sides are stained a tasty trans-choco-brown, and the details are very ornate:

 

 

A testament to some of Ren's earlier work at Bozeman.

 

Fred

[TWilson]

Gimme that, NOW!!!!

[Modac]

Alyssa is very talented. She reminds me somewhat of Patty Griffin.....and then alternately, of Julie Miller.

[John Lee Walker]

I've never met Alyssa or seen her perform, but I did get the opportunity once in the early 80s to meet her parents, Kathie Bailie and Mike Bonagura at the Bluebird in Nashville back when they were calling themselves Bittersweet. Real nice folks. I can only imagine how talented Alyssa must be. Her mama was very underrated, IMHO.

[John Lee Walker]

shrimer - What a gorgeous guitar! Do you know what kind of tuners are on that guitar? They are exactly what I have been looking for - open geared, vintage, butterbean knobs, and fancy scroll. Best ones I've ever seen. Gotta have 'em!

[John Lee Walker]

They look like Waverlys (not sure tho), and, if I'm not mistaken, didn't they discontinue those? I remember seeing those tuners a couple of years ago on a Monarch 250 at Strings N' Things in Memphis. They sure are nice.

[Guest]

shrimer - What a gorgeous guitar! Do you know what kind of tuners are on that guitar? They are exactly what I have been looking for - open geared' date=' vintage, butterbean knobs, and fancy scroll. Best ones I've ever seen. Gotta have 'em![/quote']

 

JL -- If you're REAALY dying to know about the tuners on that J-200Jr, you can always call Dave's in LaCrosse at this number, and ask to speak to Laun Braithwaite. He can give you the skinny on those tuners.

 

And you're right, they do look like Waverlys.

 

Frede

[jefleppard]

here she is on a martin (i know nothing about them - is this the eric clapton model 00-28?)

she says she wrote it with an english songwriter! jinder?

[John Lee Walker]

Yep, they are Waverlys. Found them on Stew-Mac site for $336 - sold to the happy man with the SJ200 MC:)

 

Thanks for posting that pic, shrimer. They are the perfect tuners for my customization project. Made my day...

[TWilson]

Dang, John Lee, we're going to need some pictures of the SJ-200 pretty soon! Those tuners are beautiful but a bit out of my league. I'm getting mighty curious over what this axe of yours is looking like. Boy howdy!!

PS-Have you heard Jamey Johnson? (semi-hijack, sorry.)

[John Lee Walker]

Hey, TWilson - I have a final date with my techy Dec 4 to get it all done, will have pics real soon. I'm not gonna take the chance/risk and do any of it myself. She will be in the hands of a very reliable surgeon, Jeff Russell. She is gonna be purty, I gar-on-tee

 

Yep, Jamey is hot in Guitar Town right now. Written some major tunes for the likes of Trace Adkins, Hank Jr, and even George Strait. He's on a roll these days. I also hear he has his own CD out there now, haven't heard it yet, but I'm sure it's right up my alley:)

[Taylor Player]

 

Ah yes -- The J-200Jr! What the J-185 aspires to be....... :-)

 

Here's a very fancy one' date=' from the early 1990s, that's been on Dave Rogers' site for some time:

 

[img']http://www.davesguitar.com/product/73001.JPG[/img]

 

You can see that the maple back and sides are stained a tasty trans-choco-brown, and the details are very ornate:

 

 

A testament to some of Ren's earlier work at Bozeman.

 

Fred

 

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but what is a sj200 junior guitar? I had never heard of one before. Is it typically a maple body and this is just a bling upgrade? When were they made and what do they sound like? Would they be a good fingerstyle guitar?

 

All I can say is the one pictured above is a beauty!