Speaking of Sycamore....

[ksdaddy]

Well, not like we WERE, but it's been mentioned some in the past week. Here's a Nashville Dove that is frankly intriguing the bejaysus out of me. I don't have $1200 to toss around but it looks nice. I know it's not "pure Dove" in the 60s sense but that blonde sycamore looks nice I think.

 

Nashville Dove that Santa could bring me

[onewilyfool]

DADDY>...any idea what the tonal qualities of Sycamore are????

[ksdaddy]

There are some that say there is no tonal difference between Sycamore and Eastern Maple. There have been others who say Sycamore has a fuller, warmer tone. I don't know. All I can say is that when I went through the 4 or 5 month process of shopping for a J200 remotely, based on conversations with anyone who would listen, I often heard the Sycamore Legend. A couple people told me if I saw the chance to get an early Bozeman J200 I would be a happy camper because even though they're plain by comparison to newer models, the tone is superior. Since this is my only J200 I can't offer any comparison.

[L5Larry]

I once had a Samick built Washburn J-6 (L-5 copy) with flamed sycamore back and sides (spruce top). Some of the flamiest and prettiest wood I ever saw on a guitar. Although I did have both the Washburn and my Gibson L-5 for a short period, I never thought to really do any comparison between the two, I guess it seemed too much like apples and oranges to me for other reasons.

 

I will say for the price ($700 new) the Washburn was a fine instrument. It was a well built and beautiful guitar.

[onewilyfool]

Larry, I think I saw one of those on craig's list locally....but it was Laminated that J-6 n'est-ce pas?

[Jinder]

KSD, that does look delicious. I played an '87 Nashville J200 in Sycamore a couple of years ago and that was great, really bold and lovely sounding. I was told at the time that Sycamore was another name for European Maple and they were one and the same thing, but due to the climatic variations between Europe and Canada/N.America, the density was different and,as such, the tone had different characteristics. That could just be grist to the mill of the Sycamore Legend, though!

[Modac]

The Gibson sycamores were made with what otherwise is known as Euro maple---or sycamore. I believe that it might be harder than the soft big-leaf maple that Gibson usually uses.

[ksdaddy]

To quasi-quote Jason @ Gibson Montana, he said sycamore was a nice wood to work with. I had heard it was actually softer than the Eastern Maple they use now, but you know how rumors are. I truly think Bozeman used up all the Sycamore in the early days because that's one of the woods they were given to make guitars from; it makes sense from a business standpoint to use up what's available first. Consider the 200 or so J25 plastic bowls sitting in Nashville. Henry could have personally thrown them over the dump and it never would have made a blip in the pulse of his checking account, but instead he had them sent to Bozeman to be made into OP25s. Most of us would have trashed a $25 bowl but Henry added $250 worth of top and neck and got a $500 wholesale price out of the sum. The numbers may not be correct but you get the idea.

[zeebee]

Makes for a nice jazz geet.....strong upper end, clear sound. You are correct about the european or German Maple lable too.