I was looking over the Gibson site and their guitars

[catnine]

They list most of the Epi acoustics as a 25.5 " scale and some Gibsons 24.75" and Lennon Epi model doesn't say and the Gibson 24.75". They don't even offer any specs on some acoustics. They also list the Gibson Lennon model with a spruce three ply top but don't say what the sides and back are just mahogany. Then they say the joint is at the 14th fret when in the photo it's clearly the 15th fret to allow for the PU.

 

I check the Epi AJ100 I have and the scale is 25.5" , since when did Epi or Gibson ever make a 25.5" scale length?

 

They need to update their site and give all the specs.

[Red 333]

Several Gibson acoustics are long-scale (25.5"): the Advanced Jumbo, J-200 (plus J-100, J-150, J-300, Monarch, etc.), Dove, Firebird, Hummingbird Pro (not regular Hummingbird), Songwriter, Sparrow, and L-7 off the top of my head.

 

The J-45/50/Southern Jumbo, J-35, Hummingbird, J-165, J-185, J-160E, Blues King, L-00, Jackson Browne, etc. are short-scale.

 

The exact measurement of Gibson short-scale has varied over the years, but has been app. 24.625" since 1992, when acoustics were first made in Bozeman, MT (though its usually called 24.75" since that's a good average of the various Gibson short-scale lengths, historically).

 

The Robert Johnson L-1 and Keb' Mo' Bluesmaster fall in the middle with a 25" scale length.

 

While the models above TYPICALLY have the scale-length indicated, Gibson might have issued variations from time to time. For instance, they have built short-scale versions of the Advanced Jumbo, which is arguably their most famous long-scale guitar.

 

All Asian-made Epiphone acoustic guitars are long-scale (25.5"), regardless of whether its Gibson counterpart is long or short-scale, with the exception of the EL-00, to the best of my knowledge. The other exception is the Japanese-made Elitist series models, which did have scale lengths that corresponded correctly to the same Gibson model.

 

The Gibson site shows that the Lennon J-160E has a 3-ply spruce top because it's made true to the specs of the '60's models. In addition to having a 3-ply top, these guitars had ladder bracing (horizontal bracing on the top of the guitar, similar to the back of the guitar).

 

The Epiphone EJ-160E, on the other hand, is not true to the specs of Lennon's guitar. It has a solid top which is x-braced, and is in reality more similar in spec to the the Gibson J-160E Standard, a new model introduced in the early 1990's, which also has an x-braced solid top.

 

The sides of both spec Gibson models are solid.

 

All J-160E's are joined at the neck at the 15th fret, so the 14 fret spec is indeed a typo.

 

Red 333

[RaysEpiphone]

Your so knowledgeable Red333! Good info!