Square vs Round/slope shoulder Gibson acoustics

[benmeza]

Just curious what the pros and cons are of the square and round shoulder models. I presently own a new Hummingbird but am considering trading for a Southern Jumbo...basically same guitar minus the finish and the shoulder type. Historically the round shoulder seems to be more desireable - any reasons why? I love my Hummingbird but if I could have something better...

[Aaron Schiff]

Many people prefer the sound of the older slope shouldered J-45, J-50, Southern Jumbo style to the newer square shouldered Hummingbird, Dove, etc. If you don't like the Hummingbird, or if you find a guitar that you like better, then by all means trade it in. But there is no reason to trade in a perfectly fine guitar just to have something new, unless you are into owning lots of different models.

[telemann51]

People like the tone of the slope shoulder jumbos - it's the classic Gibson sound. Not that the others don't sound like Gibsons, but these guitars kind of defined the Gibson acoustic tone back when.

Clear as mud, eh?

[benmeza]

actually, I played a new southern jumbo at the local Guitar Center yesterday and it piqued my interest. I was pretty happy about my Hummingbird until I played the Southern Jumbo. It seems to have a little more bass response and reacts better to the fingerpicking passages - although I doubt anything could be better strummed hard for rhythmn than the hummingbird - nice even response across the strings....wish I had the money to own both! Of course GC's Southern Jumbo had heavier strings on it than my Hummingbird, but it just sounded fuller when I dead thumbed it... Didn't have a pick to realy drive it loud to see how it compares to the Hummingbird in that dept. but I may return again to try it out....

[Lyle Caldwell]

With the 50s/60s Gibsons, you can't really say that round shoulders sound one way and square shoulders another, since they were changing so many aspects of the guitars. The bridges were all different (both in terms of materials and construction- how bout them adjustable bridges or the plastic bridges with ceramic saddles?) and the bracing patterns changed a lot.

With the Montana-era acoustics, you can generalize a bit more.

The round shouldered 24 3/4" scale guitars have something really interesting going on in the midrange, and the tops distort when played really hard. Great for the Beatles/Hank Williams classic rhythm parts.

The square shouldered guitars have less midrange punch (more precisely, their "tonal centers" moved up into the high mids) and keep a bit more definition when played hard. Great for early 70s Stones, Eagles, etc.

But aside from cosmetic preference (I prefer the round shouldered guitars), there's no way to say "X model" is better than "Y model." Play a bunch and see which individual guitars speak to you more.

But you can't really compare two guitars unless they both have new strings of the same guage, both have good nuts and setups, and both are played by the same player in the same room. Don't trade in your Hummingbird until you've done this. Maybe you just need new strings, or maybe the GC room just sounds really good. Or maybe that SJ is just a better guitar than your Hummingbird. It happens.

[Tom P.]

I must say that every time I play a new J-45 in a shop I really want to buy one. I love the sound of these guitars. They have great volume, are light weight and feel great to play. I'm not playing acoustic enough to warrant the purchase, but someday i might break down.