NGD: Gibson J15 Walnut Burst

  • Thread starter fjrabon
  • Start date
    • This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links like Ebay, Amazon, and others.
fjrabon

fjrabon

Tele-Afflicted
Joined
Dec 22, 2010
Posts
1,058
Location
Atlanta
Went in thinking I was going to get a J45. But the little bit extra treble on this J15 won me over. I was out of town, so to avoid taxes I ordered it online and let them ship it to me. What a tough wait. Rings like a bell and just sounds like what an acoustic guitar should sound like to me. Works well with my voice. Great for rock flatpicking (what I mostly do) and is a powerhouse strummer. Can’t wait to sit her down on a stage next to the sunburst es335.

The burst is cool because depending on the light it can look like anything from a honeyburst to a walnut burst, to a sunrise burst to a vintage burst.





 
F

FMA

Poster Extraordinaire
Joined
Apr 29, 2003
Posts
5,700
Beautiful guitar, and the tone of those J-15s kicks serious boo-tay. I played a few when I was shopping for an acoustic a while back. I really liked them, but wound up with a J-45 that seriously just blew me away.
 
tominwa

tominwa

Tele-Meister
Joined
Sep 15, 2016
Posts
344
Location
Olympia, Wa
Same thing. I couldn't pay for it fast enough and was lucky enough to find one in the store that I could play first. The more I play it the more I like it. Went through a bunch of strings, sizes, makes of strings to find the right one for me. Sounds just so different with all of them. And darn pretty too. Just don't know what the extra grand is for on the J-45.
 
fjrabon

fjrabon

Tele-Afflicted
Joined
Dec 22, 2010
Posts
1,058
Location
Atlanta
tominwa said:
Same thing. I couldn't pay for it fast enough and was lucky enough to find one in the store that I could play first. The more I play it the more I like it. Went through a bunch of strings, sizes, makes of strings to find the right one for me. Sounds just so different with all of them. And darn pretty too. Just don't know what the extra grand is for on the J-45.
Click to expand...
I think this guitar is the equal of a J45. The only way the J45 is objectively better is the pearloid inlay vs silk screen inlay.

The rest is a matter of opinion. The walnut gives it a bit more treble definition. I liked that, but some will prefer the richer tone of the J45. Its a trade off tone wise.

I’d probably prefer rosewood to walnut for the fretboard, but I honestly would never know the fretboard was walnut and not just medium light rosewood unless you told me. Absolutely not an issue there for me.

I dig the maple neck. Especially since on the sunburst it’s lacquered a deep cherry.

To me it was

J45: ultimate “Gibson thump”, Power and richness, pearl inlaid Gibson logo, burst is a little darker

J15: increased clarity (without being zingy like a Taylor), Bass is a bit tighter, less expensive, silk screened Gibson logo, burst is a little lighter.

Ended up being a much easier choice *for me* than I would have thought. Every time I picked the J15 up, it just sounded like, to me, what an acoustic guitar sounds like in my head.
 
tominwa

tominwa

Tele-Meister
Joined
Sep 15, 2016
Posts
344
Location
Olympia, Wa
fjrabon said:
I think this guitar is the equal of a J45. The only way the J45 is objectively better is the pearloid inlay vs silk screen inlay.


To me it was

J45: ultimate “Gibson thump”, Power and richness, pearl inlaid Gibson logo, burst is a little darker

J15: increased clarity (without being zingy like a Taylor), Bass is a bit tighter, less expensive, silk screened Gibson logo, burst is a little lighter.

.
Click to expand...
I hope you don't mind the follow up question as I am having some of the same questions. Re: prior to buying I was reading about it being more on the treble side. Almost walked away because of all the talk. I saw that somewhat with the Martin strings I tried as well as the Gibson Brite wires. When I went to other makes, it darkened up to where I wanted it. In fact I even had to lighten it up. I agree about the clarity. I can see this as a great country guitar, my use was more on the Blues side, and it delivers. With the right strings. I went with the Earnie Ball earthwood silk and steel extra soft strings. I know, you acoustic purists our there are shaking your head at me, but what a nice set of strings for this guitar. The 11s were boomy and took a slight bit off the treble side. So easy to play. Alas, at my age it will be 10s till I die, but at least I can still play. Trust me....try a set.

Walnut fingerboard....yes! Can't tell a difference. I also kind of like the use of all No. AM hardwoods. After seeing your pics, I kinda wish I had the burst, but the natural is pretty too.

I lost some of the boom when I took it down to 10s, just don't have the hand strength anymore. Had it properly set up with very low action and the thing plays as easy as an electric.
 
fjrabon

fjrabon

Tele-Afflicted
Joined
Dec 22, 2010
Posts
1,058
Location
Atlanta
tominwa said:
I hope you don't mind the follow up question as I am having some of the same questions. Re: prior to buying I was reading about it being more on the treble side. Almost walked away because of all the talk. I saw that somewhat with the Martin strings I tried as well as the Gibson Brite wires. When I went to other makes, it darkened up to where I wanted it. In fact I even had to lighten it up. I agree about the clarity. I can see this as a great country guitar, my use was more on the Blues side, and it delivers. With the right strings. I went with the Earnie Ball earthwood silk and steel extra soft strings. I know, you acoustic purists our there are shaking your head at me, but what a nice set of strings for this guitar. The 11s were boomy and took a slight bit off the treble side. So easy to play. Alas, at my age it will be 10s till I die, but at least I can still play. Trust me....try a set.

Walnut fingerboard....yes! Can't tell a difference. I also kind of like the use of all No. AM hardwoods. After seeing your pics, I kinda wish I had the burst, but the natural is pretty too.

I lost some of the boom when I took it down to 10s, just don't have the hand strength anymore. Had it properly set up with very low action and the thing plays as easy as an electric.
Click to expand...
Yeah. On the scale of acoustic guitars in general it’s not very bright. But it’s bright for a Gibson slope shoulder guitar. It’s nothing like a Taylor which is crazy zingy or even a martin.

For acoustic blues, to me, it’s still hard to beat a J45.

This guitar shines as a true all-arounder. Great for country, rock, bluegrass, folk and blues. Especially for flat picking. For bluegrass and blues there are better options, but this guitar will do the trick no problem. For rock, I don’t know if there’s a better guitar out there. Gives you booming power chords and clarity for flat picked single note runs, with a silky rich midrange.
 
rze99

rze99

Doctor of Teleocity
Joined
Feb 26, 2014
Posts
12,024
Location
South London UK
Beautiful and sweet photo of them together.
Is that the top 4 of strings wrapping around the stop bar? What's with that?
 
fjrabon

fjrabon

Tele-Afflicted
Joined
Dec 22, 2010
Posts
1,058
Location
Atlanta
rze99 said:
Beautiful and sweet photo of them together.
Is that the top 4 of strings wrapping around the stop bar? What's with that?
Click to expand...
I like to top wrap the high e, b, g and d for bending ease and do the two bass strings regular for stability.
 
Ecadad

Ecadad

Tele-Holic
Joined
Nov 13, 2010
Posts
753
Location
USA
Dang, every time I see one of these it makes me question if a J45 is going to be my next acoustic.

Call me strange, but I far prefer the silkscreened logo on the J15 to the mother of pearl o the current J45.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New Posts

Top