The Gibson Jumbos: A Short History by Five Watt World
- Thread starter Bruxist
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chezdeluxe
Doctor of Teleocity
Thanks I enjoyed that.
My 2001 Gibson J200 is my workhorse acoustic and it sounds magnificent.
My 2001 Gibson J200 is my workhorse acoustic and it sounds magnificent.
I'm afraid to watch this. Prepare for yet again this "free" forum costing me thousands.
I've wanted one of these for quite a while now... Typically a Martin guy, but the sound of that big maple box.... sweet.
I've wanted one of these for quite a while now... Typically a Martin guy, but the sound of that big maple box.... sweet.
57joonya
Tele-Afflicted
Just got a 1934 jumbo re-issue . I love this guitar . I really better love it, at the price point . It’s what I was after though. And it’s great
zombywoof
Friend of Leo's
That was pretty much a nice thumbnail sketch. The key to the guitars built in the 1930s though Gibson was always experimenting with them - everything from soundhole diameter, to body depth and un-tapered bodies (such as on the Jumbo, Roy Smeck and Trojan) to the X brace (angle and scalloped and non-scalloped), to tone bars (two or three) and such. Finally, in 1941 Gibson found the formula they would settle on which resulted in the J50 and J45 the following year.
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Ed Driscoll
Friend of Leo's
Great video; thanks for posting. My wife gave the Gibson's Fabulous Flat-Top Guitars book for Christmas, and that was a nice video accompaniment. I hadn't realized until reading it how badly the quality slipped on Gibson's acoustics during the 1970s, something that Williams addressed as well.
zombywoof
Friend of Leo's
A friend of mine who owns a small music shop gave me his copy of that book many years ago. It is a good read but unless it has been revised this book was the reason I thought my 1942 J50 was a J45 which had lost their finish because it stated that model did not appear in the catalog until 1947.
Gibson's downhill slide though really began in 1968 after their parent company CMI had come under the control of college educated bean counters rather than those who knew how to build instruments. While builders tended to make changes not solely for sound but to solve engineering problems which more often as not had to do with avoiding warranty issues which were a major drag on the bottom lie of any company, Gibson started to go a bit overboard.
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telekaster1999
Tele-Afflicted
My old 61 J50 is great sounding guitar. Its sound is very unique, not quite sure how to describe it.
RobRiggs
Tele-Afflicted
I’ve had a 2004 SJ200 for a couple of years now. I think it is one of the best sounding acoustics I’ve ever heard. I had a D 18 for 40 years and always thought it was a fine sound (and it is) but the SJ 200 just has a certain personality to it.
zombywoof
Friend of Leo's
The video still gets the year the J50 was introduced wrong.
JT kindly sent me a signed copy of the book upon its initial release. After reading it you feel that you do not as much own a Banner as you have been appointed its caretaker.
Gibson did release a short run of guitars in 2013 which were loaned to them by JT as part of the Kal Gal project. Fairbanks also came out with a Kal Gal SJ which was copied from John's 1944 guitar. Some nice added touches were JT provided Dale with labels signed by one of the Kalamazoo Gals and some maple salvaged from the Kalamazoo plant which was used to make the bridge plates.
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