Gibson SJ-200

daveyh

So, played one brand new the other day, as this is literally my dream acoustic.

The strings weren't aligned properly to the neck as the bridge was off centre, and was noticeable when you sighted it. Played relatively nicely, but started to play hard and it lost all resonance, sounded like it was made of cardboard or MDF or something shit.

They wanted near £3k for this. My LAG 200, a J200 copy, is a better guitar in every way and got it for a tenth of the price.

richardhomer

I've only ever played one J200 - but my experience was pretty similar. Even though it was bigger than very big thing indeed, it sounded remarkably small. Like you found, beyond a certain point - hitting it harder didn't translate into sound - almost like it had a built-compressor....

kt66

I was after one a couple of years back, horrendous prices, ended up with 1999 Guild JF65/6 instead, a better guitar for half the price. This is jet engine loud with 13s on it. However with 12s it loses a lot of projection, I was surprised. Most jumbos are set up for 13s, if 12s were put on them it may explain the lack of resonance 

ICBM

daveyh said:

The strings weren't aligned properly to the neck as the bridge was off centre, and was noticeable when you sighted it.

Someone I know has a Custom Shop J-185 which is like this - it's not the bridge being off-centre, it's that the neck joint is made wrong - the bridge is centred relative to the top seam. It's so bad that before I corrected it, the top E literally ran off the side of the fingerboard at the very top end of the fingerboard. I did the only thing I could do short of removing the neck and fitting it properly - notched the saddle to pull the strings over into the right position. Not pretty, but it works.

This guitar was something like £3,800 new too…

So not only can't they get the angles right on a Les Paul or a top-end acoustic, they can't even be bothered to check them before they fill out the 'quality control' certificate - since it would be impossible to have played this guitar in its original state and not noticed.


That said, I own two wonderful Gibson acoustics. But it's depressing how many others there are out there which aren't.

Koa

Saw a SJ200 copy by Hondo in a charity shop window in Kilmarnock, had a quick play, £20 .....was in a hurry and thought I'd pick up on the way back. You guessed it was gone. It was actually really nice and I hope the new owners enjoying it. Needed new strings but not that far away from a Gibson in quality. 

ICBM

Koa said:

Saw a SJ200 copy by Hondo in a charity shop window in Kilmarnock, had a quick play, £20 .....was in a hurry and thought I'd pick up on the way back. You guessed it was gone. It was actually really nice and I hope the new owners enjoying it. Needed new strings but not that far away from a Gibson in quality. 

I had one of those once. Really nice guitar - I sold it for £250 about fifteen years ago, and maybe shouldn't have done.

All-ply including the top, but it had that 'old guitar' sound. It's not true that ply doesn't age.

I also had a Hondo Everly Brothers copy which I preferred to the Lowden I owned at the same time, so I sold the Lowden - really! (Nice guitar, just not for me.) Shouldn't have sold that Hondo either...

RandallFlagg

I had a SJ200 for a while about 10 years ago, I was a little underwhelmed, it was built OK but the blingy neck and headstock seemed to kill the tone and it wasn't as loud as I would have liked.

Shame really as I wanted that George Harrison and Pete Townsend sound and vibe but was feeling it. Those late 60s SJ200s had the adjustable tunomatic bridge which apprentynkilled the tone even more, but it didn't stop Pete Townsend writing Tommy and much of Who's Next on it.

My current acoustic, a Martin D28 is a much more satisfying guitar

Koa

Don't get me wrong, I like both Gibson and Martin acoustics.....ideally I'd have one of each but a dreadnought be it a D28, J45 or even a Hummingbird and a 000 or parlour size really works for me.
J200 looks great and should sound huge.....why doesn't it.

ICBM

Koa said:

J200 looks great and should sound huge.....why doesn't it.

Because it's so big that it has more deep bass than lower mid, so it sounds like it lacks punch. They do vary a bit and some are apparently louder than others, but none have the midrange of the guitars you like.