Any Gibson fans?

CloudNine

I have a 1930’s L00. Actually have it up for sale, but not because I don’t like the thing, it is absolutely spectacular, tones that cannot be replicated in a modern acoustic. I am just on a mission towards other guitars. I might still bottle out of selling it if someone actually stumps up the cash. Amazing dry thumpy tones and surprisingly versatile. 

ICBM

Tannin said:

Martin OM-21 is straight out of the top drawer. Can't go too far wrong with one of those!

I had one of those - probably the best non-Dreadnought guitar I've played, but I couldn't get on with the neck width and string spacing.

mo6020

CloudNine said:

I have a 1930’s L00. Actually have it up for sale, but not because I don’t like the thing, it is absolutely spectacular, tones that cannot be replicated in a modern acoustic. I am just on a mission towards other guitars. I might still bottle out of selling it if someone actually stumps up the cash. Amazing dry thumpy tones and surprisingly versatile. 

Is that up for sale on here? I probably can’t afford it, but I’d love to have a perve at some pics…

Tannin

^ And here I was thinking the Flying V was rad.

TDubs

CloudNine said:

I have a 1930’s L00. Actually have it up for sale, but not because I don’t like the thing, it is absolutely spectacular, tones that cannot be replicated in a modern acoustic. I am just on a mission towards other guitars. I might still bottle out of selling it if someone actually stumps up the cash. Amazing dry thumpy tones and surprisingly versatile. 

Is this your one @CloudNine ? Ad is in Glasgow as are you. Have seen it for a while. Looks great!

https://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/gibson-l-00-1939-vintage-acoustic-guitar-amazing-condition/1465210835?utm_campaign=socialbuttons&utm_campaign=socialbuttons&utm_content=app_ios&utm_medium=social&utm_source=sms

CloudNine

@TDubs  that’s the one man!  Had it on and off sale for a while. Many offers, but my motivation to sell it is low, so haven’t accepted any.

Any time I start thinking about it again, like this thread has made me do, I feel the urge to take it down again.

Funnily enough, a fellow forumite came round to look at a different guitar I was selling, and happened to have Gibson’s modern interpretation of this guitar. A very very nice little guitar in its own right. However…. Not similar in tone at all. The old one was just way dryer with more punch and more bass. Hard to believe one will turn into the other, but given time I suppose it will, as there is no other magic involved. Just whether you’re prepared to wait 85 yrs or not.

Smellyfingers

You’ve bought already so this advice may not be of much use now.

1. A new Gibson with a nitro-cellulose finish could take quite a few years to open up and sound at its best. 

On the other hand, buying new,you should be able to try a number of examples of the same model, which is a plus point because we know all acoustics(even the same model from the same factory)  sound slightly different from one another

2. It could that vintage Gibsons have acquired some kind of collector’s or investment premium, over and above their intrinsic value as instruments. 

Otoh I have heard from someone who is knowledgable, that Gibsons from a certain era( I think the 1940’s) sound like no other guitar. And that no-one, not even Gibson itself, has ever benn able to recreate the tone heights of those 70-80 year old instruments.

If I really liked the very distinctive Gibson sound, and was not buying for investment, I would go for the one that most had that particular tone and that felt the most comfortable in my hands. IMO, not being a Gibson fan, their burst acoustic finishes represent some kind of aesthetic holy grail in the industry.

Tannin

Smellyfingers said:

 their burst acoustic finishes represent some kind of aesthetic holy grail in the industry.

Correct! No-one, and I mean absolutely no-one in the history of the world ever, has yet devised a way to make an acoustic guitar look uglier than a Gibson black sunburst. (E.g., J-45.) Many imitators have tried but the original is still the Grand Champion of ugly. 

(Which when you think about it is really strange. It was Gibson, after all, who made the famous 1950s sunburst Les Pauls, which rank high among the best looking electric guitars ever produced.)

tomjax

Tannin said:

Smellyfingers said:

 their burst acoustic finishes represent some kind of aesthetic holy grail in the industry.

Correct! No-one, and I mean absolutely no-one in the history of the world ever, has yet devised a way to make an acoustic guitar look uglier than a Gibson black sunburst. (E.g., J-45.) Many imitators have tried but the original is still the Grand Champion of ugly.

Whilst I completely disagree with your opinion - you clearly have never seen Atkin Guitar's attempt at a sunburst.

TDubs

tomjax said:

Tannin said:

Smellyfingers said:

 their burst acoustic finishes represent some kind of aesthetic holy grail in the industry.

Correct! No-one, and I mean absolutely no-one in the history of the world ever, has yet devised a way to make an acoustic guitar look uglier than a Gibson black sunburst. (E.g., J-45.) Many imitators have tried but the original is still the Grand Champion of ugly.

Whilst I completely disagree with your opinion - you clearly have never seen Atkin Guitar's attempt at a sunburst.

Martin’s attempt at sunburst is questionable 

Timcito

Gibson made a non-cutaway mini jumbo called the CJ165 in the first decade of the 2000s. They came in spruce/maple with a rosewood board and spruce/rosewood with an ebony board. I bought a brand new spruce rosewood here in the US in 2007 and then idiotically sold it two years later because I thought a Martin 000-42 would be my forever guitar. It wasn't, and that Gibson was something really special - both visually and sonically gorgeous. They turned it into a Taylor-type cutaway around 2010, and its latest incarnation is called the Gibson Parlor, I think. But those original ones were gems. I was very sorry that I couldn't buy another one once the Martin had turned out to be a bit of a disappointment.

ICBM

Timcito said:

Gibson made a non-cutaway mini jumbo called the CJ165 in the first decade of the 2000s. They came in spruce/maple with a rosewood board and spruce/rosewood with an ebony board. I bought a brand new spruce rosewood here in the US in 2007 and then idiotically sold it two years later because I thought a Martin 000-42 would be my forever guitar. It wasn't, and that Gibson was something really special - both visually and sonically gorgeous. They turned it into a Taylor-type cutaway around 2010, and its latest incarnation is called the Gibson Parlor, I think. But those original ones were gems. I was very sorry that I couldn't buy another one once the Martin had turned out to be a bit of a disappointment.

I had one of the maple ones - a 2008 model I bought second hand - it was a lovely thing, with quite a unique sound. When I thought I had too many guitars I stupidly sold it back to the friend I got it from, then he sold it on without asking if I wanted to buy it again… by which time I missed it and would have done.

Timcito

ICBM said:

Timcito said:

Gibson made a non-cutaway mini jumbo called the CJ165 in the first decade of the 2000s. They came in spruce/maple with a rosewood board and spruce/rosewood with an ebony board. I bought a brand new spruce rosewood here in the US in 2007 and then idiotically sold it two years later because I thought a Martin 000-42 would be my forever guitar. It wasn't, and that Gibson was something really special - both visually and sonically gorgeous. They turned it into a Taylor-type cutaway around 2010, and its latest incarnation is called the Gibson Parlor, I think. But those original ones were gems. I was very sorry that I couldn't buy another one once the Martin had turned out to be a bit of a disappointment.

I had one of the maple ones - a 2008 model I bought second hand - it was a lovely thing, with quite a unique sound. When I thought I had too many guitars I stupidly sold it back to the friend I got it from, then he sold it on without asking if I wanted to buy it again… by which time I missed it and would have done.

Sorry to hear you let yours go, too!

With hindsight, I think I would have bought both versions, the rosewood and the maple. The model was that good, in my view.

Lebarque

I went acoustic shopping with a mate to Guitar Village a few years ago. My favourite that we tried was a Gibson Woodie Guthrie. It was so lovely. My mate came home with a 1940s Martin which wasn't bad either. :0)

TDubs

CJ165 just up on reverb now. No affiliation 

https://reverb.com/item/76462702-gibson-cj-165-2007-rosewood?utm_source=rev-ios-app&utm_medium=ios-share&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=76462702

ICBM

TDubs said:

CJ165 just up on reverb now. No affiliation 

https://reverb.com/item/76462702-gibson-cj-165-2007-rosewood?utm_source=rev-ios-app&utm_medium=ios-share&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=76462702

Hmmm... "no marks or scratches". Or not unless you include the split in the top parallel to the centre join behind the bridge. And the marks in the top on the bass side of the bridge. Not sure what's happened to the label inside either, and it has a cheap strap button fitted in a stupid place.

It may still be a nice guitar, and the split is repairable by any good luthier, but descriptions like that are dishonest.