Gibson '50s J-45 Original - Ebony Review

Best Sound and Playability

Since I purchased this guitar I have not been able to put it down. I was a bit worried the neck would be too thick, however it sits just right in my hand, and the radius makes it very easy to play. The sound is bright with depth, very reactive to how I touch the strings. The ebony color is amazing up close, it will wear in beautifully over time. The tuning machines are solid… read more and look great in person giving it the vintage look, I expect the white knobs to turn over time to a more aged look, and I plan to keep this guitar until that happens. I did my own setup after purchase, sanded down the bridge a bit to lower the action and straighten out the neck. Otherwise great job Gibson and thank you Sweetwater for getting this baby to me safely.

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Outstanding guitar. I've got THE ONE

I've purchased this guitar two months ago and it has since become my main acoustic. Went for ebony finish/color as I already owned another acoustic in sunburst. A big THANK YOU to Adam Szmurlo for making my shopping experience at Sweetwater so enjoyable not only for this one, but for everything I've bought from Sweetwater over the years. There is a lot of talk on the web about… read more J-45s sounding all over the spectrum. Mine, however, is "the one". It has a very mellow and sweet tone, with rounded beautiful overtones (just the right amount) especially on the high register. The bass is tighter than Martin's but it *growls* if you dig in. Soft and sweet when finger picked, gorgeous punchy "overdriven" sound and growl when strummed hard (somehow reminding me of a nicely overdriven Les Paul). Never muddy. Now, you really have to love thick neck profiles (the 50's style) as this one has a full D-shape with quite wide shoulders. Even though I have a thick 50s neck on my Les Paul, it still took a bit of getting used to it. Initially I was concerned that the neck will become sticky while playing considering it was touching my entire palm and the finish is nitrocellulose (I had bad experiences with this combination in the past). Happily to report that that was NOT the case with this guitar. If anything, when my fretting palm sweated, it made the neck even slicker. So big kudos to Gibson for that, well done ! This model comes with bone nut and bone saddle (hooray !!!). Personally, I can't stand having those made out of plastic, especially on a $2,000+ guitar. The bridge pins however, are made out of tusq. It's certainly a personal preference, but I prefer bone instead of tusq. While tusq adds slightly more overtones (which I don't think this guitar needs anyway), it does so at the expense of suppressing its "growl" and diminishing its "punch" and sustain. So I've replaced mine. The frets seems to have been plek-ed nicely :-) and there were no protruding frets at the edge (very smooth edges). The action was sky high though, and I believe that to be intentional so that the future owner can lower it to his/her satisfaction. For me, the factory setup was close to unplayable therefore I made a new bone saddle and lowered the nut slots to get the action to where I liked it. Every new guitar should have a setup done to match the owner's playing style, so that kind of work was expected. I mostly play this guitar unplugged but the few occasions I plugged it in, it sounded good to me. In conclusion, I am thrilled to own this acoustic legend with a phenomenal tone true to its name, and looking forward to many years of joy playing it.

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First Gibson

This guitar is my first Gibson and I am impressed. I have multiple Martin (standard series, both 18 and 28 style) along with other acoustics. But this guitar with its fat neck and short scale make it a joy to play. The electronics are pretty decent and it sounds great unplugged. Craftsmanship isn't Martin or Taylor, but I think that is done on purpose. It seems like a rugged guitar.… read more I cant wait for it to age and look and sound better ;)

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