Gibson 50's J-50 Original Review

WOW

My new Gibson J-50 came in yesterday. I am blown away by the tone quality, playability, intonation going up the neck, and the close, non-buzzing action also going all the way up the neck. I owned a 1980's J-45 for many years and it was like a second wife to me, always there, giving comfort. Over the last few years the finish and banding was degrading, so took it in for repair and… read more decided it wasn't worth the cost. Didn't realize how much I missed the full tone steel string sound till my new one came in. It's dehumidifier packs in the humid summers from now on. Again, totally blown away by the fullness of the tone

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Beyond happy!

I actually went into the Sweetwater shop to look at acoustic guitars and play a lot of different models. This particular guitar was not even on my radar, and in fact I was not even familiar with the J-50. I am not a fan of the burst finishes on the J-45s, and much prefer a natural top. I spent about three and a half hours looking at and playing guitars from Martin, Guild, Taylor,… read more and Gibson. This guitar sold itself with its super playability, amazing sound and very cool vintage looks. No matter what guitar I played, I kept coming back to this one because of the way it sounded and played. Very surprising since I had no interest in it before I showed up. I was interested in the Gibson hummingbird, and the Gibson songwriter, but not the J-50. Once I had decided on this guitar, I had the sales rep pull out the 60s version of this guitar to compare them side by side. For me, the 50s version had better playability that fit my style. At first, I was a bit put off by the tuners. They functioned fine, but the pegs are a little bit smaller than what I'm used to. But once I looked into these and saw how Gibson recreated them, I realized that these were actually superb tuners compared to many others that look similarly. All in all, I am thrilled with my J-50 and have no regrets. I am much more of an electric guitar player than an acoustic player, and have played rock guitar for 48 years. This guitar was easy to play, even up high on the neck for me. Great purchase. Great guitar.

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Excellent

This is an excellent guitar. I really like the C shape neck. The woods are beautiful but most importantly the guitar sounds fantastic. Forrest Powell from Sweetwater was a great help with this purchase.

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Awesome Combination

This guitar is the best combination of positive features I have ever run across in a single guitar. Does it have quite the bass and projection of a Martin D-18? No. Does it have quite the warmness and resonance of a Guild D-55? No. But what it does have is better play-ability, better balance, and better overall versatility than either of the two models mentioned that I have… read more owned. Don't get me wrong, the Guild or Martin will treat you just fine and are iconic but for a guitar than can do anything and do it consistently, in my opinion, the J-50 is the answer. Also, kudos to my sales rep Ryan for making me a great deal on a demo.

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