Gibson SJ Southern Jumbo Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1950)

Gibson SJ Southern Jumbo Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1950), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, sunburst top, dark back and sides finish, mahogany back and sides, spruce top; mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard.

The SJ or "Southern Jumbo" sometimes feels like a bit of a forgotten model in Gibson's postwar flat top line; not as simple a working man's guitar as the more austere J-45 but not as yee-haw fancy as the SJ-200 or even the later J-185. The SJ features same general layout as the J-45 with a sunburst spruce top on a 16" slope-shouldered mahogany jumbo body, with a mahogany neck and rosewood fingerboard.

The cosmetics are fancier all around; there are multiple layers of binding around the body and soundhole and the fingerboard is bound with pearloid double parallelogram inlays. The bridge is a rosewood top-belly design, like an upside-down Martin. This 1950 model has a very sharp look but more importantly a big sound. Don Everly used a 1953 SJ to create the famous open-tuned chord hooks on the Everly Brothers early records, and this guitar has that same combination of punch and warmth. A very nice example.
 
Overall length is 41 in. (104.1 cm.), 16 1/16 in. (40.8 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 15/16 in. (12.5 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.). A nice, original guitar; Some pickwear around the soundhole but overall the finish is well preserved with typical checking. The very tip of the bass side headstock wing was chipped off and reglued-less than perfectly-long ago; no other visible repairs. A really fine player with a big smooth sound. Generally Excellent Condition.

Item # 4897
 
This item has been sold.


 
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