Gibson SJ-200
May. 29th, 2017 04:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jesse_dylanThis here my favorite ride.
This is the most expensive thing I own. My car is not worth much, but still, it is a car, and is what I drive (when I have to), and this is worth maybe twice as much, if not more. That's why I call it my favorite ride. (I don't actually ride it.)
It was my dream guitar since... well, I'm not sure when. If I could have only one guitar, it would be this one. In fact, lately, it's all I've been playing. A lot of my guitars remind me of her, and I don't want to be reminded. I actually bought this one last summer when she was here, when I could finally (kind of) afford it, after years of agonizing research. I'm glad my plan backfired, because I don't really think of her a whole lot when I play it. This is not the case with some of my other guitars.
It's a Gibson SJ-200. It's special because it's in heritage cherry sunburst, which is what they use on the standard Hummingbirds. This guitar normally is either a natural finish or has a tobacco sunburst.
It's about the largest standard guitar that anyone plays. It's great for pretty much everything I do. It is bassy, but not particularly bassy; it is just a very full sound. I could go on and on. The neck and body are maple, from over in Montana. The top is a really large piece of sitka spruce, I think from the pacific northwest. The fingerboard and bridge are not particularly sustainable rosewood, most likely from an Indian coffee plantation (the rosewood trees shelter the coffee, but when they get too big, they have to be cut down, and many of them do end up being used in guitars). The guitar itself was made just west of me in Bozeman, Montana. It's called SJ-200 because the SJ stands for Super Jumbo (meaning it's larger than their "jumbo" guitars), and the 200 is because it originally cost $200 back in 1937 (and if you factor in the inflation, the sale price has actually gone down, although the retail price has gone up for a variety of reasons). It was made to be a big, fancy-looking cowboy guitar, fancier-looking than the pearl-encrusted Martin D-45.
The maple helps to balance it out, brighten it up, without losing any of the fullness in what could otherwise be an overpowering, dark, unbalanced instrument. It also adds a bit of spank.
I bastardized mine by putting robot tuners on it instead of the (made in China) art deco Grover replicas it game with, but you can't really tell from the front. They come off easy, and the originals go back on easy. I don't plan to ever part with the guitar, so I don't think it matters much.
Contrary to popular belief, and mythology propagated even by guitar players and builders, a bigger guitar does not necessarily make a louder sound. It does make a bigger (as in, fuller) sound, if constructed carefully. Any larger than this might not even work as a guitar. It takes a lot of oomph to drive that big top, but it is constructed in a sensitive manner such that it works pretty well. For delicate players, no, it would not be the way to go, but I am rarely delicate. I play guitar like I'm playing drums and bass at the same time.
A big, poorly-made guitar always sounds better than a small, poorly-made guitar. However, it takes special craftsmanship to really capitalize on such a large air cavity, big back, and large top. It has a big, balanced sound, and it never seems to clash with vocals, for better or worse (usually better, but there are times you want to be loud, and then you need a loud guitar, or you just sound like the band ain't keeping up). I play dynamically, and even when I'm being quiet, I'm pushing pretty hard and often palm-muting. It thumps really nicely when I do that.
I like to use lots of weird, non-standard tunings, and it handles that really well, too, even when I tune quite low, even with light strings. (I would normally use medium strings to tune lower, but when I tune up to concert pitch, I don't want mediums. So I stick with lights. I'm not singing opera here.)
It records extremely well. When I do record, I do so simply, and even if I use microphones and complicated recording stuff, I do not know how to "EQ" and mess with settings, so it's important that it just sounds good without fiddling.
It's great for fingerpicking, and it really excels at strumming. It's also fine for more intricate rhythm work, such as I like to think I do. It became more of a blues and rock guitar than country/cowboy.
If I had one complaint, it would be that, because of it's giant size, it sounds a lot different to the player than it does to the listener/mic. But, since it seems to sound great no matter what, it's not a big deal.
Here's George Harrison with his in the sunburst. He used it throughout the later Beatles stuff and a lot of his solo stuff.
Bob Dylan had one, too. Some people think it was the same one. No one is really sure. It probably wasn't.
Elvis had several. (That's what the natural finish looks like once it's good and worn in.)
https://youtu.be/S-V6CvcIYb0?t=1m14s
They sound really cool when they're old. By the time mine gets this old, I'll be like... 90-something. So, I didn't want to wait too much longer to buy mine, even though it was an extravagant financial hardship. I don't actually know anyone else who's ever owned one, but then again, I don't know many people.
Here's a song I wrote using it, tuned down, with some thumping.
Fingerpicking in standard tuning with a capo...
Fingerpicking tuned down a whole step...
(Actually, everything I've posted up til now, I've recorded using this guitar.)
This is the most expensive thing I own. My car is not worth much, but still, it is a car, and is what I drive (when I have to), and this is worth maybe twice as much, if not more. That's why I call it my favorite ride. (I don't actually ride it.)
It was my dream guitar since... well, I'm not sure when. If I could have only one guitar, it would be this one. In fact, lately, it's all I've been playing. A lot of my guitars remind me of her, and I don't want to be reminded. I actually bought this one last summer when she was here, when I could finally (kind of) afford it, after years of agonizing research. I'm glad my plan backfired, because I don't really think of her a whole lot when I play it. This is not the case with some of my other guitars.
It's a Gibson SJ-200. It's special because it's in heritage cherry sunburst, which is what they use on the standard Hummingbirds. This guitar normally is either a natural finish or has a tobacco sunburst.
It's about the largest standard guitar that anyone plays. It's great for pretty much everything I do. It is bassy, but not particularly bassy; it is just a very full sound. I could go on and on. The neck and body are maple, from over in Montana. The top is a really large piece of sitka spruce, I think from the pacific northwest. The fingerboard and bridge are not particularly sustainable rosewood, most likely from an Indian coffee plantation (the rosewood trees shelter the coffee, but when they get too big, they have to be cut down, and many of them do end up being used in guitars). The guitar itself was made just west of me in Bozeman, Montana. It's called SJ-200 because the SJ stands for Super Jumbo (meaning it's larger than their "jumbo" guitars), and the 200 is because it originally cost $200 back in 1937 (and if you factor in the inflation, the sale price has actually gone down, although the retail price has gone up for a variety of reasons). It was made to be a big, fancy-looking cowboy guitar, fancier-looking than the pearl-encrusted Martin D-45.
The maple helps to balance it out, brighten it up, without losing any of the fullness in what could otherwise be an overpowering, dark, unbalanced instrument. It also adds a bit of spank.
I bastardized mine by putting robot tuners on it instead of the (made in China) art deco Grover replicas it game with, but you can't really tell from the front. They come off easy, and the originals go back on easy. I don't plan to ever part with the guitar, so I don't think it matters much.
Contrary to popular belief, and mythology propagated even by guitar players and builders, a bigger guitar does not necessarily make a louder sound. It does make a bigger (as in, fuller) sound, if constructed carefully. Any larger than this might not even work as a guitar. It takes a lot of oomph to drive that big top, but it is constructed in a sensitive manner such that it works pretty well. For delicate players, no, it would not be the way to go, but I am rarely delicate. I play guitar like I'm playing drums and bass at the same time.
A big, poorly-made guitar always sounds better than a small, poorly-made guitar. However, it takes special craftsmanship to really capitalize on such a large air cavity, big back, and large top. It has a big, balanced sound, and it never seems to clash with vocals, for better or worse (usually better, but there are times you want to be loud, and then you need a loud guitar, or you just sound like the band ain't keeping up). I play dynamically, and even when I'm being quiet, I'm pushing pretty hard and often palm-muting. It thumps really nicely when I do that.
I like to use lots of weird, non-standard tunings, and it handles that really well, too, even when I tune quite low, even with light strings. (I would normally use medium strings to tune lower, but when I tune up to concert pitch, I don't want mediums. So I stick with lights. I'm not singing opera here.)
It records extremely well. When I do record, I do so simply, and even if I use microphones and complicated recording stuff, I do not know how to "EQ" and mess with settings, so it's important that it just sounds good without fiddling.
It's great for fingerpicking, and it really excels at strumming. It's also fine for more intricate rhythm work, such as I like to think I do. It became more of a blues and rock guitar than country/cowboy.
If I had one complaint, it would be that, because of it's giant size, it sounds a lot different to the player than it does to the listener/mic. But, since it seems to sound great no matter what, it's not a big deal.
Here's George Harrison with his in the sunburst. He used it throughout the later Beatles stuff and a lot of his solo stuff.
Bob Dylan had one, too. Some people think it was the same one. No one is really sure. It probably wasn't.
Elvis had several. (That's what the natural finish looks like once it's good and worn in.)
https://youtu.be/S-V6CvcIYb0?t=1m14s
They sound really cool when they're old. By the time mine gets this old, I'll be like... 90-something. So, I didn't want to wait too much longer to buy mine, even though it was an extravagant financial hardship. I don't actually know anyone else who's ever owned one, but then again, I don't know many people.
Here's a song I wrote using it, tuned down, with some thumping.
Fingerpicking in standard tuning with a capo...
Fingerpicking tuned down a whole step...
(Actually, everything I've posted up til now, I've recorded using this guitar.)
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Date: 2017-05-29 10:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2017-05-30 09:16 pm (UTC)