Gibson J-100
Robert Wadsworth
acoustic I've had the pleasure to play. Big sound, great tone...I love
the
jumbo body. However, I've never seen another one! There are j150's and
200's
galore, but I've yet to see another J-100, does anyjone out there in
computer land
have one? Do you love it as much as I do? I prefer the "no frills"
appearance, which
as far as I can tell, is all that separates it from a J-200.
MAIB
Mark
"Robert Wadsworth" <augus...@eznet.net> wrote in message
news:3AE103AD...@eznet.net...
Hojo2x
>I bought my j-100 for $900, and I f**king LOVE it. It is the finest>acoustic
I've had the pleasure to play.
>However, I've never seen another one!
> does anyjone out there in>computer land
>have one?
>I prefer the "no frills">appearance, which
>as far as I can tell, is all that separates it from a J-200.
Well, that depends on the year it was issued, Robert. Gibson has gone back and
forth between making the J-100s in maple and mahogany, and for one brief period
in the late '80s, in European sycamore (which is a type of maple.)
I have one friend who had a mahogany J-100 that was an absolute dog: muddy,
thuddy, loud but not in a pleasant way. A real bowser in every regard. After
a number of attempted fixes, including brass bridge pins and some of those
gadgets you see advertised in the back of Acoustic Guitar magazine, he finally
got rid of it.
All the brass bridge pins did, incidently, was make it sound more nasal. They
fixed NOTHING in the sound.....
He was lucky in that he found a woman who wanted to trade a small-body Martin
straight across for it, because she wanted a BIG guitar, and the J-100 is
certainly big.
On the other hand, Fred Shrimer has one of the European sycamore J-100s, and
it's just a superb instrument in every regard. It was the first jumbo guitar
I'd ever played that I liked. Good tonal balance, good clarity and separation.
I'd like to hornswoggle him out of it. (Fred's a Canadian, so maybe if I
offer him enough beads and shiny objects he'll go for the deal: "Wantum
compact mirror straight across for that guitar, Fred? Tell you what, I'll
throw in this Swiss Army Officer's knife, too! Look, it's got a corkscrew AND
a tiny pair of scissors!!")
So I'm glad you've got a good one, Robert - hang on to it!
Wade Hampton Miller
shrimer
news:20010421111828...@ng-mi1.aol.com...
Being the owner of said '89 J-100, I can second Wade's comments about it.
I had that guitar along with me on a visit with Ren ferguson at Gibson's
acoustic plant a few years ago. While looking the guitar over, he noted
that there had been a "stash" of Eauropean Sycamore which wass "bequeathed
upon" the Bozeman plant by Kalamozoo & Nashville, from which they made their
earlier maple-bodied guitars -- J-100s, J-200s and Doves. Many of these
turned out to be cannons, but Ren mentioned that some of the plainer J-100s
ended up sounding nicer than the more dressed-up J-200s.
A luthier friend of mine played it for the first time the other day. After
playing it for five or ten minutes, he said: "You know, this makes me want
to builkd a JUMBO!"
Bring LOTS of beads, Wade; LOTS, I tell you!!
Fred
Greg Z
> I bought my j-100 for $900, and I f**king LOVE it. It is the finest
> acoustic I've had the pleasure to play. Big sound, great tone...I love
> the
> jumbo body. However, I've never seen another one!
I believe I saw one fairly recently at a shop in central Mass.
Greg Z
--
"I'll help you carry your load,
When you come to a turn in the road"...Steve Wariner
Mike
factory built a few, but the production cranked up when the Bozeman
factory was built in 1989. When I worked there, 89-90, the 100's were
really the best buy for tone vs. price of anything they made. The 100's
were initially built from a large stock of European sycamore (like Wade
mentioned) that was inherited from a huge purchase of the wood that had
been done 20 years earlier. It was great sounding tone wood, but was
very plain in figure. This wood was intended to be used in J-200's, but
buyers wanted flamey looking curly maple, so the 100 was a way for the
company to use up the wood inventory. All these guitars were painted
black, partly for economy's sake, and partly to cover the plain wood.
After the initial wood stocks ran out, the mahogany version Wade
mentioned was made for a short time, and they weren't as good as the
earlier ones. The J-100 reissues made around 1995 went back to maple
bodies, and featured the stairstep pegheads, mustache bridges, and
uniquely-shaped pickguards that were used on the originals, which were
made in the late 30's. These were also great sounding guitars.
These days, the J-100 looks much like a J-200... plainer maple with less
flame is used, a 200 pickguard without the engraving, unbound
fingerboard and peghead but (I think) the crown inlays in the
fingerboard, and a mustache bridge again. My faves of all, though are
the black 89-91 models with the top belly bridge, dot neck, and teardrop
pickguard. They really deliver the goods! The Dirt Band loves them- they
must own at least a dozen of 'em, and I also see a lot of Nashville guys
using them.
Stanger