In 1942 Gibson built the first Southern Jumbo (SJ) round shoulder dreadnought acoustic guitars. This upscale take on the J-45 was purportedly designed for sale in the southern United States where the acoustic guitar players of the time were seeking instruments with fancier appointments.
The introductory 1942 Gibson SJ "Southern Jumbo" was a 16" wide acoustic guitar classed up with multi-ply binding around the top and back edges of the body, and featured parallelogram fingerboard inlays. Though wood selection would vary during wartime production, the preferred standard SJ specification would have been a mahogany body, mahogany neck, and adirondack spruce top.
There were however a few early production batches of Gibson Southern Jumbos featuring rosewood back and sides. Just a handful of these rosewood body guitars were produced at the time. The rosewood Gibson SJ featured here has a factory order number of 8074H-17, putting it right with the first group manufactured during 1942. Just a small few of these are still known in circulation, a handful being found online with some internet sleuthing.
At the time, production materials were scarce due to the war effort, so there is more inconsistency than consistency pertaining to the specs of these models. It also seems that Gibson was experimenting a bit with the features trying to figure out what direction to take with the Southern Jumbo. Our SJ is an adirondack top guitar, but it features a 5 piece maple neck. The neck is lacking a truss rod like many of the era, and is appointed with single ply binding around the fingerboard, as well as a multiply neck heel cap. It is a 19 fret neck with 14 frets clear of the body. Additionally, though this Southern Jumbo is a Banner-era guitar, ours can be identified as an early one due to the white script Gibson logo.
The back and side wood is beautiful and rich with the varied dark striations premium rosewood is known for. We assume in addition to the upgraded binding and inlays, Gibson tested small batches of Southern Jumbos with rosewood to compete directly with the fancier herringbone and pearl Martin guitars being produced at time. Ours once had a tailpiece added, and there has been some finish touchup done. The bottom belly bridge and maple bridge plate are expert replicas. The original neck block is square, and made of mahogany. The original Kluson tuners are 3 on a strip with earlier riveted gears. This one also features a back strip between the two pieces of rosewood, as well as the rare skunk stripe down the top's center seam: extra finishing touches to enhance the presentation and elegance of the guitar.
While not a perfect example, the model is rare enough that we just had to get our hands on it and experience one. Though our Southern Jumbo has a distinct Gibson round shoulder sound, the tone is much bolder. It's round, deep, clear, and direct. It's lacking the softer low mid range that a mahogany guitar would feature, and instead has a nice bass note with crisp high ends. Single notes are quite articulate, and individual strings are easy to select with the ear when strumming chords. The guitar feels a bit heavier built than a Martin of the time, and reminds us a bit of the more heavily braced early 50's D-28, though the SJ is still quite "Gibson" in nature. It does take a bit more picking power to open this one up, as indicated by extensive top wear that this guitar displays.
We're honored to have handled such a rare and fabled piece of American vintage guitar history. If you ever see one in the wild, spend some time with it, who knows when the chance will come around again.
