We were pretty excited when the photos of this Jumbo came through. It was being offered in trade, and of course we knew immediately we had to get our hands on it. It looked like it had been stored for decades and was clearly in need of some attention, but through the layers of dirt you could see it was in really good shape.
Who would have thought Gibson would knock it out of the park when celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the iconic J-200 acoustic guitar by issuing a 15" wide body version? Clearly the folks at Bozeman had taken a cue from an iconic musician: singer/songwriter and well-known Gibson J-200 player Emmylou Harris.
The first time we saw this guitar was in photos. It looked exceptionally well-preserved, certainly had the original case, and for a Martin of this ilk, was reasonably priced. We had recently spent some time with another 12-fret 000 example from the era that wasn't available, but the guitar stars aligned and dropped this particular 1925 build in our lap.
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.
