Gibson has expanded its Original Collection with three acoustic guitars inspired by the quote/unquote golden era of the ‘50s and ‘60s – a time when the electric guitar got popular, youth culture exploded, and Beatlemania was just around the corner.
And this drop of high-end flat-tops – released as Gibson celebrates 100 years of making them – includes the regal, big-bodied oomph and class of the SJ-200 60s Original, the compact small-bodied mojo of the LG-2 50s Original, and one hybrid acoustic electric guitar that speaks to the enduring power of Beatlemania, the J-160E.
Think of the J-160E and you might think of the Ed Sullivan shows, or black-and-white archive photos of a mop-topped John Lennon in the studio. Lennon’s 1962 model sold for $2.41 million in 2015. Or maybe George Harrison in his pomp, Paul McCartney in chunky woollens singing about the west coast of Scotland (although Macca’s was a square-shouldered model, and this has a more round-shouldered profile).
It comes complete with a hum-cancelling P-90 DC pickup mounted on the top of the soundhole, gold Top Hat volume and tone controls on the body’s top.
Available in Vintage Sunburst, solid mahogany on the back and sides, solid Sikta spruce on the top, it is the spit of its '60s counterpart. There’s something undeniably cool about the J-160E, which has this sort of factory-modded look with that uncovered P-90 DC and the gold dials with silver inserts on the body’s top.
Leaving the radicalism of augmenting an acoustic an electric guitar pickup and controls, this is fundamentally a big-lunged dread with many familiar Gibson elements, from the 12” radius rosewood fingerboard with trapezoid inlays, the 24.75” scale, the mahogany SlimTaper neck that joins the body with a compound dovetail joint set with hot hide glue.
It’ll make your chords sound huge. But put it through an amp – maybe even with an overdrive pedal – and it’ll sing, too. It’s priced £3,499/$3,999.
The SJ-200 60s Original is a more traditional offering, with the King of the Flat-tops offered in Heritage Cherry Sunburst and Vintage Sunburst. At a sobering £4,999/$5,699 it is the most expensive of the three.
But for that you get one opulent guitar, with AAA figured maple back and sides, a AAA Sitka spruce top, and it comes heavily bejewelled in mother of pearl, from the crown fingerboard inlays to the ‘Moustache’ bridge.
The decorative pickguard, gold hardware, and multi-ply binding completes the look. Even the neck – a two-piece construction of maple with walnut stinger – is a work of art.
The LG-2 50s Original is the most unassuming of the three, the smallest, but anyone with experience of these compact little Gibson acoustics will tell you they typically have an over-sized personality.
The LG-2 is also the oldest model of the three, having first been introduced in 1942 as the success to the L-00.
The 2026 model is offered in Antique Natural and Vintage Sunburst, and does not mess with the O.G. recipe, pairing a Sitka spruce top with mahogany on the back and sides. Its mahogany neck has a historic V profile. The three-on-a-plate Grover tuners with white buttons are too cool.
All of these acoustics are finished in nitrocellulose, all made in Bozeman, Montana, and the price includes a hard-shell guitar case, and they are available now. Check ‘em out at Gibson.
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