Gibson has unveiled a special 130th anniversary edition of the J-45 that celebrates its founder, Orville Gibson, turning the much-loved workhorse acoustic guitar into a bona-fide show pony.
The J-45 Orville Artisan 130th Anniversary Limited Edition is has an ebony top, a Unitone historic-natural finish on the back, a lick of gloss nitrocellulose to make it positively glow, and is replete with the sort of ornate details you might have found on the brand’s earliest harp guitars.
This is the Gibson Custom Shop operating at the height of its game, with each instrument leaving the Bozeman, Montana facility with over 100 pieces of shell inlay meticulously applied to its neck and fingerboard.
“This Custom Anniversary model celebrates Orville Gibson’s history-making propensity to build instruments that are not only superior in performance, but also so magically ornate to ascend the instrument into the world of fine art,” says Robi Johns, senior product development manager, Gibson Acoustic Guitars.
No detail has been spared. There are even droplets of shell twinkling in the ebony bridge. Abalone can be found in the multi-ply body binding, and in as the “130” inlay on this special anniversary MOP pickguard, and on the Gibson logo on the headstock.
Even the bridge pins have been anointed with the abalone treatment. The “Harp Lady” fingerboard inlay draws a historical parallel with Orville Gibson’s most decorative builds.
Gold Waverly open-gear tuners complete the high-end look. This is the sort of guitar you grab when you’ve got a private gig in West Egg, Long Island, for a client by the name of Gatsby.
And yet, deep down, this is still a J-45 – a guitar build for getting the job done. There is no mistaking that shape, the slope-shouldered dreadnought body one of the most recognisable designs in guitar.
And being a J-45, with a Sitka spruce top and solid mahogany on the back and sides, it will have songs in it, plenty of oomph for strumming but a great all-rounder.
All the usual J-45 specs are present and correct. This beauty has the 24.75” scale. The ebony fingerboard might be unrecognisable, what with the dot inlays being replaced with something a little more (okay, a lot more) Louis XIV, but it will still feel the same with its 12” radius.
The Sitka spruce top is supported with traditional hand-scalloped bracing, and the SlimTaper mahogany neck joins the body with compound dovetail joint, set with hot hide glue.
Inside the soundhole you’ll notice that these super high-end acoustic guitars are numbered from 1 to 30. Gibson is only making 30 of them, so, in other words, this is guaranteed to be a collector’s item. At £10,999 it is quite the investment. But then it is quite the guitar. See Gibson for more details.
In other Gibson news, earlier this week the Nashville-based guitar giant unveiled a revamped Les Paul Studio, which offered Ultra Modern weight relief, Burstbucker Pro pickups and coil-splitting for a versatile and more accessibly priced variant of its most-famous electric guitar.
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