Thirty years ago, a six-year-old Orianthi (opens in new tab)'s first guitar was a Gibson – a Cherry red ES-125. So there's a full circle element to her Gibson SJ-200 (opens in new tab) signature acoustic guitar (opens in new tab). "This is my dream acoustic," she says in the Q&A with Gibson above to launch the new $5,499 model. "It incorporates everything I love about a guitar".
It's the Australian musician's first signature acoustic, and first model with Gibson. "It feels incredible – it feels part of you," she says of the SJ-200's comfort. "It's a big guitar but you can't really beat the sound. It fills the room – it's like a grand piano."
One significant shift from the SJ-200 you might expect is the neck. Oranthi chose a profile based on the specific ES-345 (opens in new tab) Bradley Cooper used in the film A Star Is Born (opens in new tab). It's another sign Gibson is willing to mix change with historic tradition, following on from the news Dave Mustaine's forthcoming signature CF-100 (opens in new tab) has 24-frets and required a new bracing design from Gibson.
The Orianthi SJ-200 features a Cherry nitro inish, AAA Sitka spruce top and flamed maple back paired with an ES-345 neck. Other bespoke touches for this signature model are an ebony fingerboard with new lotus neck inlays and a mother-of-pearl Orianthi “O” symbol on the headstock, gold Grover Keystone tuners.
LR Baggs also created an Orianthi Pickup System that is custom-voiced to her preferences and features adjustable saturation and soundhole-mounted controls.
Orianthi is currently in the studio working on her album with producer Howard Benson. It's due for release later in 2021.
For more info on the Orianthi SJ-200, visit Gibson (opens in new tab).
