1986 Gibson J-200 Jumbo Flattop Guitar

Sometimes folks call J-200s "whispering giants" as they're so large but don't quite punch the same way a D-18 does. Part of that is that they're not designed to do the same thing and the other part of that is that not all players can make the most of every piece of equipment. Guitars with the jumbo body shape usually do a very good job as a chordal/rhythm guitar because despite how hard you drive them the tone generally remains crisp, clear, and defined. This makes them a poor choice for lead flatpicking but an excellent choice for a full-on strummer or hard fingerpicker.

A customer dropped this off for a setup and adjustments and that's just what it got -- plus a light fret level and dress. The owner slings mediums on this and they give the guitar an authoritative rumble without many overtones. The "tobacco sunburst" is also a good look on this guitar and was the bit that read "80s" to me as soon as I opened-up the case to peek at it.

This guitar is solid spruce over solid maple back and sides. The neck is maple as well and the board and bridge are rosewood with pearl inlay all over the place.

This has a 1 11/16" nut width and an absurdly-small C-shaped neck profile that handles like an electric.

Good-looking pearl and big old jumbo frets...

Check out how much of that pickguard's design has worn off...

I like the way the brass pins have "antiqued" where the palm and fingers rubbed their tops.

These are Grover Imperial-style buttons on standard Rotomatic casings. Interesting.

Some sort of undersaddle is installed but I didn't have time to fuss with it through my mixer.