1930s Gibson-made Capital J-2 Archtop Guitar

It says "Capital" on the headstock, but it was made by Gibson. It's basically their pressed-top (rather than carved) Kalamazoo KG-32 model but with cosmetic upgrades and built for Jenkins Music (who used the Capital brand). It's identical save the headstock branding to the more-often-found Cromwell G-4 models (see this one and this one).

Like the last Cromwell G-4 I had in the shop, this is an astoundingly-good archtop guitar. I have a huge, healthy respect for the Kalamazoo archtops and have worked on tons of them over the years. This guitar is right in the best of that pack. It's dang loud and has a lot of bottom-end chunky warmth and guts and good, solid-sounding mids. These are things I expect from a great Gibson carved-top, mind you. The high end is nice and snappy and has good cut but it's not as "whole" as a good carved-top guitar. It sounds great, though. I think it's got an ideal sound for chord-chucking backup roles where the more-velvety bottom-end will be appreciated in pinning-down fiddles, mandolins, banjos... or trumpets.

It's in good health, all-original, and only needed a glorified setup to get it playing bang-on.

Repairs included: fret level/dress, minor cleaning, setup.

Made by: Gibson

Model: Capital J-2 (same as Cromwell G-4 or Kalamazoo KG-32)

Made in: Kalamazoo, MI, USA

Serial number: N/A

Top wood: solid spruce (pressed-top)

Back & sides wood: solid mahogany

Bracing type: tonebar

Bridge: rosewood

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany

Tone: solid mids, punchy, very loud, velvety/clean bottom, good snap

Suitable for: trad jazz, old country, country-blues, blues, old-time backup

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 54w-12 lights

Neck shape: medium V

Board radius: ~10-12"

Truss rod: non-adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: low/small

Scale length: 24 3/4"

Nut width: 1 3/4"

String spacing at nut: 1 1/2"

String spacing at bridge: 2 1/8"

Body length: 20 1/4"

Body width: 16"

Body depth: 3 1/4"

Weight: 4 lb 1 oz

Condition notes: all-original and crack-free. Finish shows weather-checking and light scratches here and there throughout. I compensated the bridge saddle and added cut-out slots for the bridge thumbwheels for extra adjustment room -- it has enough room to adjust up/down to taste. The tailpiece is the cool, nicer-grade skinny model vs. ones seen on later K'zoo-style guitars. There's some obvious pickwear on the upper-bout.

It comes with: a newer hard case.