1989 Gibson J-30 Dreadnought Guitar

J-30s from the '80s and '90s pop into the shop every so often for setups and light work and I've liked every one of them. These have the Gibson-y short scale feel and woody sound of a '50s J-45 but are built with the squared shoulders of a Hummingbird or '70s-style J-model. I love the mids-push these things have. They make great guitars for old time backup or bluegrassy note-mashing because the sound is so clean and punchy.

This one's here on consignment and it's in good shape overall and ready to roll. Someone must have worked on it in recent memory, too, because the setup was almost perfect when it arrived. It only needed very minor fussing to make it spot-on.

These are solid spruce over solid mahogany, x-braced, and feature the neat "belly-forward" Gibson-style bridge as well as '50s-reinterpreted visual details like the small pickguard and black/yellow sunburst finish with cream trim. The keystone tuners are another nod to the past.

Repairs included: setup and adjustments.

Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: solid mahogany

Bracing type: x

Bridge: rosewood

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany

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

Neck shape: medium C

Board radius: ~10-12"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium

Scale length: 24 3/4"

Nut width: 1 11/16"

Body width: 15 7/8"

Body depth: 4 7/8"

Weight: 4 lbs 6 oz

Condition notes: it's mostly clean but does have one professionally-repaired hairline crack on the lower-bout top (pictured, with glare). There's also a touched-up ding on the top-bass-upper-bout. The frets look new but must have been leveled/dressed at some point -- the job was good if so. The finish, at a glance, is clean and glossy. When you get it in glare you can see all the lovely weather-check that's settled in all over in small amounts that gives it that nice "vintage feel." At the endpin area, the endstrip celluloid has shrunken/cracked but is stable.

It comes with: its original deluxe brown Gibson hard case with pink lining and cover-flap.