2014 Gibson Stage Deluxe LTD 12-Fret Dreadnought Guitar

Is it a jumbo? Is it a dreadnought? Because it's like a Gibson version of a D-18S, I think of this as a 12-fret dreadnought. Though, because it's really like a deep-body version of a 12-fret J-45, maybe that makes it a 12-fret jumbo?

Nomenclature aside, this sucker sounds big, full, and robust. Its like a nice, chocolatey-dark cup of coffee. Each note is round and full but also has that woody, Gibson quality that... you might want... in a copycat of a classic '30s Gibson design. Yes, most folks know about the Smeck "Stage Deluxe" models similar to this guy that Jackson Browne plays. He's even a user of the Trance Audio Amulet acoustic pickup... which is installed in this guy from the factory.

Unfortunately for this guitar, despite being super-de-duper clean (it only has the most mild of surface wear/scratching), I did have to replace its ailing original bridge and give it a good level/dress of the frets. The original (through-saddle) bridge developed a hairline crack in its front wall and was belling-out like crazy under tension. I've added some photos at the end of this post to show that issue.

Fortunately for this guitar, my new rosewood bridge is super and has an easily-adjusted drop-in saddle slot, a fresh compensated bone saddle, and fresh ebony bridge pins which ape the old '30s pins in looks at a glance.

Post-work, this thing plays beautifully and, as noted above, sounds grand. The neck on it reminds me a lot of '30s Martin guitars with a slimmer (front-to-back) soft-V profile, though the tighter Gibson-style radius to the board keeps it real for me.

Repairs included: create new bridge, fit & install bridge, cut and install new bone saddle, fret level/dress, glorified setup work...

Top wood: solid Adirondack 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: slim-medium C/V

Board radius: ~12"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-lower

Scale length: 24 5/8"

Nut width: 1 13/16"

Body width: 16"

Body depth: 4 1/2" at neckblock, 4 7/8" at endblock

Condition notes: it has a replacement bridge, saddle, and pins but is otherwise all-original and in very good, quite-clean order. There's only the lightest of light scratches here and there on the body.

It comes with: an original deluxe hard case with the Gibson logo on the outside.

 

So here are some shots of the original bridge. Note the uneven alignment of the saddle and the unequal size of the bridge wing cutouts...

Here was the problem -- a hairline crack in the front wall of the bridge meant the saddle was leaning-forward quite dramatically under string tension. You can see the gap in the saddle slot that's from structural fatigue.

After prying just a little bit the whole front face of the bridge popped-off under light pressure -- and that was to be expected -- I just wanted to see how far the hairline traveled. Poor thing!