Gibson J-100 XT Maple

Gibson 17" Jumbo body with maple neck and lovely flame maple back and sides, natural finish, and rosewood fingerboard. Crown fretboard inlay, marble-oid tuner keys, covered gold plated machines. Plain moustache bridge. 1 23/32" nut and 2 1/4" string spacing at saddle. Standard tortis jumbo pickguard supplied but not installed. Factory Fishman UST installed, which was immedieately removed and replaced with a K&K Pure Western mini. Allen wrench included for truss rod adjustment. Hard-shell arched top case. Neck is nice full rounded typical Gibson neck. Very comfortable.

I've added a John Pearse amrest and a Greven jumbo pickguard. Just a beautiful guitar.

For me, this guitar sounds perfect. Lush maple tone, very balanced, just the right amount of note seperation, big full bass with no trace of boominess. Absolutely perfect for my playing style: Folk, Blues, Gospel, Roots, Rags, and Originals. EXCELLS at blues and country blues finger picking. I use a thumb pick and bare fingers with a bit of nail.

And it sound just like that plugged in, thanks to the K&K Pure Western Mini. Last Monday night at a show a young lady told me that when I plugged that "big beautiful" guitar in and started playing it(fingerpicking an original tune) she immediately got a lump in her throat, it was so beautiful. Now that's tone!

This guitar begs to be played. Soft or hard, it delivers. Tonaly dynamics are a joy.

Fit and Finish are excellent. Action was UNBELIEVALBY BAD from the factory. There was fret buzz on 3 string that would not go away. I returned it to the shop andall they did and the raised. Unaccetable. I returned it again and in a non-confontation manner demanded more. They contacted Gibson, and after much haggling (this was the last Gibby in the shop because they and stopped carring them), Gibson agreed to take it back take a look-see.

Two months later it was returned in the exact same condition. Action obnoxiously high, and when lowered to acceptable level, the buzz returned.

I said "screw it" and took it to a local competent luthier and $60 later had a perfectly playable guitar. The trouble was that the frets appeared to have been leveled with a bow in the neck. Frets 1 - 3 were too high, with the 1st fret being the highest. This caused horrible buzz on open notes and difficult action and fret 3 and beyond.

So, to make a long story short, every bad thin I've heard about Gibson set-ups and service is TRUE! It's CRAP!

But, now I have a WONDERFUL guitar, that moves me and my audience emotionally. I could not be happier.

It's a tank. Don't expect any problems. Tuners stink and will probably be replaced as soon as I get time to look into it. Turn them forever and nothing. Then all of a sudden you are sharp. Turn the back and it ALWAYS goes to far! Now I know why every Gibson player does this: When tuning a string they make that excessive flat tuning motion and the comes back up into the correct pitch.

But it's a worth while trade off. Did I mention the tone? : )

Set up was horrible. Yes, they took it back. No, they didnn't fix it. I'm not even sure they looked at it. Rediculous.

I've been playing 35+ years. I love the Gibson tone that certain artists get: Jorma Kaukonen for one. I've finally found a guitar that nails it for me. Love it!

If it were lost or stolen, I think I'd get another J-100 XT, if I could find one, but I might get the sunburst next time.