El-Degas GB85 Gibson J50 Copy

THe guy posting before me took some pretty good care to describe this guitar.. i'll jsut fill in few more things...
The best guess i can make is that this guitar is made around the 73. It's aged very well, from my inspection, i've found no cracking or warping. just a few dings in the laquer finish. I'm not sure what the fret board is made of, but the top is a solid yellow cedar, with a maple back, sides and neck.

the maple gives the guitar a clear crisp highend, with great tone and natural ring... the cedar top resonates the low endmaking the bass solid but very warm.

i've also played it trhough an amp using several pickups. WITHOUT and EQ it sounds like this:
dean markley bottle cap transducer: SOunds awesome! a little high in the mid range
Dean markley sound hole pickup: sounds like crap... like i was playing a can with strings latched on
Fishman matrix 2 undersaddle: very clean signal... it's got quite a good natural sound, but i dont think it does this guitar any jsutice. I suggest using the bottlecap and EQing the mid range some.

Action is great. it's a little low causing some fret noise, but a little tweaking will fix that right up.

havnt used it live yet... but for practising at home, it's been great.

I'd probably look for another one of these. For the price my mother in law paid, she got a great deal. Compared to my taylor 307-GB, Norman B50 and Art and luthrie Cherry Marquise, it's pretty comparable. If I couldnt have my taylor, i'd choose this guitar above the other two.

I bought this USED, from Music Folk in St. Louis, first of all. It is a beautiful guitar in general. I am not a specialist on instrument woods, so I'll leave that up to the other reviewers. I think it has a solid top, (hopefully, like a fool, i forgot to ask). One of the deciding factors as far as features go, was the tuners. I read that the previous reviewer replaced his, I dont know what's wrong with him, drugs or something. They are smoother than any other guitar I've played, they are sturdy and bulky plasic with copper, and they add a good overall look to the guitar. It has dot inlays (which I am not so crazy about) on the frets, double on 7 and 12. Pearl inlay on the headstock with crown and name, "El Degas". The head stock is good and LARGE, as opposed to one of those girly-looking Seagull headstocks. The truss-rod is accessible from the headstock, not the body. The pickguard is a nice vintage-style odd-shape and black. It's a large dreadnought, 20 frets but no cutaway, so playing past the 17 is unrealistic, unless youre a big show-off. It came with a hard shell case, which fits amost perfectly. Features that I will need to add are; a second strap button on the body, (rather than the 'ol string tied around the neck trick), a Dean Markley soundhole pickup, and the handle on the case is a leather strap, so Ill have to buy a plastic replacement. Slight damage.

This guitar has probably the greatest sound for the price I paid. It is naturally loud, smooth, clear lows and bright. I have not yet used it with a pick-up.

There is some damage in this instrument, but I believe it most likely came off the line in great condition. The action is, good, not great (probably a 7 of 10).

I think time has tested this instrument, and the guitar has proven itself to be durable. Unless it spent ten years just sitting in an attic, like so many other unfortunate guitars. There is some slight wear on the headstock around the tuners, only visible upon inspection.

I think my ranting and raving shall come to an end here; it is a good guitar.

Natural finsh,solid spruce top,maple back and sides.Gibson style peghead w/crown inlay.Pretty much a Gibson J50 copy.Maple neck is of 3 piece construction.Appears to be 1970's japan made(ibanez?).

Rich,full acoustic sound as good as any gibson Ive ever played.

Purchased used.It came with economy tuners,which I replaced with keystone style klusons.

This guitar is over 20 years old,has some play wear,but still looks like newand plays great.

Am not familiar with the distributer B+J music.

I play archtops and classicals primarily.I have owned a Martin D28 & gibson J50 and this El Degas compares favorably.This brand represents a great value for the money.