Gibson 1947 Southern Jumbo Reissue

this is a "1947 southern jumbo" from 1998, which i purchased in a trade for my martin HD-28v (a great guitar in its own right). it has a spruce top, rosewood back/sides and what appears to be a brazilian rosewood fingerboard and bridge. it has the new gibson logo silkscreened on the headstock and the "only a gibson is good enough" wartime banner. the neck is bound and it features three-on-a-plate white plastic tuners.

though it says it's a '47 reissue, the specs aren't right. the bound fingerboard is correct for '47, but it should still have the old logo (they didn't switch to the new one until '48) - but it should have lost the "...good enough" banner in '46. so there you go - a mishmash of mid-to-late 1940s southern jumbo.

i rate this a 5 for features because it's a very basic acoustic guitar. but then that's exactly what i wanted.

stellar sound. beats any martin, collings, bourgeois or santa cruz that i've tried. beats any other gibson, for that matter. for me, the combination of the gibson jumbo shape and the rarely seen rosewood back/sides, makes it a killer guitar. it fingerpicks great. it flatpicks great. it's a cannon when need be - yet it's subtle, too. and its intonation is damned near perfect.

extremely well-made by the boys in bozeman. not sure if they used hide glue or not, but they definitely used THIN nitrocellulose lacquer, which is probably why the spruce top sounds so nice. as i mentioned, the intonation is perfect - but this could be down to the previous owner and his luthier.

the only thing that is a little suspect. i accidentally whacked it against a table top and split the top side. unlike martins, which have vertical braces, gibbons have nothing to stop a split like this, so the crack ended up being about 7 inches long. luckily, it's insured (heritage!) and they paid for everything. my luthier did an amazing job and added some rosewood braces to strengthen it. if anything, it sounds even better now - and you can't tell it was cracked.

i called up to the bozeman factory to find out about it and had a nice chat with one of the guys there. they seemed friendly and eager to help.

i've had guilds and martins - and now this gibson. it is far and away the best large acoustic i've ever played. period.

my southern jumbo was made in '98/99. it has 14 frets to the body and has a solid spruce top and rosewood back and sides,its got a beautiful vintage sunburst with a tiger stripe pickguard, the body is classic gibson sloped shoulder and has vintage white tuners, mine came with a hsc

i play finger style and its a complete dream, it got a very warm low end and the highs are defined without being piercing, in fact the highs are themselves very warm!
its not the loudest guitar i have but i suspect this is to do with the fact it has barley been played and still has to settle some what.
i play in low tunings (as low as a c tuning) and i find the guitar handling these tunings with no problem, none of the defination is lost in the bass end at all, its an absoulute dream.
in standard tuning with a plectrum the guitar is so amazing, its got a true gibson sound that just sends shivers down your spine!!!!

the guitar was set up beautifully, i cant think of anything to complain about!

im playing it live now and its great, like all guitars with a little care and common sence there should be no problem, i play solo constantly and its just amazing!

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ive been playing for 15 years, i have got a few gibson acoustics (im a bit of a fan) and this guitar is an amazing addition, it looks so good, sounds increadable, plays amazing and never fails to be a talking piont after gigs, the only thing i wish i had was another one ha!

Made in late 1998 (Serial Numbers are fun to read) in Bozeman, Montana, where they're making some of the greatest acoustics Gibson has ever made.
It's a reissue of a 1947 Southern Jumbo although, according to the "Gibson's Fabulous Flattops" book, the features don't seem to quite jive. All things taken, though, it seems to be a mid-to-late forties version of the Southern Jumbo, with one twist - it's got Rosewood back and sides. They seem to have made a run of these, cause I've seen a few advertised on some guitar store Web sites.
Bound fingerboard of Pau-Ferro/Rosewood with amazing grain and Mother-of-Pearl parellelogram inlays. Banner and block letter Gibson logo stenciled in gold on peghead. Peghead, by the way, is tapered like the old style ones!!! Mahogany one-piece neck, beautiful spruce solid top and solid rosewood back and sides with a thin black stripe down the center. Tiger-stripe teardrop pickguard. Vintage cremona sunburst. The bridge looks like Brazilian rosewood and the grain on it is stunning. Nitrocellulose lacquer finish. Hardshell case with humidifier, papers, and a Gibson pick, for what that's worth. Three-on-a-plate kluson tuners. A 10 cause it's been the guitar I've been dreaming of and suddenly Gibson decided to make it.
Now, if they reissued a 63 Country Western...

Amazing. It's not at all like my J-45, which is the same size and probably the same bracing patter. The J-45 is sublime, big and warm. This one sings in a different way. More pureness and clarity. This one seems to sustain more, and the top isn't even broken-in yet. It's kinda special. I picked it up with a sinking feeling (I had only gone in to get strings when I noticed this guitar) and just from it being a Rosewood SJ I had a horrible/wonderful feeling that I would soon be out a lot of money, but I was prepared to be objective. When I played it, I was startled at the sound. It sang to me in that special way.
I was the first person, apparently, to have tried it since they brought it out a half hour before.

Perfect, as is everything I've seen coming out of Bozeman. Well, almost perfect. The nitrocellulose lacquer seemed to be curled a tiny bit off the side of the nut. Now, I think it should have been trimmed there, anyway, so I just cut the tiny scrap and now it looks perfect. Aside from that, flawless.
The action is amazing. A little fatter and rounder neck than a Les Paul, but super slick. It's still got the action of a great acoustic, though, and that fat neck gives it great tone.

It's light. It's breakable, as any acoustic is. On the other hand, it's a Gibson and it's solid as can be.

Gibson is pretty good, although it's not easy getting someone there to answer trivia questions about your guitar. The warranty people always respond, though, and I suppose that's the important thing when you get down to it.

Playing for 25 years. I'm so happy to have found this guitar, even if I'll be broke for a few months paying for it. I would buy it again if I had to. I love it for what it is, a reissue of a legendary guitar, designed and built with a legendary heritage in mind. It's a stunner in the sound department and, for my taste, in the looks department, as well. It feels great to play and I get transported to another place when I hear the sound it makes.