1968 Southern Jumbo square shoulder flattop acoustic. A second run at the golden-era from Gibson with an extremely lightweight mahogany body, and sunburst spruce top built from scratch on 225 Parsons Street, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Essentially Gibson's answer to the Martin D-18; this mahogany-bodied brother of the Gibson Dove features a 24.75" scale length, double bound body, slim neck with wide nut (1.695"). Their flagship dreadnought of the day with split parallelogram MOP inlays, tortoisehsell side dots on celluloid binding & white button Gibson Deluxe tuners on a volute-less neck. Very classy indeed.
Authors of the celebrated book 'Gibson's Fabulous Flat-Top Guitars: An Illustrated History & Guide', Whitford, Vinopal & Erlewine write: "By far the most desirable of the square-shouldered SJs are those from 1962 to 1968, a period in which their bodies were lightly built, with top bracing wide-spread and set forward. The SJ/SJN stayed with the 24 3/4" scale throughout this period, though in 1965 a switch was made to a narrower neck, in keeping with the other Gibsons of the period."
This one happens to be one of the wider neck SJ's out there, retaining all the most desirable specs from it's first incarnation of the square-shouldered variety back in 1962.
Original frets, tuners, binding and inlays; this Southern Jumbo has been refinshed (top only) by the late Merv Cargill in the 1990s, along with the original ADJ bridge being replaced with a solid rosewood bridge and bone saddle (plenty of room). At this time there was also a high-end piezo pickup installed under the bridge with Maton-style allen key screws holding it in place. No lift on the bridge and barely any belly whatsoever on the soundboard.
Truss rod has ample room either side and action is low. Frets have moderate wear however none are catching, buzzing or present dead notes and have plenty of life left in them. Some very minor wear in the Br*zillian rosewood fingerboard however only catches under certain light and does not interfere with playing experience.
Anecdotally, this is the deepest, loudest dreadnought we've seen in a long time here. Plenty of low end information without ever being boomy, plenty of snappy brilliance thanks to forward bracing & appropriate midrange for it's mahogany composition. A great player with 2mm on the treble side at the 12th fret and 2.3mm on the bass side.
They don't build 'em like they used to.
Includes non original hard shell case.
Product Specs
- Item Number: 41304
- Make: Gibson
- Model: Southern Jumbo
- Condition: Very Good
- Finish: Tobacco Burst
- Categories: acoustic-guitars ⇒ dreadnought
- Year: 1968
- Made In: United States
- MPN: 41304