I have never much liked Martin D style guitars, except in bluegrass music, and the shape holds no sex appeal whatsoever in my book. But I got a J-185TV here on the forum from a member that sold his entire collection of guitars, and it was a most impressive collection, and was indicative of his high taste so I took a chance on his J-185 which he billed as having all that you'd want in a Gibson jumbo. He wasn't kidding. Plus I just like short scale guitars in general and if you want a jumbo body (16 inch at that) with a short scale the choices are limited. But I really enjoy the evenness across the strings that no D I've ever played had. Not being a bluegrasser I find the jumbo body a great alternative in a larger bodied guitar and I find maple has a cut that gets me through when it gets loud with other instruments in an ensemble. A good J-185 is just a great large guitar with that voluptuous shape.
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