Gibson J-45 Legend

[MD1983]

I need help. If you heard the demo of this guitar on the acoustic letter youtube video, I think you'd agree that the tone is like no other guitar being made today, and can pretty much be had only in some 1930s and 1940s Gibson J-45 , SJ & AJ models. Does anyone know whether any other current models feature the same exact type of bracing? The only other modern Gibson that also uses red spruce I think is the songwriter deluxe, but that sounds much different, probably due to the rosewood and other variables.

[MD1983]

To elaborate, the tone is multi-faceted: the bass & mids are as dry & clear as can be; absolutely zero muddiness. The trebles however sing, as if this thing was made out of two wholly different guitars.

[Rmz76]

Originally Posted by MD1983

I need help. If you heard the demo of this guitar on the acoustic letter youtube video, I think you'd agree that the tone is like no other guitar being made today, and can pretty much be had only in some 1930s and 1940s Gibson J-45 , SJ & AJ models. Does anyone know whether any other current models feature the same exact type of bracing? The only other modern Gibson that also uses red spruce I think is the songwriter deluxe, but that sounds much different, probably due to the rosewood and other variables.

Well ask ten different forum users and you'll get different responses. Last year I had an opportunity to play a J-45 Legend and I immediately fell in love with the sound. In fact this is the guitar that won me over to Gibson round shoulder dreads and brought be back to dreads in general... I can't afford paying for a Legend and if I could afford it I'd have a hard time justifying it and so that sent me on a quest to find the closest with a more reasonable price tag... IMO the J-45 Standard, Custom, J-35, J-15 or J-29 (none of the contemporary round shoulders) have the same tone. It's in the ballpark and to be fair all these dreads have a unique sound of their own but the Legend is in a league of it's own... It's really the closest thing Gibson offers as a counterpart to a Martin Authentic... If you want something less expensive, the Gibson Advanced Jumbo has a lot of the same characteristics.

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Acou...mbo/Specs.aspx

I love both of these guitars and would take either over a J-45 Standard or J-45 Custom.... I've pretty much resigned myself to buying a J-35 or AJ, but my round shoulder Blueridge is getting me by just fine in the meantime.

[MD1983]

Thanks for the insight. I mean, if we're talking ballpark, pretty much anything will do, from a Martin D-15 to a J-35, imo...It's that one tone though that has me craving the Legend. Out of curiosity, how much was the price that you thought was too high? I'm looking at a mint used one for 4150...