Gibson Acoustics - difference between a J-45 and Advanced Jumbo

[KazJY]

Can anyone comment on the differences between a J-45 and an Advanced Jumbo? This might be a newbie question, but I am recently revisiting Gibson's acoustic lines, and want to know a bit more before I head out to "kick the tires" this weekend. They look so similar.

[MikeB_18]

J-45 is short scale 24-3/4" with mahogany back and sides, AJ is 25-1/2" scale with rosewood back and sides. The bracing is also different between the two, I find that AJ's tend to be louder and more projecting. The AJ is a little more dressed up with inlays and the headstock inlay and has waverly's and I believe the J-45 has Gotoh's.

You can however get a J-45 with rosewood back and sides or a short scale AJ.

[KazJY]

J-45 is short scale 24-3/4" with mahogany back and sides, AJ is 25-1/2" scale with rosewood back and sides. The bracing is also different between the two, I find that AJ's tend to be louder and more projecting. The AJ is a little more dressed up with inlays and the headstock inlay and has waverly's and I believe the J-45 has Gotoh's.

You can however get a J-45 with rosewood back and sides or a short scale AJ.

Ah, ok - I played both yesterday, and thought the AJ did project a bit more - I liked it better, even though the guitar had been hanging there since 2006. Should I look at the Southern Jumbo as well? Thoughts between the two? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? FWIW, I am looking for a strummer with nice timbres for fingerpicking occasionally as well.

[plaintop]

You just have to play them all and pick. I prefer the mid cut through of mahogany. I find the rosewood can have a little softer attack.

[Jahn]

I've been through a bit of a gamut here myself and found that the J-45 fits the bill - it's a "slope D" jumbo with spruce top and hog sides and back, so it jumps out nicely for a strum with a clear bass and good fundamentals (not "shimmery" like your more modern guitars). But due to the short scale, it has great string tension for quieter fingerstyle passages. Great jack of all trades workhorse. But no, it's won't sound like a grand piano like a longer scale rosewood guitar would, and it won't have that precious candy tone like a smallbody guitar.

[Ogre]

Spot on take, Jahn. Sounds like one of each would do nicely. I have a J45 from the late 90s that is superb.

[bazooka47]

I have a "vintage" ('54) J-45, and a "new" ('01) AJ. They both have that great Gibson bass response. The AJ is a little louder and 'punchier' in the mids and uppers.

They are both fantastic. in MY experience, I would summ as follows:

AJ- more of a "picker"
J-45 - more of a "strummer"

Others may agree. Or not.

[fuzz_factor]

Ah, ok - I played both yesterday, and thought the AJ did project a bit more - I liked it better, even though the guitar had been hanging there since 2006. Should I look at the Southern Jumbo as well? Thoughts between the two? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? FWIW, I am looking for a strummer with nice timbres for fingerpicking occasionally as well.



The Southern Jumbo is a cosmetically fancier J-45 (holly on the headstock, neck binding, Mother-of-Pearl inlays...). I don't *think* that the two are structurally different in any way.

[MikeB_18]

The Southern Jumbo is a cosmetically fancier J-45 (holly on the headstock, neck binding, Mother-of-Pearl inlays...). I don't *think* that the two are structurally different in any way.
I don't think structurally they're any different either. I believe the Southern Jumbo is just a dressed up J-45.

[zombywoof]

AJ- more of a "picker"
J-45 - more of a "strummer"
Others may agree. Or not.

A pretty fair assessment.

I own a '56 SJ and '60 J-200. I have never played an AJ so cannot compare it to the J-45.

The main difference between the two is that the SJ (which really is just a duded up J-45) is brighter sounding than the J-200. It has a nice sweet decay but it's a bit quicker than the J-200 which is not surprising given the difference in body sizes and bracing.

I know a few folks who have bought the Bozeman-made AJ's and they love them. Then again, most of us have never even seen an original so have no way of knowing how the current version stacks up. Gibson has produced a few variations on the J-45 and I am not sure how they compare to each other.

I would also "kick the tires" pretty thoroughly. Some of the best sounding Gibsons I have played were Bozeman guitars and some of the worse Gibsons I have ever laid on my hands on were also Bozeman-made.

[Traintrack]

I currently have a short scale AJ with Maple B&S. (Wanna buy it? It's for sale :) ) I have had J-45's and AJ's in the past.

That 25.5 vs 24.75 is a big playability difference to me. I don't like the 25.5 tension in the strings. I know that it doesn't bother everyone. But I found myself having to really get up on it to play the AJ correctly. Great guitars though.

[tubetone74]

I was searching all this about a year ago and ended up w/ a J185TV. Awesome guitar. Due to some financial issues I may have to move it though.

[GuitarsFromMars]

um,let me tread carefully here.I just got a 2008 AJ.I wanted a Martin.I played a bunch,and settled on the AJ-It requires significant effort,in that you get what you put into it,playing wise.But it stops the new Martins(even the HD-28,GE D-28's),in their tracks.It's a cannon.

[zombywoof]

um,let me tread carefully here.I just got a 2006 AJ.I wanted a Martin.I played a bunch,and settled on the AJ-It requires significant effort,in that you get what you put into it,playing wise.But it stops the new Martins(even the HD-28,GE D-28's),in their tracks.It's a cannon.

Just curious if you compared the AJ to a Martin Marquis which has the same wide angle X bracing. They should sound very similar as most Gibsons since the mid-1980s have come with the taller thinner Martin style bracing as opposed to the heavier variety Gibson originally used.

[GuitarsFromMars]

Just curious if you compared the AJ to a Martin Marquis which has the same wide angle X bracing. They should sound very similar as most Gibsons since the mid-1980s have come with the taller thinner Martin style bracing as opposed to the heavier variety Gibson originally used.

hey zw-how's it going?I never got the opportunity to try the Marquis.I will have to try one,should I ever get the chance.

[drive-south]

J45, J50, and Southern Jumbo are all the same guitar. J45 is sunburst, J50 is natural, and the Southern Jumbo has the fancier ornamentation. All are short scale mahogany and have that nice dry thump that Gibson is known for.

J185 is a small jumbo with the same short scale length as J45 (24.5").

Advanced Jumbo is more of a bluegrass flat-picker. Long scale and very aggressive sound.

I own a J45 from 1994 and a 2004 AJ. My J45 is set up for playing bottleneck slide. The Advanced Jumbo is great for jamming as it can be heard above other instruments. I also own 2 J185's. One is 12-string and the other is 6 string. they are great guitars and amplify very well with no feedback issues.

drive-south

[groovadelic]

My $.02, louder is not necessarily better. I made that mistake when I bought my first acoustic (happened to be a lower end Martin). The AJ is louder, but make sure the natural "voice" of the instrument is what you're after.

My test is, if you took the natural acoustic tone and amplified 2, 3, 4x's, would it hurt your ears or sound unpleasant in any way? That pretty much determines what I have in my hands and don't want to put down.