Review – Gibson J-45 the must play and must own guitar

This story was updated on November 11, 2017 – See Gibson J-45 The Most Popular Guitar For 75 Years

The Gibson J-45 is an iconic guitar – the classic sound of singer songwriters, rock, country and folk singers for about $2,300

Dubbed the “working man’s guitar” when it was released in 1942 to sell at $45, no other guitar except the Martin D-28 defines what a guitar should be like the Gibson J-45.

The Gibson J-45 and Martin D-28 are the most copied styles and sounds in guitars.

Gibson J-45 Standard Acoustic-Electric Guitar, Vintage Sunburst – the classic American guitar (Gibson photo)

The modern Gibson J-45 is called the Gibson Acoustic J-45 Standard or the slightly upscale Gibson J-45 Standard Acoustic-Electric Guitar, Vintage Sunburst.

There are more refined and yes more expensive versions like the Gibson J-45 True Vintage but the J-45 Standard had all the great characteristics of the legendary J-45 at the lowest price.

You can find reasonable imitations as low as $400 and expensive versions for $10,000. The street price for a new J-45 is about $2,200. Good used J-45’s go for about $1,400 to $1,800.

The round-shouldered dreadnought Gibson J-45 has a spruce top and mahogany sides and back, giving it a distinctive warm and full sound with plenty of distinctive high notes.

The deep sunburst finish looks great and hid the variability in war-time wood supply for guitars.

Since 1942 the sunburst finish has become a classic. Even my 1979 Martin D-35 tries to copy the J-45 sunburst look, one of the few times Martin made sunburst top.

The Gibson J-45 sounds great strummed or picked. If you haven’t played one, you must spend time with the guitar.  If you own two acoustic guitars either the first or the second should be a Gibson J-45.

My first J-45 was an 1969 model purchased on time payments from Steve’s Music Story in Montreal for about $200. That guitar today will sell for between $3,000 and $5,000.

Some vintage guitar fans will swear by a 60’s Gibson but I think you are getting one of the best Gibson J-45s ever made in a brand new guitar.

Thanks to Tony Polecastro of Music Villa who does a quick review of the Gibson J-45 Custom on YouTube.

The standard J-45 comes with an Adirondack Sitka spruce top.  Sitka spruce tops will become more rare as the resource is at risk of over harvesting.  Adirondack spruce is both a great sounding and environmentally friendly choice of tone woods. While some people like to add refinements to the  Gibson J-45 Standard you can’t go wrong with the Standard J-45. If you have the extra money try out one of the upscale variants although none of them appealed to me.

There was a knock against the Gibson J-45 that the factory at Bozeman Montana is making sub-standard guitars. American Songwriter said recently “Gibson’s Bozeman plant currently produces guitars that would have shined at any time during the company’s long, illustrious history.”

Gibson J-45 Standard Acoustic-Electric Guitar, Vintage Sunburst (Gibson photo)

I agree, I have not played a bad or even fair new Gibson recently. Sometimes a guitar will sound dead in the music store. That is generally caused by dead strings or an overly dry guitar in the wintertime.

Personally, I order guitars over the internet. The price is generally better. Stores like Amazon.com have hassle free policies. And, most guitar stores just order over the internet from Gibson or a wholesaler, take them out of the box and sell them to you. There’s no magic to retailing guitars.

If you think you like the guitar you see and the store offers returns for refund, take it home put new strings on it and start playing. Keep the guitar humidified in the case and it will sound better in days. I like the >Oasis OH-6 Case Humidifier and >Oasis OH-1 Guitar Humidifier for acoustic guitar humidity control. There are good things being said about the Planet Waves Humidipak System Replacement Packets, 3-pack other than the fact it costs about $18 per guitar per winter to humidify.

The search for older Gibson guitars always baffles me, when the brand new ones are better built and sound awesome. I would like to still have that old 1969 guitar but would be happier with a brand new Gibson J-45 Standard . Gibson makes them better today than ever.

Gibson lifetime warranty

Gibson guitars sold in the US by Amazon.com and their other dealers carry a full life time warranty. Amazon.com add their own customer satisfaction guarantee which matches exceeds any in the music business.  “You may return most new, unopened items sold and fulfilled by Amazon.com within  30 days of delivery for a full refund.” Amazon.com would rather have a long-term satisfied customer and will bend that rule if you have a good reason.