Gibson SJ Southern Jumbo Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1948), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 1989-29 (FON), sunburst top, natural back and sides finish, mahogany back, sides and neck; spruce top, rosewood fingerboard, black tolex hard shell case.
This is a fine sounding Southern Jumbo from the just-post-WW II period, showing signs of serious use and some old repair but still remaining better preserved than many. Compared to the plainer (and cheaper) J-45 these 1940s SJ's are fairly rare guitars, and we're always pleased to have another one in stock.
Features specific to the 1948 period include the earliest gold block script Gibson logo with the dot joined to the G, the bound fingerboard with pearloid double parallelogram inlay and the last of the WWII era thin-gear Kluson individual tuners. The sunburst top with a small tortoise celluloid pickguard has a lovely dark look; the top edge is seven-ply bound while the back is five-ply. Internally the rear legs of the main X brace are scalloped in the somewhat haphazard manner Gibson employed into the early '50s.
This guitar has the later '40s round-backed neck profile, quite a bit slimmer than the wartime and immediately postwar "Louisville sluggers". Gibson apparently remembered by 1948 that with the adjustable truss rod back as a standard feature, they could go back to slimmer necks! This is a very powerful sounding and comfortable playing guitar as well as a real looker, at home with both vintage and modern musical stylings.
Overall length is 40 3/4 in. (103.5 cm.), 16 1/4 in. (41.3 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 7/8 in. (12.4 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/4 in. (44 mm.).
This guitar remains nicely original and in fine playing condition overall, with some general wear and repairs but no serious alterations. There is pickwear to the top mostly around the lower edge of the soundhole rim and above the pickguard, with a few errant pick scrapes above it and the fingerboard. The back and sides are cleaner with scrapes and dings but no really heavy wear. The back of the neck has quite a bit of finish wear, worn down to the wood not only in the lower positions but also on the treble side farther up; this was not played just in the "Cowboy Chord" area. There are some feelable chips to the finish as it approaches the headstock below the first fret. The headstock has some random dings and dents.
There is one repaired side noticeable crack from an impact at the treble waist, solidly but a not particularly neatly done with some evident touch up. There is a small crack at the base of the neck heel on the bass side which extends less than an inch, almost certainly related to a neck set that is solid but not as cleanly done as some. This work also includes a screw added at center of the heelblock internally; this is not really doing much of anything but is plainly visible. There are no cracks to the top or back.
The guitar retains its original Wartime Kluson tuners; some of the buttons are a bit shrunken but still solid. The original rosewood top-belly bridge is intact, lowered just a bit with a new taller bone saddle. The fingerboard has been neatly refretted with very period-correct wire with a new bone nut. This SJ has a powerful sound with the typical throaty midrange these are well known. This is not the absolute cleanest but a fine somewhat lived-in example of one of our favorite Gibson Jumbos, the just-postwar SJ. It resides in a modern HSC. Overall Very Good + Condition.
