I went on a tour of the Collings factory last Friday. I learned something new. I had thought that the CJ was a Gibson copy including bracing. I was surprised that only the shape comes from Gibson and that the bracing is the same as the D's which are, of course, pre-war Martin dread copies.

This may be common knowledge here on the forum, but it was news to me.

Nope, hadn't heard that. By the way, how did you fare in the storm?

B

quote:

Originally posted by B Woods:
Nope, hadn't heard that. By the way, how did you fare in the storm?

B

We evacuated at 5pm on Thursday and drove to Austin. We moved from Austin to Georgetown yesterday, a small town about 20 north of Austin. We finally got some text messages late yesterday from neighbors who stayed. Our home is fine, but we lost some trees/limbs. There has been no power since about 1am Saturday morning. We plan to sit tight until the power is restored. We were lucky that our home was about 25 miles west of the eye so that we got much less rain and slightly less wind than the east side of the eye.

Regarding he CJ's bracing; the tour guide (I've forgotten her name) mentioned that all the acoustics had the pre-war Martin bracing. I asked her directly about the CJs and she said it too was Martin. I thought she might be mistaken, so I stopped and talked to the guy who does all the bracing for all the guitars and asked him. He was busy glueing braces but said that yes indeed all the CJs are identical to the D's bracing.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sugarlander,

They sound better than almost any Gibson I've even played, although I do take it as an article of faith that there are some J35/45/50 and AJ's out there that warrant the rep. As I've related before here, one of the two or three best I've ever played was a Recording King slope mahogany from the late thirties or early forties. Plain as dirt, and unforgettable tone. Haunting, really. tom

Tom, you could revisit that ...

(see entry #2 below):

http://www.folkwaymusic.com/instruments/otheracoustic.html

Well, Michael, I'm about 17 G's shy of that price. The one I played was natural topped, simple guard (like the one on a Borges Barndance), and I have never forgotten the fifteen or so minutes I spent playing it. It belonged to a far too attractive young woman student of mine (early twenties when I was about 40) and she'd gotten it out of her granddad's closet. We parted by mutual agreement- just too uncomfortable. I believe the old catechism advised not only to avoid sin but the occasion of sin. This was that. I'l burn every guitar I own before I dishonor my wife. Sorry. TMI as they say these days. tom

I didn't know about the bracing, but I'm not surprised. I've owned a CJ and played a few others. I like their sound a lot. However, I've never thought they sounded like a Gibson.

I'm not real familiar with the new instruments being made by Gibson these days. I've read lots of very favorable comments about what is being shipped out of Montana these days. I hope it's true.

I do love the Gibson sound, at least the vintage one. I've played and heard a fair number of the old ones and think it is great. I own a 1940 J-35 that is one of the best guitars in the world. I've played a 1937/38 AJ that was hands down the best guitar I've ever encountered. The boys at Blazer and Henkes made me an SJ out of Braz and Alpine that I'd put just a slight notch below the AJ in tone (give it 70 years!). I also own a Flammang copy of a Roy Smeck (mahogany/Adi) that is a killer guitar, very, very close the the couple original '36s I've played.

Like I said, I LOVE the Gibson tone. CJ's are great guitars but I've never found them to be be Gibson copies. This isn't a good or bad thing, btw, just different!

Agreed. A CJ doesn't sound like an AJ or a J50 any more than an I-35 sounds like an ES-335. I've always loved Gibson tone, or, rather, the best Gibson tone. They made firewood for decades. I'll still take my chances on a Collings over a Gibson any day of the week, but I'd snap up a great Gibson if I ever crossed one's path (or one that doesn't cost 17.5!). tom

A couple years ago, I was sitting at a church service in a theater down in rural Indiana (population of this town was 400 -- and all of them were at this service!), and on the stage at the front, a girl played piano, and an old woman -- I mean ancient -- gnarled fingers, bent over and crushed by all the years -- played a beat up vintage natural finished Gibson J-35. That Gibson was SO LOUD that it drowned out the piano and could be heard over the crowd that sang enthusiastically. It was unamplified -- no mic -- no nothing. Just this little old woman who strummed it with her gnarled fingers. I have never heard anything like it. It just boomed. I talked to the woman after the show and she said she had bought it new and had owned it for sixty five years. She and her husband (who had passed on) had been a vaudeville act and she had dragged that one guitar all over this country and had played thousands of shows in her youth. Now she just used it for church. It was the only guitar she had ever owned. It was beat up, checked, worn -- and my gosh, one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen or heard!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Guitarhak,

I love my D2H and all sounds Collings, but my local guitar shop does a lot of dealing with older Gibsons. We are in dreadnought country (about 1 1/2 hours from Deep Gap, NC)and it seems that the only smaller bodies he gets in are old Gibbies, usually in poor condition, albeit brought to more or less playablilty by the local Martin-authorized repairman. Since I am a fan of Russ Barenberg and his J45 (I know its not a small body), I've played around with these a little and I'm usually impressed with their lyrical qualitites. They seem to have a musical tone that works well for singing leads. However, in many other ways they fall short--at least to my ears.
BTW sonoman, wise move. Having to watch a pretty girl's guitar too closely could get dangerous, expecially in a tiny room.

guitarhak, that was very close to the guitar I encountered in the early ninties. Otherworldly. And, yes, gbeecham, discretion was the better part of valor in not spending time alone in a rural house with a beautiful woman. If you don't want to get run over, don't stand in the freeway! tom

I bought a new Gibson J45 in the late 80s and played it on a daily basis for around ten years. In all that time I never really got used to the neck profile and to my ears the tone never changed (matured). A friend of mine bought it from me for much the same price as I gave for it. After another 8 years or so of regular playing the tone changed quite dramatically and it now has that true vintage Gibson sound.
It turned out that he got the guitar he wanted and with the additional funds from the sale it has led me via several Martins to my beloved Collings.