sitka

From 1942 to ā€™45, the period known as the ā€œbanner era,ā€ Gibson had emblazoned on their headstocks a yellow banner that reads, ā€œOnly a Gibson Is Good Enough.ā€ This J-45ā€™s decal has proudly stood the years.

Photo by Kate Koenig

The historic manufacturer hit the nail on the head when, in the early 1940s, they released the J-45ā€”a model thatā€™s graced the hands and recordings of Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, and many, many others. Here, eight musicians, luthiers, and historians shed light on its near-mythical status in the lineage of acoustic guitars.

Tom Crandall was the first person I met in the vintage-guitar industry, when I wrote a profile on him for Acoustic Guitar magazine back in early 2018. In mid February of that year, I visited his shop, TR Crandall Guitarsā€”then in New Yorkā€™s East Village, now on the Lower East Sideā€”and spent three hours chatting with him about his work as a luthier and playing some of the instruments in his collection. (I had some unconfirmed flu symptoms, and, by so carelessly breathing in his general direction, passed the sick onto him right before he went on a trip to Mexico with his now-wife, RenĆ©e. Miraculously, he forgave me for this.)

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Cedar sonics mean super value in a smooth-playing contemporary concert flattop.

Rich, balanced output. Smooth, easy playability. Excellent bass resonance for a concert-sized body. Great build quality. Excellent value.

In spite of great overall balance, midrange might be too strong for some. Modern styling might estrange some traditionalists.

$499

Breedlove Discovery S Concert CE
breedlovemusic.com

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Good affordable acoustics are wonderfully plentiful these days. But that doesn't mean there isn't room for a guitar like the $499 Breedlove Discovery S Concert CE to make an impression. It's surprisingly punchy and robust in the low-end, for a flattop of its size, and uses a solid Western red cedar top and layered African mahogany back and sides to achieve a balanced, colorful, and complex voice. It's also a pleasure to playā€”feeling fast under the fingers and as accommodating to haymaker blues leads as to a soft fingerstyle approach or rowdy strum-around.

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