From 1942 to ā45, the period known as the ābanner era,ā Gibson had emblazoned on their headstocks a yellow banner that reads, āOnly a Gibson Is Good Enough.ā This J-45ās decal has proudly stood the years.
The historic manufacturer hit the nail on the head when, in the early 1940s, they released the J-45āa model thatās 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 Guitarsāthen in New Yorkās East Village, now on the Lower East Sideāand 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.)
Iāve brought my own guitars to Tomās shop a few times since then, and when I took on the task of writing this article on the history of the Gibson J-45, I was looking forward to another opportunity to connect.
āDo you know George Gruhn in Nashville? Mark Stutman in Ontario? John Thomas, the guy who wrote Kalamazoo Gals?ā I ask in advance of our conversation, listing some of my other interview subjects, previous and planned. Tom knows them all, and they all know each other, as well as the rest of the established names in the vintage business. (It makes it feel small, which it kind of is.)
We gossip a bit, and I feel as though Iāve been welcomed into the coven of vintage-guitar repair pros and historians. Tom shares that, in his current inventory, he has the earliest known J-45 from the Gibson banner era (more on that later). He hands it to me, and with a single strum I feel affirmed in why Iām writing this in the first place. And so, the following is the result of my conversations with two performers, a producer, an author, a documentarian, and three middle-aged and elder statesmen of guitar repair in North America on the story behind one of Gibsonās most beloved and ubiquitous acoustics.
NYC-based luthier Tom Crandall, owner of TR Crandall Guitars on the Lower East Side, has the earliest known J-45 currently in his inventory.
Photo by Kate Koenig
āWhat fascinates me about the guitars is the evolution in their design, the haphazardness of their build. Iāve become very knowledgeable in the morphology, for lack of a better word, of the J-45,ā says vintage-guitar repairman and historian Mark Stutman. Weāre talking on the phone as he drives to work at his shop, Folkway Music in Waterloo, Ontario. When it comes to vintage-guitar repairpeople, Markās a bit on the younger sideāhaving just turned 50āand he claims that he probably wonāt have much to add to what historian George Gruhn, my first interviewee, had to say. He then proceeds to share an encyclopediaās worth of detail on Gibson guitar historyāwith remarkable accuracy.
Mark first explains that the J-45, which entered into the Gibson lineup in 1942, was made in the image of its predecessor, the J-35, and that the idea for the J-35 was built upon Gibsonās Jumbo model, introduced in 1934. A 14-fret acoustic with a sunburst on every side and a lower-bout width of just over 16", the Jumbo was about a half-inch wider than the standard dreadnought, and Gibsonās biggest flattop at the time. It had sloped shoulders on its upper bout, with a greater curve than the more squared-off shoulders of a traditional dreadnought. Martin had released the first dreadnought, the Model 222, in 1916, but the body shape didnāt really catch on until their later introduction of the D-18 and D-28 in 1931.
Country singer/songwriter Kacey Musgraves plays a 1957 J-45, which sheās named āJanice,ā at the Royal Oak Music Theatre in Royal Oak, Michigan, in 2019.
Photo by Ken Settle
āIām sure Gibson introduced their Jumbo guitar to compete directly with Martinās dreadnoughts,ā says Tom, back at his workshop. āI think thatās really what it was. It was starting to take off, and Gibson and Martin were competitors in the flattop world.ā
Both brands were racing to move away from the production of the then-more-prevalent smaller-bodied guitars to meet the shifting demands of the zeitgeist. As Stutman says, ā[That was what] people wanted, as the whole cowboy-singer, Jimmie Rodgers, railway-switchman-entertainer thing happened in the States. They needed a guitar with a lower-frequency response so that their yodeling could be heard on top of it and not be fighting with the guitar.ā
The original Jumbo was listed at $60. āIt was just about the height of the Great Depression, so it didnāt sell well, because nobody had 60 bucks to spend on a guitar in 1934,ā Stutman comments. In response, Gibson scrapped the Jumbo just over two years later and replaced it with the J-35, which sold for $35. The J-35 had the same outline, scale length, and 14-fret neck design as the Jumbo, but to manage the reduced sale price, Gibson trimmed back the Jumboās accents, removing the sunburst from the back, sides, and neck, as well as the pearl headstock inlay, back binding, and high-end tuners.
The interior of a J-45 (left) and a J-35 (right)āthe former with two tone bars and the latter with three.
The first J-35s were built with three tone barsāthe braces placed at a slant within the bottom half of the X-bracingāwhich made them powerful and cutting. But because the market was asking for guitars that were more bassy and warm, Gibson decided to reduce the tone bars to two by 1940. And that wasnāt the only adjustment that was made.
āThey changed the angles that the X makes under their top,ā Stutman says. āAnd about a year later, they changed that X angle again, and they put scalloped bracing in. They changed the size of their bridge plate. They messed around with how thick they wanted the top to be. As a result, J-35s that we find today vary tremendously from guitar to guitar and very much from year to year.ā
Then, in 1942, Gibson debuted the J-45 and J-50, both the same model, but with a sunburst and natural finish, respectively. They priced the J-45 at $45, and charged $5 more for the J-50 (Stutman guesses because they had to use higher quality wood under a natural finish). The original design featured a mahogany neck, back, and sides, a spruce top (first Adirondack, later, Sitka), and a Brazilian rosewood fretboard and bridge. They also kept the same shape as the J-35. āThe last of the J-35s were made in the early ā40s,ā Stutman shares. āBy 1941, a J-35 is kind of the same guitar as the J-45, but most of the world doesnāt know that.
āEven out of necessity, in 1944, they discovered a way to make a guitar that today is one of the most sought-after, great-sounding guitars in the world, out of mostly indigenous hardwoods.ā āMark Stutman, Folkway Music, Waterloo, Ontario
The year of the J-45ās release, Gibson also made a few modifications to their acoustics, replacing the more ālumpy-lookingā prewar pickguard with the smaller teardrop pickguard. They designed a new headstock shape, where its sides were concave rather than straight. And, cue the fabled ābanner eraā: ā[Gibson guitars] from ā42 through ā45 have a yellow, silkscreen, script Gibson logo on the peghead and a decal banner that says, āOnly a Gibson Is Good Enough,āā shares vintage-guitar historian George Gruhn, owner of Gruhn Guitars in Nashville, over the phone. āAnd there are collectors who pay extra for the guitars from that period.ā
This vintage sunburst-finished model displays the classic J-45 look.
The release of the J-45 happened in the midst of global calamity, coinciding with the U.S.ās entry into World War II. A change in ownership occurred later during the war when, in 1944, Gibson was purchased by Chicago Musical Instrument Company (CMI). (Ted McCarty was later appointed president in 1950.) And, as young male luthiers were required to comply with the nationās draft, several women were instated at Gibson in their place. āI have on the record the president of Gibson at the time testifying in front of the war production board that his company was being run almost entirely by women,ā says John Thomas, the author of 2013ās Kalamazoo Gals. Women not only did much of Gibsonās administrative work, but were responsible for producing at least 25,000 guitarsāmany of which are highly coveted today. That aside, the period also presented manufacturing limitations due to the federal governmentās wartime rationing of various materials.
āThey had written regulations as to what percentage of metal they could have in proportion to the weight of the instrument,ā explains Gruhn. āMusical instruments were very, very highly regulated, as was almost everything in manufacturing during World War II.ā
āEpiphone came out with a slogan, āGood Enough Is Not Enoughāāand Gibson dropped that banner like a hot potato.ā āGeorge Gruhn, Gruhn Guitars, Nashville
This meant that Gibson did not have the necessary supplies to make their adjustable truss rods, which theyād been using since 1921 and patented in 1923. The solution was to return to their previous method of installing a triangular wooden block of maple, roughly an inch-and-a-half wide, in the neck near the headstock. āThey did that for strength, but it would also make the neck way bigger,ā says Stutman.
āIt was variable, but many of the necks [from those years] are 1 3/4" wide. And the depth at the first fretāIāve measured some that are almost 1.1" deep. By comparison, a ābigā electric guitar neck, like on a ā59 Les Paul, might be 900 thousandths deep.ā
Yet, even more impactful than the shortage of metals was the decreased availability of woods. āIt was just hard to get rosewood from Brazil during World War II when there were German U-boats all over the Atlantic,ā Stutman points out. āAnd more importantly, for Gibson, their mahogany supply was running low, ācause it came from the same place.ā
āI think thatās the magic to her sound,ā Lucinda Williamsā guitar tech Justin Bricco told Premier Guitarof Williamsā most played J-45 in her 2014 Rig Rundown.
Photo by Ebet Roberts
This led to inconsistencies in J-45 features. During that time, Gibson began using multiple pieces of mapleāor even a combination of different woodsāto create necks, as it was also harder to acquire individual pieces of a larger size. āIt could be a 5-ply neck for strength,ā comments Gruhn.
āFrom 1943 and ā44, sometimes you find fretboards and bridges made out of gumwood instead of Brazilian rosewood,ā Stutman elaborates. āSo you get these really interesting J-45s from the late banner era. You might find a guitar that has a maple back and sides, a maple neck, a gumwood fretboard and bridge, and a spruce topāthatās almost entirely built of North American woods, which is pretty darn cool. Even out of necessity, in 1944, they discovered a way to make a guitar that today is one of the most sought-after, great-sounding guitars in the world, out of mostly indigenous hardwoods. Anyways, what happens is, the war ends, metal comes online again, Brazilian rosewood, mahogany. Itās all back in 1946-ish.ā
The banner era had also come to a close by 1946. Gruhn adds, āIāve been told that one reason for that was that Epiphone [which wasnāt acquired by Gibson until 1957] came out with a slogan, āGood Enough Is Not Enoughāāand Gibson dropped that banner like a hot potato.āWhen the war had ended, āthis little blip of really exciting guitars from 1942 to 1946 that have all sorts of unique characteristics and interesting tone and feel and uniqueness and charisma ā¦ those go away,ā Stutman shares. Gibson standardized their specs across their models, though at first some J-45s were still made with parts left over from the banner era. But by 1947, the design was fully solidified, and the J-45 as we now know it was born. āThe sound of a J-45 that weāre all familiar with, that thing that we all love about the J-45, that strummer, singer/songwriter, country guitar kind of thing, is a sum total of how itās built with that light scalloped bracing of the Sitka top in particular; a 1 11/16" nut; mahogany back and sides; that short scale; and the style of neck carve. All that stuff adds up to having a J-45 be a J-45. Then, from ā47 to ā55, not very much changes with it.ā
āThis is the tool of the storyteller. This is the tool of the songwriter. You want an acoustic guitarāyou hit the J-45 button.ā āTed Wulfers, J-45 documentarian
There was, however, a significant change in 1956āthe issuing of the adjustable-height bridge with a ceramic saddle, labeled the J-45ADJ, for āadjustable,ā which was sold, at first, as a second option for the consumer. āAnd then they became a standard feature,ā Tom says, showing me one of the J-45ADJs he has in his inventory. āSo this is an adjustable bridge. Itās kind of heavy. Itās got big brass pieces underneath. And because of all that weight and this sort of disconnect, you can hear a compressed sound.ā (I play it, and, for the record, hear exactly what heās talking about.)
Then, there was another less-than-desirable modification in the early ā60s, as told by George Gruhn: āAround ā63 is when the J-45 had those horrible, hollow plastic bridges rather than a wood bridge. It didnāt function, but it would look like the actual adjustable bridge was bolted through the bridge plate.ā Those bridges ended in 1970ācoinciding with when the Panama-based conglomerate Ecuadorian Company Limited (ECL) acquired CMI, then renamed themselves as the Norlin Corporation. āGibson has not used them since, but now thereās a lot of variations of J-45 historic reissues.ā
āItās a very personal thing,ā Aimee Mann said of her J-45 to Paste in 2010. āYou want to play a guitar thatās an extension of you.ā
Photo by Tim Bugbee/tinnitus photography
Most of my conversations with Stutman and Gruhn are focused on the J-45ās early history, so I venture further to fill in the blanks of what happened with the guitar in the decades following. Over a Zoom call, I spend about an hour absorbing J-45 lore and geeking out about guitars in general with Ted Wulfers, a filmmaker who has been putting together a documentary on the history of the J-45 for the past several years. In the process of making the film, heās interviewed 180 people from 14 countries. āWeāre going to be expanding to about six more,ā he says.
āIn 1968, they switched the J-45 to the square shoulder, and that remained until 1984, through the Norlin era,ā Wulfers explains. Gibson added a volute to the neck, to compensate for the weakness of the area where the neck becomes the headstock. But, āPeople kind of got sick of them, and they went out of fashion in the ā80s.ā
Due to waning popularity, Gibson briefly discontinued the J-45 in 1982. But in ā84, they brought it back with the slope shoulderāin very low production. They also introduced some new finishes, including a whiskey burst and an amber burst. Eventually, in the ā90s, as Wulfers shares, Gibson fully restored their production of J-45s, and reinstated the ā40s-style slope shoulder and tuning pegs to the design. āI think thatās one of the reasons why they went out of fashion in the ā70s and ā80sāthey werenāt playing as good as the guitars from the ā40s, ā50s, and ā60s. They came back into fashion once they started making the guitar like the older versions,ā he laughs.
āA great guitar is the tipping point of being held together and being pulled apart. So, Iāve always had a theory that my favorite guitars are really on a fulcrumās edge of that.ā āJohn Leventhal
Yet, as Tom suggests, it took a few more years before the J-45 was reinstated to its earlier popularity. āIāve owned quite a few J-45s, and I was buying them in the ā90s for like $800, $900. I always thought, āWow, these things are so undervalued.ā So I would buy them, fix them up, maybe sell them for 1,200, 1,300 bucks. Then somehow, in the early 2000s, they started to catch on again.ā
But what about the J-50, if theyāre truly identical models beyond the finish? āI think a lot of the reason why the J-45 has become so popular is because theyāre gorgeous,ā says Stutman. āGibson sunbursts, back then, were exquisite. They just got it right. And even though the J-50 was [originally] more expensive, and today itās a way more rare guitar, the J-45 is still more valuable. Thatās simply because people love a good-looking sunburst. And when you pick up a J-45, you feel like you look the part.ā
A closer look at the two-tone-bar interior construction of a classic J-45.
Photo courtesy of TR Crandall Guitars
According to Tom, his friend John Leventhalāthe six-time-Grammy-award-winning producer, musician, and recording engineerāhas long been a fan of J-45s and J-50s. āHe just came out with his first solo record at 70 years old, and he used the J-50 that he got from us on a lot of those cuts,ā he says.
When I connect with Leventhal on the phone, he strikes me as a straight shooter. āI really donāt know what the hell youāre talking about,ā he quips, when I ask him if he has an audio-engineer interpretation of the J-45ās physics (a question inspired by my personal scientific bent).
He offers, instead, āWhy Gibsons are different from other guitars, I couldnāt really say. āCause basically, the physics of all these things are more or less the same. A great guitar is the tipping point of being held together and being pulled apart. So, Iāve always had a theory that my favorite guitars are really on a fulcrumās edge of that.
āWhatever it is about the construction of the J-45,ā Leventhal continues, āis that really good ones have what I would call a strong fundamental tone in which the overtones donāt really get in the way or donāt confuse the sonic output of the guitar. I have my own recording studio, and I notice everybodyās pretty happy when they play these things.ā
ā¦
āHow many guitars do you have?ā I ask Steve Earle over Zoom. (Steve is a frequent visitor at TR Crandall; coincidentally, Tom receives several texts from the country-rock guitarist while weāre chatting in his workshop.) Steveās just labeled himself a ādegenerate collector,ā saying that among the instruments he owns is every Gibson flattop except for a J-100, an L-2, and a Dove.
āI just did the inventory. I think itās 187 instruments, counting banjos and mandolins. And I do count āem.ā
Earleās been playing Martins for several years now, but his time with J-45s and J-50s goes way back. āI hitchhiked up to Nashville when I was 19, you know, to do what I do,ā he shares. He had a Martin D-18 at the time, which he traded for an Alvarez Yairi when no one in town could repair the Martinās bowed neck. āWhen I got to Nashville, I was the only guy with a Japanese guitar sitting around in a room with a bunch of Gibsons and Martins, and it started to embarrass me. So the very first check I got when I signed my publishing deal, I went down to George Gruhnās and bought a 1956 J-45 for $250. Thatās about what they went for in 1975.ā He later traded it to Jerry Jeff Walker for $500 and a ā65 J-50ADJ (whose hollow bridge had been replaced with a solid one). āThat was my guitar for years. I recorded part of [1986ās] Guitar Town on it.
āSo, the very first check I got when I signed my publishing deal, I went down to George Gruhnās and bought a 1956 J-45 for $250.ā āSteve Earle
āI own one now,ā he says. āIāve got a really good 1950 J-45. I had this belief that thatās like, the perfect year for a J-45, ācause Ray Kennedy owns one. All my acoustic tracks on [1997ās] El CorĆ”zon were recorded on his guitar because when I got outta jail [in1994, after a 60-day stint], I didnāt have anything. The one I have now, I bought from [NYC luthier] Matt Umanov. It belonged to Adam Levy before me.ā He says the one heās used the most, however, is Kennedyās.
Grace Potter - "Mother Road"
ā¦
Country-rock guitarist and songwriter Grace Potter has a signature Gibson Flying V, but sheās also been an ardent J-45 player for years. āA J-45 was actually the first guitar I ever bought,ā she tells me, when we connect over the phone after Wulfers points me in her direction.
āI was 19 and I walked in cold to a music shop in upstate New York called Dickās Gas, Guns, and Guitars. In the back was this incredible guitar shop that felt like a novelty in the moment.ā
With $860 to her name, she made a deal with the owner, who let her make a partial down payment on the $900 guitar. āIt was a 1999, and I bought it in 2002,ā she continues. āThe second I picked it up, it transported me to the 1940s and an open window of potential. It sang so beautifully. And I just remember the feeling of the body of the guitar against my chest, curling my body around it, and feeling like I just met a long lost aunt that I didnāt know I had. And thatās when I started writing songs on guitar, immediately.ā Naming the first two albums she produced with her band the Nocturnals, she adds, āEvery song from Nothing but the Water, and some of the songs on This Is Somewhere, were written on that J-45.ā
ā¦
On my call with Wulfers, weāve taken a detour from the J-45 subject, and Iām now enthusiastically telling him about the specs on my Washburn and Taylor acoustics. Heās into it, but helpfully brings it back to the main topicāon which heās clearly, passionately fixated.
āIt was fresh off the factory floor, but the second I put it in my hands, it transported me to the 1940s and an open window of potential.ā āGrace Potter
āThe J-45 has the bass, but that midrange, too; it cuts, but it allows the human voice to shine,ā he asserts, āwhereas a couple other guitars and styles of the Gibson line, of the Martin lines and othersāthey cloud the vocal. Sometimes, when Iām working with an artist here in my studio and they have my J-150 or a big Guild or something, Iām just like, try the J-45. And they go, āOh my god, everything sounds better.ā Well, you know, sometimes it isthe guitar.
āThis is the tool of the storyteller. This is the tool of the songwriter,ā he continues. āIf you want delay, you hit a delay pedal. If you want reverb, you hit a reverb. You want an acoustic guitarāyou hit the J-45 button.ā
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
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 playāfeeling fast under the fingers and as accommodating to haymaker blues leads as to a soft fingerstyle approach or rowdy strum-around.
Purebred Ply and Singing Cedar
One of the nicest things about Breedlove's affordable, China-built Discovery series is the option for a solid cedar top, which we selected for our review version. (Sitka spruce and African mahogany tops are also available.) Fondness for particular top-wood tonalities are as individual and subjective as favorite ice cream flavors. But I love Western red cedar's balance of warmth, reactivity, and focus on the bass side of the frequency spectrumāqualities that make it equally well-suited for a classical guitar top wood or a baritone acoustic. All three of these attributes can be heard and felt when you play the Discovery S Concert CE.
The back and sides are crafted from a 3-layer African mahogany laminate that Breedlove calls Eco Tonewood. Structurally, Breedlove's mahogany laminate differs from many other laminates in that the middle ply is African mahogany rather than a softer wood like poplar or a sheet of wood composite. It can be difficult to gauge the effects of such construction methods on overall tone and playing dynamics. But it's clear that the all-mahogany ply laminate is not a liability. It's easy to discern many classic qualities of a mahogany backāespecially the pronounced midrange and focused overtonesā working with the snappy and resonant top to create a very detailed composite tone and a dynamic playing experience.
The strength and complexity of the bass fundamentals and overtones are a nice surprise in a cedar-and-mahogany guitar of this modest size.
Bass With Backbone
Most of the bold midrange and pronounced-but soft-around-the-edges treble sounds you hear from the Discovery S Concert CE are representative of what a carefully designed and well-built cedar and mahogany concert-sized body can deliver. But the strength and complexity of the bass fundamentals and overtones are a nice surprise in a cedar-and-mahogany guitar of this modest sizeānot to mention its price category. In de-tuned settings in particular, the guitar exhibits low-end resonance that inhabits a near-ideal balance between the lowest and highest strings. It's a great guitar for fingerpicking, in this respect, but that balance also makes it shine as a strumming guitar. And unlike a lot of concert-sized instruments with similar tonewood make-ups, the Breedlove's output doesn't turn brash or into a messy, muddy overtone soup when you put a little muscle behind it.
The Verdict
Breedlove bills the Discovery S Concert CE as a beginner-friendly instrument. And while that's certainly true, the label might do a disservice to how complete and pro-friendly the guitar really is. It's very well put together. It's a smooth, easy player and feels fast, and if you're not dogmatic about traditional acoustic styling, you'll dig how much the cutaway extends its already impressive playability. If a jack-of-all trades flattop is what you're after, this Breedlove gets mighty close at a very appealing price.