Gibson SJ Southern Jumbo Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1942)

Gibson  SJ Southern Jumbo Flat Top Acoustic Guitar  (1942)
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Item # 12899
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Gibson SJ Southern Jumbo Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1942), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 8074H-17, sunburst top, natural back and sides finish, Indian rosewood back and sides, spruce top; laminated maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, period black hard shell case.

This beautifully weathered, well-worn flat top is a 6-string unicorn, an extremely rare survivor from the *first* batch of Gibson Southern Jumbos ever built. The guitar dates to the end of 1942 and has many unusual features for an SJ including rosewood back and sides, a very large 5-piece laminated maple neck with a bound fingerboard, pre-war style white script Gibson logo and the unusual "skunk stripe" running down the center of the top. "Banner" Gibson expert Willi Henkes has done deep-dive research into these models, and we are indebted to him for much of the following information.

The "SJ" was Gibson's top-of-the-line wartime flattop, part of the revamped Jumbo line re-designed in 1942. Willi's research has documented that this guitar is one of the debut batch of Southern Jumbos:

"The 8074H batch seems to be quite small, I don't think more than 25 guitars in total. Neither 8074 nor 8075 appear in the ledgers what doesn't say much since mainly returned guitars were listed by number in this period. It's not unlikely 8074H (is the only such batch) and only up to 25 guitars of this kind (were) stamped in very late 1942, the very first SJs."

"The H code letter was stamped from Jan 01 1942 up to Dec 31 1942. However, after 8074/5H the code letter system was discontinued and from 1943 there was no code letter stamped anymore. The exact date is unknown but it's very likely it's late 1942 since 8074/5H are the very last batches in the 1942 batch number range and also the last batch featuring a code letter showing up in the Gibson ledgers."

The fancier "Southern jumbo" or SJ was designed in later 1942, after the earlier in 1942 J-45 and LG models. The war was already causing material shortages by mid-1942, and this guitar is full of evidence of that. These first SJ models used Rosewood for the back and sides likely left over from earlier SJ-200 and Advanced Jumbo production; NO Indian rosewood was coming to the US in 1942, the high point of the U-boat blockade. The rosewood back features a backstrip inherited from the discontinued SJ-200. The top and back are multibound, the heelcap is triple layered. Several more batches of SJ's were subsequently produced in 1943, but the numbers were very small and Gibson soon switched to mahogany for this model as the rosewood ran out!

The neck is a left-over 5-piece maple/rosewood blank originally fabricated for the fancier Montgomery Ward Recording King models, now also discontinued. It has a chunky round-backed feel and a wide 1 3/4" nut. The bound rosewood fingerboard has parallelogram inlays, as was standard on a couple of midline archtop models. It is secured to a squared mahogany neck block with the Factory Order number stamped on it. The white stenciled "Gibson" script logo with no "Banner" is a held-over prewar feature, while the tortoise celluloid pickguard is a new look, replacing the pre-war "Firestripe' pattern. The black stenciled "skunk stripe" running up the top is only seen on a few of these, likely an indicator that the inexperienced workforce sometimes produced a sloppy looking bookmatch joint on the center seam; as usual Gibson extemporized a solution to that!

The lower belly bridge (Martin derived) was a new idea at Gibson on these SJ's and appeared only on this model; the company later turned the piece upside down to create their own "top belly" look. The "Southern Jumbo was certainly designed to keep Gibson competitive with Martin in this wartime period; amazingly enough the factory in Nazareth somehow had no trouble keeping up a steady flow of rosewood guitars during the war, obviously having far greater supplies of woods in hand than Gibson. The first recorded SJ shipments were not until August 1943, with small numbers following in the fall. The majority of rosewood SJs were not shipped until 1944, a surprising delay.

By any reckoning this is an exceptionally rare Gibson flat top, and a spectacular sounding one at that. Someone got a LOT of use out of this guitar, and with some careful conservation done it is ready to keep rolling for this next century. The first rosewood Southern Jumbos are simply fantastic guitars; this hearty survivor is full testament to that!
 
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 is obviously a VERY well played and worn in guitar but stands as one of only a relative handful known to exist with this combination of features. Despite the heavy wear everywhere, it is s structurally excellent instrument with no playing issues. The finish (what's left of it!) has some topical touchup in spots but remains largely original. The top finish has many dings, dents and scrapes and is worn well into the wood all around the soundhole and pickguard, with some small sections of the soundhole edge actually worn away. There is heavy armwear to the upper side but the back and sides overall show considerable less wear than the top. The back of the neck is also heavily worn through, with nearly all the finish gone from the nut to the 12th fret. The lovely rubbed down satin feel on the maple neck is not unlike an old Fender!

There are fewer serious repairs than one might expect from the battered look of the guitar. The top has a tightly sealed spruce grain split running back behind the bridge below the A string pin, and the center seam has been resealed on both sides of the bridge. There are two small patched screw holes on the top below the treble side of the bridge, possible souvenirs of an ancient pickup installation.

The sides show a small rosewood split in the lower waist, and a longer one on the upper side running back from the waist near the back edge, and two smaller splits on the upper side above the heel near the top edge. None of these caused any significant problem. The back has three visible repaired grain splits, two off the front edge and one off the rear, all close to the centerline. These have been sealed with some topical touchup; there is also some re-sealing visible along the backstrip.

The rosewood bridge is a replica, as is the correct style small maple bridgeplate. There was at one point a bridge mounted 3/16" further forward on the top, and evidence on the back rim indicates a tailpiece was once fitted there. The bridge retaining bolts as fitted by Gibson were retained. The neck has been neatly reset and the fingerboard expertly trued and refretted with the EXACT correct style wore. The tuners are correct just pre-war style Kluson strips and appear original, or if not have been perfectly restored. The guitar is a truly excellent player with a HUGE ringing sound, a real veteran with loads of stories and songs still in it. It resides in a period 1940s HSC with a particularly striking patterned lining; they look to have been together for some time. Overall Very Good Condition.