Description
SN#92550002 • 25.5″ scale length
1-11/16″ width at nut • 2-3/16″ pins
Stamped Inside: “Employee Guitar Not for Resale”
(So, of course we will resell it)
Excellent condition. Wow, what a find! As one of the staunchest fans of the Gibson Advanced Jumbo guitars, I say this one ranks among the top. This 1990 Gibson Advanced Jumbo guitar shows all the ways that this is an “insider’s guitar”. From looking at it you can tell that only the finest woods were chosen for it, and it was voiced for thunderous projection and great tone. At Gibson through the years, certain employees who negotiated their salary with Gibson were offered “guitar deals” from time to time. For example, a top luthier, like John Walker or Kevin Kopp, might have been offered the right to build 2 guitars of their choosing as long as they went off the clock to build it. Or, they might have a deal where they could pick 2 guitars a year off the production line. I’m not sure what the deal was on this one, but the guitar was made the right way with the right materials and definitely was hand-tuned to perfection.
Indian Rosewood back and sides. Adirondack Red Spruce top. * Both the top and the back woods are exemplary, with great grain orientation and color. You can gaze at the top as you might gaze into a campfire – hard to look away for a wood afficianado like me. The Rosewood back and sides are also wonderful examples.
Peghead overlay has Gibson pearl logo and arrowhead pearl inlays. Bone nut. Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard. Rectangular Rosewood bridge could be Brazilian, but hard to tell. Cut-thru saddle. Arrowheads and diamond pearl inlays in fingerboard. Firestriped pickguard. Fossil i9vory bridge pins. Cream plastic endpin. Nickle “Kluson style” tuners with 3-lobed buttons.
If you’ve ever thought about getting an “AJ”, this may be the one. Built in the early batches of AJ’s in 1990, which were the first ones made by Gibson since 1941, these guitars were Gibson’s answer to Martin’s powerful D-28 herringbone, with advanced scalloped braces.
Only 281 originals were built from about 1935-1941. 1990 was first year of their re-introduction and it was a boooming success. This particular example is probably one of the first 50 or 70 made in the first year.
Gibson tells me that the total of all “AJ’s” ever produced by them is only two or three thousand guitars! So, just to own an AJ sets you apart from D-28 owners.
Power, power, power… and with a beautiful tone. Great flatpicking or anchoring a band, or backing up a champion fiddler…
Comes with OHC.
