GIBSON SJ-200 - A “big sound” for all styles!

Gibson’s SJ-200 is the “King” of the Flat-Top Guitars. SJ means “Super Jumbo” and the design produces a super sound. My personal instrument came from the Gibson Custom Shop in Montana, and has beautiful koa wood on the back and sides. The fretboard is white-bound, as is the body and headstock. The guitar features the classic 25.4″ Gibson scale. The top is spruce, the neck is maple (with a dark center strip) and the fingerboard is ebony with pearl crown inlays. Gibson has kept the vintage look with the tortoise plastic engraved pickguard and the open moustache rosewood bridge with 4 pearl rectangular and 2 dot inlays. the purfling is alternating black and white. The black peghead with pearl logo and crown inlay is enhanced with the custom shop decal on the back.

Gibson did not skimp on the extras. The tuners are superior Grover Imperial tuners. The instrument holds pitch as well as any guitar I have played. A Fishman Matrix pickup is factory installed and you wouldn’t know it by looking. The classic design is maintained and the application of the instrument is improved upon with modern electronics. With this amazing technology, the instrument maintains a solid acoustic sound when it is plugged in, but the pickup does not pickup anything but the guitar. 

The history of the SJ-200 can be traced back to the 1930’s, when cowboy star Ray Whitley worked with Gibson designers in Kalamazoo. Ray wanted a guitar that was suited to country music performance and desired an instrument that was big and bassy. Through the evolution of several models, by the late 1930’s the Super Jumbo 200 was produced and was described by Gibson as ”King of the Flat-Top Guitars.” Beginning in the 1940’s, the SJ-200 continued its evolution. Changes included a rosewood fingering board, improved construction and bracing to improve the bass, maple body, and the  ”moustache” bridge with a cutout. Modern designs (like mine) have included an electronic pick-up, Grover Imperial Tuners, gold plating, and alternative woods - like the beautiful KOA.

I started my Gibson attachment with the LG1; a guitar I played in junior high and high school. During my early “gig” days, I used the LG1 with a Rowe DeArmond pickup (alla Gabor  Szabo). I purchased a used Gibson 335 Red Sunburst Electric around 1970. Playing in commercial bands, the 335 provided the versatility to play a wide variety of music. I acquired my ”dream” electric guitar in 1982. I bought a Gibson 175. This is the guitar I saw in ”the window” when I was a little kid, but could never afford to buy it. I love it for jazz and its classic “archtop electric” design fits the bill very well. My Gibson experiences include the Les Paul and other Gibson designs. I do own a couple of “non-Gibson” guitars (one for classical and another for a solid body sound), but when I want a stand alone steel acoustic sound, the SJ-200 is my guitar of choice.

Artists who performed on the SJ-200 go back to the Country stars. I have a picture of Gene Autrey playing an SJ-200. Elvis Presley, as well, played the SJ-200 and an early photo of him shows the classic Gibson in his hands. During the “blues boom” of the 1960’s, artists like guitarist Gary Davis played on the J-200. The instrument looks country, but it does play everything. The acoustic design is large, so the tonal spectrum is especially sweet in the low range. Truly, it is the “King of the Flat-Top Gibson Guitars”.