The "King of the Flat Top Guitars"
Everybody's Favorite Flat Top

1953 Gibson SJ-200

This 17-inch-wide "King of the Flat Top Guitars" features a 17 inch wide and 4 7/8 inches deep body and weighs just 4.80 lbs. Two-piece book-matched highly flamed maple back with a wood marquetry "zipper" stripe down the center and flamed maple sides. Two-piece (wide-angled double X braced with two transverse tonebars and long bridge plate) close-grained spruce top with a 4 inch diameter soundhole. Two-piece flamed maple neck with a walnut center-strip, a nice, fat nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches, a scale length of 25 1/2 inches and a wonderful thick profile. Brazilian  rosewood fretboard with 20 original thin frets and inlaid pearl crest position markers. The top has seven-ply black and white binding, the back has five-ply white and black binding, and the soundhole rings are in two groups of seven white and black and three white and black. Black faced headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl double-crown inlay. Black plastic truss-rod cover, edged in white and secured by two screws. Individual Kluson Deluxe single-line 'no-name' tuners with single-ring tulip shaped keystone buttons, each one stamped on the underside "2356766 / Pat Appld." Brown celluloid (tortoiseshell) pickguard elaborately etched with four flowers on stems and eight small white circles. Bone 'bar' bridge on "Closed moustache" rosewood tailpiece with six pearl inserts. Inside the sound hole is the white oval Gibson label with Style "SJ-200" written in black ink and serial number "A-14092" [June 1953] stamped in black. All hardware gold-plated. This sixty-two year-old beauty is very comfortable to play and is one of the best sounding SJ-200s we have heard. There is some very light fine finish checking, a small surface mark / indentation on the top (about 1 3/4 inches from the tail edge) and some light playing wear on the edges of the sound-hole, otherwise this guitar is in near mint (9.25) condition. Housed in the original Gibson four-latch, shaped brown hardshell case with green padded felt  lining (8.75).

"Called 'King of the Flat Top Guitars' for its dramatic beauty, booming resonance, and penetrating carrying power...built with an extra large tone chamber and many exclusive design features. Very showy in appearance, flawless in workmanship, outstanding in performance"

The SJ-200 is Gibson’s equivalent of the Martin D-45—a top-of-the-line model with elegant, fancy appointments that is highly prized by players and collectors alike. Developed during the mid 1930s as Gibson’s competitor to the D-45, the Super Jumbo 200 (as it was initially called before the SJ-200 name was officially adopted), quickly found favor with professional guitarists, particularly cowboy and Western screen stars like Gene Autry, Ray “Crash” Corrigan, Tex Ritter, Roy Rogers, Jimmy Wakely, and Ray Whitley. Corrigan’s SJ-200, which has a 1936 factory order number and numerous distinctive 1936 features found only on his SJ-200, is thought to be the first ever made. 

The maple SJ- and J-200s (Gibson shortened the model name in 1955) are fine rhythm instruments with brilliant, crisp tone and impressive volume projection that cuts through a dense mix of electric instruments. Elvis Presley famously played a blonde J-200 during his early years, removing the model from its cowboy roots and giving it an updated image as an iconic rock and roll instrument. 

"It's doubtful that any guitar, flat-top or archtop, acoustic or electric, or any combination of same, can surpass the Super Jumbo 200 in distinctiveness of appearance...The allure of the Super Jumbo 200 indeed ranges far and wide, touching rock, pop, blues, gospel, country, folk, hillbilly, and of course cowboy (as in country-western). Ray Whitley...was the prime mover behind the creation of this famous model...The J-200's dramatic beauty, booming resonance, and penetrating carrying power have again made this famous model a much-in-demand guitar, especially among those performers who require the ultimate in a stage guitar. Over the decades Gibson catalogues have accurately referred to the Super Jumbo/SJ 200/J-200 model as 'King of the Flat-Tops'" (Eldon Whitford, David Vinopal, and Dan Erlewine, Gibson's Fabulous Flat-Top Guitars, pp. 76-84).

The SJ-200 remains a favorite of countless players today. Guitarists who have regularly recorded and performed with a J-200 include Gene Autry, Johnny Cash, David Crosby, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, The Edge, The Everly Brothers, Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, George Harrison, Buddy Holly, Ricky Nelson, Jimmy Page, Tom Petty, Elvis Presley, Stephen Stills, Pete Townsend, Townes Van Zandt, and Ray Whitley, the singing cowboy, and the man who made his J-200 sing and holler like nobody else—blues legend the Reverend Gary Davis.

"The J-200 has a unique place in musical history, bridging the gap in all different kinds of music, from western to blues to folk to rock to country. It's sturdy and yet so very musical, a guitar tonally unique, big, and absolutely beautiful. To me, this guitar represents the best of American art, and in some ways the J-200 transcends art, although in a sense it's only a tool. The J-200 is my guitar of choice. It has such a distinctive sound, feel, and look. It is simply a thing of beauty -- an American original with its shape and appearance. Nothing else even comes close" (Emmylou Harris, quoted in Eldon Whitford, David Vinopal, and Dan Erlewine, Gibson's Fabulous Flat-Top Guitars, p. 76).