The "King of the Flat Top Guitars"

This 17-inch-wide "King of the Flat Top Guitars" weighs just 5.60 lbs. and has a fat nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches, a really nice medium neck profile and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Highly figured curly maple back and sides, with a "zipper" stripe down the center of the back, close-grained spruce top, five-piece curly maple and mahogany neck with a medium profile, and rosewood fretboard with a peak at the end of the fretboard, 20 jumbo frets, and inlaid pearl crest position markers. The top of the guitar has seven-ply binding, the back has five-ply binding, the soundhole rings are in two groups of seven and three, and the fretboard and headstock are single-bound. Black headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl crown inlay. Black plastic truss-rod cover with white binding and with "Custom" engraved in white. The back of the headstock is black with a widow's peak. Serial number ("812626") impressed into the back of the headstock with a "2" underneath it. Individual Kluson Super tuners with tulip-shaped metal buttons. Brown celluloid pickguard elaborately etched in a floral design in white and yellow. "Closed" moustache tailpiece with four pearl inlays and adjustable rosewood bridge. All hardware gold-plated. This guitar is in near mint (9.25) condition. There are a couple of tiny surface marks on the top of the guitar, a little bit of finish checking, and some minor fretwear to the original frets, mainly confined to the first six frets. The back of the guitar is nice and flamey, as is the back of the neck. Housed in the original Gibson black hardshell case with yellow plush lining (9.00). Complete with the original 24pp. Gibson hang-tag warranty/booklet.

Although this guitar has a "2" (second) under the serial number, we can only assume that a couple of the tiny surface marks on the top must have been present when the guitar was made.

One of the changes to the J-200 specs in 1961 was "the addition of a large, suspended wooden brace under the top, between the bridge and the soundhole. In the middle of the brace is a large metal screw, held against the top. Apparently this brace was added to keep the front of the bridge from sinking. Two versions of this brace were used. But both totally killed the J-200's tone, so many owners removed this brace" (http://www.provide.net/~cfh/gibson6.html). The brace is still present in this guitar, but so is that wonderfully rich J-200 sound.

"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).

Artists who have played J-200s include: Gene Autry, Johnny Cash, David Crosby, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, The Everly Brothers, Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Buddy Holly, Ricky Nelson, Elvis Presley, Stephen Stills, Townes Van Zandt, and Ray Whitley, the singing cowboy, among many others.

"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).