Sweetwater’s Hawaiian Homage to the King of the Flat-tops
Decked to the nines with exquisite inlays and wearing the finest tonewoods that Gibson has to offer, this Gibson Acoustic Dealer Select SJ-200 Koa wears a jaw-dropping suit of specs set to the tune of Sweetwater’s guitar experts. Most notably, we’ve replaced the SJ-200’s traditional tonewoods with an all-koa body construction, including a master-grade AAAAA koa slab atop the guitar’s hand-scalloped X-bracing. This distinctive detour from the classic Gibson formula lends our SJ-200 a powerfully focused and direct tone that hits with authoritative midrange, dazzling highs, and the Super Jumbo’s signature low-end drawl. Next, the 2-piece maple neck offers a compelling visual contrast to the koa’s dusky visuals, in addition to a comfortable feel courtesy of its rounded profile. Once we locked in this guitar’s foundation, our guitar experts set to work elevating this guitar’s aesthetics to a truly show-stopping degree, including abalone vine inlays that wind over the ebony fingerboard, enchanting abalone inlay work around the top/back, gorgeous inlays that crown the headstock, and glittering gold Grover Imperial tuning machines. It all adds up to a towering tour de force of Gibson Acoustic artistry, worthy of being handed down through generations as a beaming 6-string heirloom.
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Dealer Select guitars: curated perfection from Gibson Custom and Sweetwater
This unparalleled instrument wears the badge of Sweetwater and Gibson Custom’s Dealer Select collaboration, a prestigious program that enables us to provide our most discerning customers with custom-spec’d, limited-run Gibson Custom guitars with exclusive features and appointments. Through this initiative, Sweetwater’s guitar experts work closely with artisans from Gibson’s Custom Shops in Nashville and Bozeman, Montana, to dream up inventive and alluring variations of Gibson’s most beloved guitars. From custom finishes to from-the-ground-up tonewood transformations and beyond, our collection of Dealer Select instruments boasts a personalized touch that off-the-shelf production models simply can’t match — and you can only get them at Sweetwater!
High-class Hawaiian tonewoods at their most refined
Gibson’s SJ-200 has worn many tonewoods since it was first launched in 1937, starting with rosewood for the back/sides, later swapping over to a maple body, and almost always preserving a spruce top. Our Sweetwater-spec Dealer Select SJ-200 shakes things up once again with a high-class Hawaiian flair, brandishing a boldy figured AAAAA koa top and koa for the back and sides.
First and foremost, this tonewood twist lends our Dealer Select SJ-200 Koa a rounder, more compressed voice, ringing with crisply focused midrange and shimmering top-end clarity. You’ll still benefit from the legendary boom and unplugged projection that’s earned the SJ-200 the flat-top crown, only with a slighter more fundamental-focused directness to the sound. What’s more, this guitar’s old-school hand-scalloped X-bracing ensures that this big box excels at both ends of the dynamic spectrum, from chest-rattling blasts of cowboy chords to intimate fingerstyle elegance.
You will be heard with Gibson’s Super Jumbo body style
Gibson’s Super Jumbo guitars were originally built to cut through the loudest acoustic ensembles, allowing them to compete with the mandolins and banjos that were prevalent in the pre-amplified era. It’s still a thrill to hear the well-balanced sound of a Super Jumbo ringing out loud and clear. Many guitarists at Sweetwater — from rockers to country pickers — choose these guitars for their incredible sound, projection, build quality, playability, and — let’s face it — stunning looks. Take the stage with this beauty, and all eyes will be on you!
Built in Bozeman in the handcrafted Kalamazoo tradition
For more than eight decades, Gibson’s acoustic instruments were crafted in the historic Parsons Street Factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan — only a few hours’ drive from Sweetwater’s Fort Wayne, Indiana, campus. Gibson’s acoustic and electric guitars were built side-by-side there for much of the company’s history. Subsequently, production was relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, over the course of several years between the late 1970s and the early 1980s. Although this change of scenery worked brilliantly for Gibson’s electric lineup, it was quickly discovered that the hot and humid climate of the American South was perhaps not the ideal setting for acoustic guitar building.
Gibson’s acoustic division ultimately packed up its side presses and chisels and journeyed off to the picturesque city of Bozeman in 1989. The move was preceded by Gibson’s purchase of the Flatiron company in 1987; the latter’s immaculate mandolins demonstrated that The Treasure State’s semi-arid climate was the perfect setting to craft Gibson’s historic acoustic instruments. More than three decades down the line, the Bozeman factory comprises a well-seasoned workforce of master craftspeople — many of whom are multi-decade Gibson veterans — and produces what many musicians consider to be among the company’s finest creations.
Gibson Acoustic Dealer Select SJ-200 Koa Features:
- A Dealer Select twist on Gibson’s classic “King of the Flat-tops,” spec’d by Sweetwater’s guitar experts at the Bozeman factory
- AAAAA koa top and koa back/sides provide a powerful and focused tone that sings with midrange authority, deep bass, and crisp highs
- Hand-scalloped X-bracing ensures that the top can resound to its fullest potential
- 2-piece maple neck offers a captivating contrast to the body, as well as a comfortably rounded profile
- Bound ebony fingerboard wearing dazzling vine inlays that flow all the way up to the headstock
- Abalone trim abounds, from the perimeter of the top/back to the rosette to the ebony mustache bridge’s inlays and beyond
- Elegant Grover Imperial tuning machines gleam in the light with a golden aura
- Eye-catching custom SJ-200 pickguard with a fine floral theme
- 1.725-in. bone nut accommodates a vast variety of playing styles, from fingerpicking to strumming to flatpicking and beyond
- Lightweight nitrocellulose lacquer finish allows the guitar to age in over time and resonate to its fullest potential
