Gibson Acoustic Southern Jumbo Original - Vintage Sunburst Reviews

I had been looking at the Southern Jumbo for the last few months and decided to finally pull the trigger. I'm glad I did.
This is a wonderful guitar and fits in my acoustic collection perfectly.The tone , feel and beauty of it is what I have been looking for. Gibson did a good job on this one.
I couldn't be more satisfied with this purchase and if I wasn't Richard at Sweetwater and Company would make it right. That is the reason I have been a satisfied customer since 2011.

As soon as I played this guitar I knew it belonged to me. The tone is so balanced and every single note sparkles but there's also a wonderful punch. The presence of this instrument is perfect for the energetic acoustic rock 'n' roll that I perform on a regular basis. it is a perfect match to my style. I can tell this is going to be my workhorse for a while.

I am still in the early stages of owning this guitar but it has been an absolute joy. The perfect balance of low end body and clarity. The LR Baggs piezo is fine enough but properly mic'ing the guitar will yield the actual results this guitar is capable of.

Fit and finish were outstanding and the case is lovely with its pink plush interior.

I've had this guitar since September of 2022 and every time I get it out to play it feels like I'm giving myself a present. I love it. The sound and tone is universes (because universes are more than worlds) beyond anything else and it just gets better as I play it. If you're ready for your forever, legacy, pass down to your kids guitar, you won't go wrong with the Gibson Southern Jumbo.

I'm a long time fan of the slope shoulder Gibson's the Southern Jumbo and J45.
I purchased my new Southern Jumbo about 6 months ago. I was immediately taken by the tone and build quality of this guitar !
The slight slim taper to the neck felt immediately comfortable and familiar even to my Bear-Paw hands !
I gig on weekends and am happy with how natural it sounds plugged in as well.
At this price point, I think this guitar is as good as it get's !

Apologize for the long review. Ordered the guitar. When it arrived and I opened the box my eyes went straight to a defective guitar. Not going into the problem it had. Just gonna say wasn't a problem for me. Emailed Aaron, he got with the tech department that department called me very concerned with my purchase. We talked and I was assured another would be pulled from inventory. I was overnighted another guitar when it arrived I shipped the one I had back. I know there's more expensive guitars than the one I purchased. But it was a lot to me, and Sweetwater totally made me feel confident about my purchase. Now, the Southern Jumbo. It is a very beautiful guitar. One that I wanted, and that I'll keep forever. I have a J45 Standard they're supposed to be the same guitar other than the Southern Jumbo having more bling. The neck has a slimmer profile, same nut width just thinner to the hand. I play half step down and this guitar has amazing shimmery highs nicely blended mids with just enough lows to put a grin on your face. So, feel confident dealing with Sweetwater and confident the Gibson Southern Original Jumbo will sound as amazing as its looks.. Plus the web photos don't show the in person true shine and beauty of this guitar. Quit second guessing and own one.

Great American company and my thanks to its employees for crafting this true piece of acoustical art. The neck and fingerboard quality, precision, tonal accuracy up the fretboard, feel, & playability are awesome. The sound qualities are bold, with range, and fills a room. I truly love this guitar. Thanks Nick for getting this in so quickly and flawless service from Sweetwater!

This is my first Gibson acoustic and I bought it so that I could retire a '79 Martin HD-28 that I bought as NOS in '84. It's impossible to not compare them to each other. First off, the SJ is beautiful and the workmanship is top notch. The factory set up made the guitar hard to play, but after having the nut, bridge and truss rod tweaked, it played like a dream with nice low action. I just used it at a show for the first time and it held tune really well and the built in mic / preamp did a really good job of making it sound natural. The neck has a little more heft than my HD-28 and that was a welcome change. It also has less of a boomy low end which I can really appreciate. I had my eyes on a J-45 initially, but I'm happy I went with the SJ. The inlays on the fretboard and the open back tuners look fantastic. I know this is a guitar that I will use a lot. I'm very happy with it and the good people at Sweetwater were professional and kind as always. Thank you!

Love It! I already owned a J45 Custom I've had for 9 years and a J45 Studio I've had for about 3 years, so Gibson and specifically J45s are my favorite without a doubt. This guitar plays great and the tone is amazing. I'm considering changing the standard pickup to to get "that tone" when plugged in, but I'm going to give it some time and let the guitar get broke in a little, before I make any change like that. Will Crisp at Sweetwater was awesome as usual, and went above and beyond!! I definitely recommend Sweetwater and Will!! FedEx left much to be desired in their delivery schedule and keeping customers updated and their customer service, they're basically a joke. Fortunately, that has nothing to do with the quality of this guitar or Sweetwater.

The guitar sounds amazing. Great volume and tone. Nitrocellulose finish smell right out off the case is great!! Overall playability is good. The action is a little higher than I like, but not bad. I'll adjust it later.

My Sales Engineer, Jay was great and the experience purchasing from Sweetwater was outstanding! I placed my order for the Gibson Southern Jumbo on Friday morning knowing that it wouldn't be in stock for a few weeks. Jay called me That same afternoon saying that they had one in stock and could ship it ASAP. I said that's great. It shipped out on Monday and I got it on Thursday. I had looked into ordering one of these from a big chain so I could pick up in person, but after asking two stores when it would arrive if I ordered that day and both said October of 2023, which would have been an 18 month delivery time. That's when I checked with Sweetwater and wow Im glad I did. They sent high quality photos of the guitar for me to review and for me to give the ok to ship. As I said before I got it in less than a week and my sales engineer followed up to make sure I was happy with the purchase. Happy is an understatement to the tenth degree!!

Received my new Southern Jumbo this week and it is amazing. Fit and finish is flawless and the sound is what you would expect from such a beautiful instrument. Gibson Montana should be proud. Also a big shout out to Stephen at Sweetwater for keeping in touch with updates while the guitar was on backorder. Definitely recommend the Southern Jumbo and Sweetwater.

This guitar looks and sounds beautiful. I love how rich and full the sound is. The neck is great. It plays plenty fast for my bear paw sausage fingers. I am extremely happy with this guitar. Also Sweetwater was awesome! Amazing service and great attention to detail.

I recently bought my first new guitar ever – a Gibson Southern Jumbo and also the first time I've purchased a guitar sight unseen from an online retailer. I own two vintage Martins – a '47 000-18 and a '49 00-17 – plus an '02 James Goodall Grand Concert and while I've been playing casually for forty years I've been more serious in the last dozen years living with a professional musician.

I've always loved the sound of a Gibson J45, which is really what a Southern Jumbo is and it was the mahogany back and sides combined with bone nut and saddle (although the saddle really should be compensated and isn't) thin nitrocellulose lacquer and tapered bracing that pulled me to this specific model. And it was hard to sift through all the different models and features.

When I got the guitar, and it came a day earlier than expected, I unpacked it and it was already in tune. Well, very close after traveling across the country. What really impressed me is that right out of box it already sounded great.

So after about five weeks of playing it now, it's only gotten better. It seems to get better every day. The first thing I did after four days was to swap from whatever strings Gibson uses at the factory to my favorite string – D'Darrio Nickel Bronze 12-53's. Simply the best and longest lasting string (and non coated) I've found that bring out the mid tone sweetness of all of my acoustics.

The action seems just about perfect. It's possible there might be tick too much neck relief but that's easily adjusted. The guitar plays easily and in tune and sounds great anywhere on the neck. The nut is slightly narrower than my other instruments but feels perfect after after a few days of playing. My only nit is with the Grover 18:1 open back tuners. They're relatively smooth and 18:1 is a good ratio but they simply aren't in the same league as Waverly's, but that's fifty dollar set vs. a hundred bucks more for the Waverly's.

Every time I pick up this instrument I'm blown away at the tone of this guitar. It's every bit as good as any of my others including those 1940's Martin classics. And it's just beginning to start the process of opening up. It's only gong to get better. So, the bottom line is that I took a chance buying a guitar online and could not be happier with the build, the appearance, but most importantly, the tone.

Peter Figen
Peter Figen Photography
Los Angeles, Ca.

This guitar has a slimmer neck than I'd prefer but the action is low all the way up the fret board. Light as a feather and killer sound. The only complaint is some uneven lumps around the sound hole. Like either the Lacquer bubbled up or they shot over a bad crunched piece of wood. Not a deal breaker but for the price, would have liked it to be perfect.

Arrived with a few hairline scratches almost invisible on photos. Had a small indention near pickguard but non-effective for sound. When properly set up, she plays quite nice. However the use of a capo (any brand, I've used 9 different companies) creates problems for the Jumbo other acoustics don't seem to face. The tunability suffers greatly with my SJ and unfortunately hasn't seen as much playing as I'd like due to it's inconsistent ability to stay in tune. The LR Baggs system is amazing esp in a concert forum setting / live venue board. I'm hoping with some aging my SJ will improve.