Nick and I went to Marshall music in CT yesterday to see what teles they had in stock. While we were there I decided to try the J-45 they had on the wall. I assumed it was the same one they had the last time which sounded rather dull and muted. First strum on it and I realise there is something different going on, turns out it is a new one. It sounded fantastic, even with the rather old strings.
Drank some coffee and kept going back to that guitar. We plugged it into an acoustic amp and it was sold. While I did the deal Nick was playing on it and I could hear it from the back room and it sounded incredibly sweet. So we leave Marshall on a high and I get to my car and some <insert your favourite expletive> has knocked out the driver side window and stole my Ipod. Glass and water everywhere as it had been pouring down at one stage. That put me in a pretty foul mood, so 3 hours later I could finally spend some time with the new guitar. Put some Gibson vintage reissue pure nickel strings on which sounded terrible so I immediately changed them to the Gibson Masterbuilt phosphor bronze 12's which sounded infinitely better. Ended up playing till 1 am this morning.
If I compare the J-45 to my Hummingbird (both are mahogany back and sides with spruce top, the hummingbird being 9 years old and the J-45 approaching one year) I would say the Hummingbird is like Sheryl Crowe, more mellow and smooth, with the J-45 sounding like Beth Hart, more in your face with its own kind of sweetness.
Made on the 2nd of August in Bozeman, mahogany back and sides, spruce top, graphtec nut and LR Baggs Element pickup. ?
