Many guitarists argue that behind every great song is a great instrument. To prove their point, they’ll bring up songs recorded with 1958-60 Gibson Les Paul Standard “bursts,” '50s and early '60s Strats and Teles, vintage Gibson and Martin guitars, one-of-a-kind custom guitars (like Jerry Garcia’s Wolf and Tiger) or even modern guitars like EVH, Music Man, PRS, and Taylor models.
If you were to ask even the most casual vintage acoustic guitar collector if the Sixties Gibson J-200 was a great guitar, most would answer with an emphatic “No!” In its original pre-WWII iteration with rosewood back and sides, the Gibson SJ-200/Super Jumbo (as it was originally named) is one of the most desirable acoustics of the 20th century. The post-war version with maple back and sides produced through the Fifties (when the name was shortened to J-200) is not far behind.
