“The guitars Gibson was making during wartime often reflect a number of shortages they had to deal with”: Why the 1942 Gibson Southern Jumbo is far more than a J-45 in fancy dress

A 1942 "banner era" Gibson Southern Jumbo shot on location at Well Strung Guitars, the NYC vintage guitar emporium.

The reason I wanted to feature a Gibson flat-top is that people are very excited about them now. Of course, they’ve always been popular, but I’m now hearing that sound on virtually every record. I’m just not hearing people banging on about Martins any more, especially in the Nashville scene.

With that in mind, I have this extraordinary Gibson Southern Jumbo that’s a real sweetheart. Not only does it sound good and play superbly, it’s also pretty much pristine and has the banner headstock logo. The ‘H’ suffix with the FON stamp denotes ‘1942’, which is the first year Southern Jumbos were made – although the model wasn’t officially released until the following year.