The Gibson Southern Jumbo, or SJ for short, began its life in 1942 as a "Deluxe" version of the J-45, with the same construction: Spruce top, mahogany back and sides, rosewood bridge and board. These guitars are rarer than the J-45, with their pearloid heavy designs made to appease the bling loving cravings of Country music's singing cowboys of the day.
This particular example is from at least 1948- Gibson switched to the block logo in this year, away from their earlier "script" style logo in favor of an inlay with a more modern style. The bridge most likely either original or a factory anomaly, as by 1949 Gibson had switched to both bound fretboards and belly up bridges, and guitars from '49 are not usually seen without both, although at the time, anomaly were known to happen, as Gibson's consistency has always been a point of note through their older years. So in essence, it's either a '49 with no binding, or a '48 with an upwards facing bridge. Pretty cool either way!
Aesthetically this guitar is in decent condition, these 40's Gibsons always seem to have been through the war and back, so this one is in quite good condition considering its age! There is a decent amount of wear on the whole guitar, but any structural issues have been fixed, notably the bridge has been reset to accommodate a repair to the bridge plate, and some braces being re-glued as they were coming loose, and one brace has been replaced. Some inlays were coming loose as is normal, so they've been reattached. There was a single center seam split that has been re-glued. This guitar has had previous work that included a lot of activity around the neck block, so the original penciled in mark is missing from being rubbed off. This guitar comes with a replacement hard case.
