[nikos1121]

I think there are definitely two schools, the D-18 and the J-45, and I'm told a subset where the guitar is built in Montana. :-)

[Scoutmaster]

Gibson bought the old Flatiron Mandolin factory in Bozeman at the end of 1987, with the intent of taking over Flatiron's mandolins as its own. At the time, Flatiron was building superior instruments to Gibson's. Flatiron's owner (whose name escapes me for the moment) became the shop head for all Boseman production.

For a while, Gibson built acoustic guitars in both Nashville and Bozeman, and savvy buyers held out for Bozeman-built models. The quality of Gibson's flat top acoustic guitars soared when production was moved to Bozeman.

Arch-tops are made in Memphis, or that used to be the case. Custom shop flat tops are also made in Memphis.

The vintage J-45s and Southern Jumbos were made Kalamazoo. When Norlin owned Gibson, it moved production from Kalamazoo to Nashville over the period of 1974 to 1984.

[Scoutmaster]

Wait. Now I understand. I think there are three schools of J-45 owners instead of two. Kalamazoo (vintage up to sometime between 1974 and 1984), Nashville (hit and miss quality, up until sometime after 1987, and Bozeman.

I've never found a Nashville Gibson flat top that I was interested in owning. Give me Kalamazoo or Bozeman.

[nikos1121]

Have a question for the group here.

What’s been your experience with having a perfectly tuned guitar with the strings open, then putting a capo on the guitar, then finding that you have to retune, not much, but clearly some of the strings are off?

I’ve had people tell me that your guitar should be in tune with a capo if it was in tune without it. I disagree. All my guitars require a little tweeking after putting a capo on.

I’ve noticed it’s a little more with the Keyzer than the screw down types, and frequently it’s only one or two strings off.

I’m sure there a little intonation issues with all guitars, but who wants someone messing with the bridge to correct this when you can easily correct it by frequently retuning.

(BTW saw some device that has the tuner on top of the capo! Now you’ve got this huge device on your fret board while you’re playing.)