1944 Gibson Banner SJ
With its dry, percussive, open and expressive voice, gorgeous Banner looks, and a deep, round neck carve, this early 1944 SJ is everything we want a Wartime Gibson to be. This one features a 4-piece red spruce top, a truss-rod-equipped three-piece maple neck, and rosewood board and bridge. It was likely built in the spring of 1944, just prior to the CMI purchase of Gibson.
Although the guitar has a few repaired cracks and handful of reglued braces, it is largely original, including its finish, bridge, bridgeplate, tuners, and nut. New frets, saddle, and bridge pins were installed in our shop. Playability is excellent, and this Banner SJ is ready for its next 80 years.
The top has a repaired crack that runs for about 5” northward from the tailblock edge, and a second shorter crack on the lower treble bout. There is no pickguard crack, which is a welcomed surprise. There is a ¼” spruce infill to a chip on the soundhole’s edge at the 10 o’clock position. Finally, there was a tailpiece installed on this guitar for some time which left markings on the top that are purely cosmetic.
The guitar’s back has four repaired cracks; the sides are crack-free. There’s plenty of strap wear by the endpin and the tailpiece mounting hole has been nicely plugged. The original bridge remains full height; it has a repaired crack through the pin line and infill along its back edge where it was modified to stay out of the way of the tailpiece-mounted strings; something we see fairly regularly. Thankfully, the original bridge plate remains in excellent condition. As the guitar’s top was fairly lightly built there is some distortion around the bridge area – it’s the kind of thing that often accompanies the best sounding guitars.
The neck on this Banner SJ is round and deep. The nut width is 1-23/32”, and the depth measured at the 1st fret is a fairly massive 1.050”. Neck thickness at the 9th fret is 1.1”. It is officially a baseball bat, although quite a comfortable one. String spread at the saddle is just wider than 2-1/8”.
A wonderful guitar that hopefully checks every box on your ‘Banner Gibson’ shopping list. The tone of a maple neck / red spruce topped Banner is unlike anything else Gibson ever made and is unmistakable.
With modern hardshell case.
**USD Price includes Shopify fees
