Gibson Acoustic

An Important Gibson J-200 Acoustic Guitar.Labeled: PROTOTYPE A  Bozeman, Montana  1/15/89 Original OwnerBench made for Presentation.
Condition: Excellent*Presentation Grade Quartersawn Figured Maple Back & Quartersawn Maple Sides.*Sitka Spruce top w/ Medullary Rays*3 Piece Maple Neck (Solid & very straight/ has not required adjustment in over 10 years)*Dark Rosewood fingerboard and an exceptionally nicely shaped Mustache Bridge.*Rosewood Pins *A Light GuitarSet up is very low with light strings for light touch & thin flatpick.Has had only one grand fret polish to level frets to allow lowest action.(Guitars bass increases notably with medium strings & a raise in action..but for preservation purposes light maybe a little better).A Gibson saddle blank is in case if raised action is required.
Imprefections:*Small double dent in top (close up in last photo)*This dent was touched with laquer and buffed so shine is slightly duller around it (touched by Pasqual on 48th St. NY City)* two slight laquer checks (before last photo)*Some pickguard design rub off(A dealer of fine guitars looked at it and described the guitar as nearly mint)
Has been used at home only & now has its sound.It has aged & developed the sound of a good vintage J-200 from the 1940's. (To me, all guitars under 12 years old sound new & stiff...they start developing some character and overtones over the next decade by playing them. Though some never develop into much of anything..)It has been polished only with Martin Guitar Polish & cotton t-shirts. And fingerboard, a wipe of lemon oil a few times.
For Provenance before this guitar was sold to us, Mandolin Bros's original appraisal is available for view by contacting us to forward by email.(973)782-3420It verifies that.."Your guitar is the first prototype Gibson J-200 made by Gibson Guitar Corp. at the new factory in Bozeman Montana.""..it does not hold back sound the way most production issue J-200's have for the past 40 years..""This guitar, if lost or stolen, can not be replaced at any price.." Mandolin Bros. May 11 1989
There were two other Prototypes (B & C) but was told that those were not in the Natural finish.A special guitar.
In future histories Ren Ferguson will be known as the man who resurrected the Gibson Acoustic Guitar back to they're Golden Age standardsin Bozeman Montana.Hence, this acoustic guitar, the first J-200, Gibson's flagship model, from that factory, is a unique artifact of this era in the Gibson history.