I’ve added another slope shouldered guitar to keep my Huss and Dalton and Gibson J-45 JT Banner reissue company and am starting to think they may be my ideal body shape. I wanted 14 fret rosewood this time and I was looking at Gibson initially but the rosewood ones I played sounded a bit too mellow and ‘springy’ for what I wanted this time around and not as different from the Mahogany standard models as I would have expected given the different back/side woods used. The necks also tended to be quite thin. I’d love a banner SJ to go with my J-45 but I can’t really justify the expense at present.
I then started looking at the cheaper Eastman E20SS of course, but the 1-11/16 nut is a deal breaker these days. I couldn’t see any of these style models with a 1-3/4 nut width even the maple version (which may have been interesting) is 1-11/16. I then had a quick Look at Sigma. I have three of their all solid Martin inspired models and I’ve not certainly been disappointed with any of them. I spotted an all solid model called the SJR-SG45, a solid slope shouldered jumbo/dreadnought with Adirondack top and Rosewood back and sides , ebony board and bridge, bone nut and saddle and most importantly a 1-3/4 nut width. There were no vids on YouTube or anywhere else for this matter that i could find but there were a few videos demonstrating the mahogany version (SJM-SG45) which sounded nice. These models even online are very thin on the ground especially the rosewood one. I managed to locate one at a good price and pulled the trigger sight unseen.
It arrived late and a bit grubby with a small dent above the second fret. I was not particularly happy with the supplier given the delay but given the spec, the scarcity of the model and my experience with AMI Sigma’s as a whole I decided to clean it up and restring it with my favourite strings (Thomastik 12-59). Setup wise it’s not bad at all although I will get it tweaked a little since adding the extra string tension has changed the feel. It sounds really good and it’s the different type of tone I was looking for. I have removed the pickguard as it looked cheap and I replaced it with a JP hand cut 30’s vintage tortoise style guard one as the one it came with was very dull and boring. The only thing I don’t like is the logo. Obviously the old style Martin script logo would not be appropriate for this Gibson inspired model but I’d have hoped they would have come up with something more attractive. Overall though I really like the look and it is distinctive enough from other j-45/SJ inspired models to set itself apart. Also, price wise its cheaper than a lot of the competition.
In the uk the Eastman E20SS runs £1350-£1590, whereas the sigma is £1100-£1230. I managed to get the sigma at £1044 in a Black Friday sale and they reduced the price by another £100 for the small indentation/grubby appearance/late arrival etc so £944 in total. Comparing it with my higher calibre Huss and Dalton and Gibson is really interesting. You can immediately hear the influence of the rosewood on the tone. It has plenty of sustain, deep bass response and a good mid-range despite the rosewood B/S. It is not as woody or warm as either the J-45 or H&D (which are also vastly different from one another) but it has a commanding tone and a ton of power. I’ll report back once the strings have mellowed a bit and the guitar is fully setup to my liking but I’m impressed by this guitar thus far. A few quick pics of the guitar along with my other two slopes:
![[Image: rztvgOr.jpeg]](https://i.imgur.com/rztvgOr.jpeg)
![[Image: xYVofIu.jpeg]](https://i.imgur.com/xYVofIu.jpeg)
![[Image: U3nhNTT.jpeg]](https://i.imgur.com/U3nhNTT.jpeg)
H&D DS-12 Custom
![[Image: L3BSGjx.jpeg]](https://i.imgur.com/L3BSGjx.jpeg)
J-45 1942 "JT Banner" reissue
![[Image: BYzegP4.jpeg]](https://i.imgur.com/BYzegP4.jpeg)
I then started looking at the cheaper Eastman E20SS of course, but the 1-11/16 nut is a deal breaker these days. I couldn’t see any of these style models with a 1-3/4 nut width even the maple version (which may have been interesting) is 1-11/16. I then had a quick Look at Sigma. I have three of their all solid Martin inspired models and I’ve not certainly been disappointed with any of them. I spotted an all solid model called the SJR-SG45, a solid slope shouldered jumbo/dreadnought with Adirondack top and Rosewood back and sides , ebony board and bridge, bone nut and saddle and most importantly a 1-3/4 nut width. There were no vids on YouTube or anywhere else for this matter that i could find but there were a few videos demonstrating the mahogany version (SJM-SG45) which sounded nice. These models even online are very thin on the ground especially the rosewood one. I managed to locate one at a good price and pulled the trigger sight unseen.
It arrived late and a bit grubby with a small dent above the second fret. I was not particularly happy with the supplier given the delay but given the spec, the scarcity of the model and my experience with AMI Sigma’s as a whole I decided to clean it up and restring it with my favourite strings (Thomastik 12-59). Setup wise it’s not bad at all although I will get it tweaked a little since adding the extra string tension has changed the feel. It sounds really good and it’s the different type of tone I was looking for. I have removed the pickguard as it looked cheap and I replaced it with a JP hand cut 30’s vintage tortoise style guard one as the one it came with was very dull and boring. The only thing I don’t like is the logo. Obviously the old style Martin script logo would not be appropriate for this Gibson inspired model but I’d have hoped they would have come up with something more attractive. Overall though I really like the look and it is distinctive enough from other j-45/SJ inspired models to set itself apart. Also, price wise its cheaper than a lot of the competition.
In the uk the Eastman E20SS runs £1350-£1590, whereas the sigma is £1100-£1230. I managed to get the sigma at £1044 in a Black Friday sale and they reduced the price by another £100 for the small indentation/grubby appearance/late arrival etc so £944 in total. Comparing it with my higher calibre Huss and Dalton and Gibson is really interesting. You can immediately hear the influence of the rosewood on the tone. It has plenty of sustain, deep bass response and a good mid-range despite the rosewood B/S. It is not as woody or warm as either the J-45 or H&D (which are also vastly different from one another) but it has a commanding tone and a ton of power. I’ll report back once the strings have mellowed a bit and the guitar is fully setup to my liking but I’m impressed by this guitar thus far. A few quick pics of the guitar along with my other two slopes:
H&D DS-12 Custom
J-45 1942 "JT Banner" reissue
Huss & Dalton DS-12 Custom (Italian Spruce/Mahogany)
Collings 000-2H (Sitka/Rosewood)
Dave King L-00 (Adirondack/Mahogany)
Gibson J-45 JT project "1942 Banner" Reissue (Adirondack/Mahogany)
Eastman E20P (Adirondack/Rosewood)
Sigma-SDR-28MLE (Limited edition, Adirondack/Madagascan Rosewood)
Sigma SDR-45 (Sitka/Indian Rosewood)
Sigma SDM-18E (limited to 72, European spruce/Flamed Mahogany)
Sigma SJR-SG45 (Adirondack/Indian rosewood)
Freshman FA400D (Engelmann/Rosewood)
Freshman FA300 (Cedar/Hog)
Voyage Air Travel Guitar VAD6
Collings 000-2H (Sitka/Rosewood)
Dave King L-00 (Adirondack/Mahogany)
Gibson J-45 JT project "1942 Banner" Reissue (Adirondack/Mahogany)
Eastman E20P (Adirondack/Rosewood)
Sigma-SDR-28MLE (Limited edition, Adirondack/Madagascan Rosewood)
Sigma SDR-45 (Sitka/Indian Rosewood)
Sigma SDM-18E (limited to 72, European spruce/Flamed Mahogany)
Sigma SJR-SG45 (Adirondack/Indian rosewood)
Freshman FA400D (Engelmann/Rosewood)
Freshman FA300 (Cedar/Hog)
Voyage Air Travel Guitar VAD6
