It's hard to go wrong with a nice acoustic Gibson from the 60's, they provide excellent value for money and are fantastic recording guitars. This here Gibson Country Western from 1961 is no exception...

Introduced in 1955 as a more upmarket alternative to the J45 and J50, the Country Western was marketed as a natural finish version of the pre-existing (sunburst finished) Southern Jumbo, much the same as the J50 was to the J45. Up until 1962 it shared the slope shouldered design of the J45/J50, but from '62 onwards adopted the square shoulders of the Hummingbird.

This is a really nice example! Being from 1961 it has the desirable aforementioned round shoulders and is in really nice condition. There is no bellying but we did have to glue a corner of the bridge down when we got it in as it was lifting ever so slightly. All is good now.

Construction is the usual spruce top with mahogany back and sides, while the neck is mahogany with a rosewood fingerboard. The split parallelogram inlays are in nice condition and look really cool.

This guitar is in really nice condition. The back and sides are still a deep and vibrant red, and apart from the usual minor dings and scratches it's very clean. The back of the neck has a couple of marks, please see the may pics we have posted. The correct Kluson Deluxe tuners are in good working order, and the original frets are in great condition and have years of life left in them. 

All the sonic hallmarks of a great acoustic are here in this guitar. There's great projection, dynamic range, and balance between the high and low end. We can see this being a fantastic recording instrument, but pop a decent pickup in and this will be a great live instrument too!

A fantastic sounding early 60's Gibson acoustic, with a fixed bridge, and in nice condition... What's not to like?