I have owned a Gibson J-185 ec for a little over two years. Beautiful guitar, big sound, very good until I plug it in. Through a amp the 1st E is noticeably quieter than the other strings. I replaced the E with a D'Addiro 12 to beef it up, but still quiet when plugged in. So it's poor for finger picking when plugged in. I own many guitars and hate to say that a £50 accustic I own is much better when plugged in. That said, I might have bought a duff one, I hope so because I do like Gibson guitars.

The guitar played acoustically has no umph. Sound seems locked in and ordinary. But, plugged in it sounds as good as any I've played. The sad thing is, newer Gibsons are just plain ordinary, Play this guitar next to a Taylor and you'll immediately tell the difference in sound quality. The appearance is stunning. There's abalone around the sound hole but the ornate markers down the neck are made of cheap plastic. There are cheap Korean and Chinese acoustics that do the same to jazz up the eye appeal. I spent $2k for the guitar but should have saved some more dough and bought a Taylor or a Martin. The guitar a year or two old is being sold on Ebay for less than half of what I payed for it.

This Gibson J-185 is a superb guitar. The woods are spectacular and the overall look terrific but the sound when played through an amp is absolutely the best I've heard. The Action's a tiny fraction too high for me. Better guitar players think I'm crazy as suits them. One or two slightly less than perfect frets towards soundhole end of bottom E but nothing that affects playing. Heavy to carry in its case but that's scraping the barrel.

If you have a chance, and the resources, buy this guitar. It is the best musical decision I ever made, and buying a guitar of this quality really improved my playing, I'm sure partly because I love it so much I play it all the time! Seriously I didn't even want a jumbo AT ALL until I heard this one, love at first strum.

Plays and sounds excellently. I would recommend a Gibson Jumbo to anyone but follow this advice.

Find an instrument with enough neck set angle to allow for action lowering, or future movement of the guitar.
Find an instrument with a fine even layer of lacquer over the whole instrument. If there are heavy build ups of lacquer on the back of the neck, or at the neck/body joint - find another instrument.
Remember to allow the instrument to acclimatise when you take it out to gigs. Do not open the case for 30 mins. Do NOT leave it in the case, or in your car over night. This is asking for trouble!

Go and play one, you will never want to play another make again.

When I went to buy a guitar I was after a Taylor or a Martin. My budget was in the region of £500 to £1000 so those makes catered perfectly for me, but whilst looking I came across the Gibson J-185 (brand new) reduced to clear at £900. It looked great and sounded beautifully well balanced, so I bought it. I think it was a pretty good deal. People go on about the build quality of Gibson's and I have to say there are a few flaws; more cosmetic than anything else, but still surprising. The guitar is just so much more individual than some of the others on the market, and I think once you're happy with the tone you go with your heart not your head. Taylor, Guild, Martin and Takamine are all good, but where's the passion? They might be perfectly finished, but if you're planning to keep a guitar for the rest of your life that becomes irrelevant; they'll all be worn and scuffed after 10 years. It's like with cars - head says BMW, heart says '66 Mustang.