Here is a very rare pre-war Gibson SJ-200 with the desirable East Indian Rosewood back and sides. Gibson made only about 100 rosewood SJ-200 guitars before the maple version went into production, so in addition to being very desirable for the tonal qualities of its rosewood back and sides it’s also quite collectible due to its rarity. This is also the variant with the single-piece saddle that replaced the six individual height-adjustable saddles found on the earliest SJ-200 guitars during the late ’30s.


But this particular SJ-200 has another attribute that makes it even more rare and desirable, as it once belonged to guitarist Stephen Stills, best known for his work with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Buffalo Springfield. Although Stills was best known for playing Martin acoustics, he has long owned an impressive guitar collection that also included a few SJ/J-200 guitars.


In the early ’70s he was occasionally photographed playing one of his Gibson SJ- or J-200 guitars on stage during concert performances with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. In the January 1976 issue of Guitar Player magazine, which features a cover feature on Stills and his collection, two J-200 guitars are listed: one with a 1962 serial number and another without a serial number. The latter could have been this particular guitar, as the writer apparently didn’t know to look inside the guitar at the neck block for the FON stamp. In that article, Stills also mentions a sunburst 1947 SJ-200 with serial number A1111 that was stolen in Cleveland in 1975.


Even without the Stephen Stills association, this guitar is exceptionally desirable. The rosewood back and sides deliver brilliant, balanced tone and assertive volume output with warm bass but without the thin and comparatively shrill treble of the maple version.

FON: 4804G stamped on neck block
Top: Spruce, sunburst finish
Back and sides: Maple
Neck: Maple with rosewood center strip
Fretboard: Ebony
Frets: 20
Bridge: Moustache-shaped rosewood pin with four pearl inserts
Tuners: Gold-plated Kluson Sealfast with plastic pearloid tulip-shaped buttons