I'm still re-visiting the guitars I wasn't able to play for years.
This one has always been my special unit, as I was able to pick it out and work on it from the very first batch of Advanced Jumbos Gibson made. I was an employee at the Montana factory then, and was able to select it from around 100 of them that were hung up, waiting for some parts made in Germany to arrive in the spring of 1990.
It's the very first Montana guitar that is finished in nitrocellulose lacquer. Back then, all the Montana guitars were finished in catalized polyurethane, because the lacquer Gibson used then would crack during transport from the cold winters.
The paint company who supplied Gibson with their finishes developed a different lacquer formula that made the lacquer more flexible for 10 months before it reached it's final hardness, and they sent a couple of gallons to Montana.
I wasn't given permission to use it, so I stashed the guitar on the line after I colored it and shot it after work hours, swiping the lacquer from the cans.
I thought I was being very sneaky, but the boss caught on to it right away. He cussed me out, and then gave me permission to go ahead and finish the clear coats. It turned out so well they dropped the poly in less than a month, and they've used the same stuff ever since.
This has always been a real tiger. The AJ was always the loudest flat top Gibson ever made, and this is the loudest AJ I've ever played. It is not a very pretty-sounding guitar, even though its mellowed after 35 years of steady use, but it sure can cut through a loud bluegrass band like a knife when I want to take a lead break.
I've played it so much I had it totally re-fretted with a new nut and bridge replacement done on it around 5 years ago, and it plays like butter now with a set of mediums on it.
My hands are still weak, so I can't play it very forcefully, but it's still the strongest guitar of the bunch.
Feast your eyes on this Guild masterpiece:
Mines a Ebony 
