Gibson has unveiled the Noel Gallagher J-150, a super-limited edition replica of the High Flying Birds and former Oasis guitarist's favourite acoustic guitar that was made famous by Oasis' video for Little By Little.
Talk of a signature J-150 for Gallagher had been circulating since 2019, and in January, Gibson announced that we would see one in the summer but did not share any spec. As it turns out, it is spec'd exactly as Gallagher's original J-150, and even includes an Adidas Trefoil sticker to position on the body above the 15th and 17th frets.
Once you take into account the build, however, you might not want to risk anything on that finish. Limited to 200 instruments worldwide, the Noel Gallagher J-150 assumes the Super Jumbo frame of the more famous J-200, with a solid Sitka spruce top, AA maple on the back and sides, and distinctive moustache bridge. But with an unbound neck and headstock, and no back strip, it's easily distinguished from the SJ-200.
That said, the J-150 is a looker, with its body bound with 5-ply binding on the top, 3-ply on the back, the Indian rosewood fingerboard inlayed with MOP crowns, and the distinctive tortoise pickguard bearing the borderless flower inlay design. The hand-rubbed Historic Thin Vintage Sunburst finish is immaculate, and, Gallagher assures us, smells great.
This J-150 has a two-piece maple neck with walnut stringer that joins the body in a compound dovetail neck-to-body joint, fixed in place with hot hide glue. It's carved into a a slim J-150 profile that should make it a crowdpleaser for most styles. Though with its big voice, the J-150 certainly has the strummer's back.
When Gibson brought the prototype down and I saw it there on the floor I was like ‘It looks the bollocks man,’ but then it sounded exactly like mine
Noel Gallagher
There is an L.R. Baggs Anthem pickup and preamp system mounted discretely in the soundhole, while the headstock features a top-quality set of gold Gotoh tuners with green Keystone buttons. Elsewhere the dimensions are as you would expect, faithful to the original with a 12" fingerboard radius, 25.5" scale, and a 1.69" (42.85mm) nut.
As Gallagher explains in the video above, it was love at first sight with the J-150. Just one chord was enough to sell it to him, and he has since played it onstage at stadiums, in clubs and at home. And, he adds, the 2021 J-150 sounds exactly like his original acoustic.
See Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds guitars through the years
“When Gibson brought the prototype down and I saw it there on the floor I was like ‘It looks the bollocks man,’ but then it sounded exactly like mine,” he said. “I was blown away!”
The Noel Gallagher J-150 comes with a custom case, signed label, and reproduced hand-written lyric sheet, and it is available now, priced $4,299. Just the thing to take your open-mic night performance of Wonderwall to the next level, or better still, to write your own hit. That, after all, is the Gibson Super Jumbo tradition – these high-end acoustics have songs in 'em.
See Gibson for more details.
