James Olson, perhaps one of the most well known boutique guitar builders in the world, came to major public light when he first showed one of his guitars to renowned singer/songwriter and world class guitarist James Taylor in a hotel room after a show one day. Enamored, Taylor has continued to nearly exclusively use Olson guitars since that day, and James Olson’s worldwide reputation continues to precede him in both used cost and reputation of quality.

This gorgeous SJ from 1996, the “small jumbo” model, with its narrower waist and expansive sound, is a dang good example of Olson’s most sought after model, being the model that James Taylor plays. With a cedar top and Indian rosewood back and sides, the wood combination isn’t earth shatteringly expensive, but the cedar gives this guitar an incredible open, clear tone that most likely was as open as it was the day it was built as it is now.

A simple yet elegant herringbone purfling is combined with black binding around the body, and the five-piece sandwich neck is unbound around the ebony fingerboard, replete with snowflake inlays.

This particular guitar features a 1 ¾ nut and a 2 ¼ bridge spacing for easy access for fingerpicking and flatpicking alike, as well as a 25.4” scale length. The neck is a slim, almost electric guitar like profile that’s ridiculously easy to play.

As expected, this guitar sounds like a grand piano, with sustain and clarity that’s almost hard to describe.

This guitar is in amazing shape, with barely a ding on it.

Comes with the original tweed hard shell case.