Gibson LG-2 American Eagle

I’ve received it.
Don’t believe the rumours, its finish is perfect and beautiful. A real lightweight, yet it provides a huge projection for such a small guitar!
It was set too high, so I immediately endeavored to sand the guitar’s saddle (I’m used to it as I’ve done with every acoustic guitar I’ve owned).
I unwind the strings, take the saddle out and I see the pickup – a thin, metal strip.
Hey, what shall I do? If I modify the saddle (which can’t be reversed), the pickup’s width will have to be taken into account, and if I take it off the sanded saddle will be too low…
And that’s precisely what I want: to take that pickup off as I know I won’t use it, I don’t like too much that sort of things (had the AE been available without the Baggs that’s how I would have bought it).
So I slide the pickup throught the bridge into the guitar’s body (really easy to do), it’s so thin that it doesn’t move, hanging on its wire. I leave it this way, thinking that in case I’d change my mind someday…
I put the saddle back in place, wind the strings and the action is perfect!
And now, the guitar is totally changed, very playable with a really compressed sound, clear with nicely articulated notes, a great “thump” in palm mute, blose to a real percussive instrument. I couldn’t stop playing for 2 hours, everything goes from jazz chords to funky riffs, fingerstyle, picking, strumming, solo… Playability and sound at their best!

It’s hard to describe, the guitar is hardly 4 or 5 lbs still it resounds from everywhere, even when you just grab it, a sound filled with overtones, shiny harmonics…
I must add it is perfectly expressive: very soft playing, gentle touch, small appoggiatura… it whispers and brings out all nuances – a feather on the strings would make itself heard.
And it follows as you play more and more powerfully until heavy, rough playing, and even then it keeps projecting your sound with a wonderful drive, it keeps straight. Then the player gives up, as it also perfectly renders the tension in playing and this is… unnerving!

What seems even more impressive to me is that it’s brand new!!

How will it sound as the wood matures?...

Now I understand why vintage LG-2s are said to absolutely rock, soundwise and comfortwise!
That’s just what the American Eagle does!

I’d been looking for a model for a year, so I’ve tried many small body guitars (taking very details and analytic accounts into consideration, but also the raw feeling I got from the instrument itself): Simon&Patrick, Martin, Recording King, Eastman, Blueridge, Yairi… and many others.

This is the best.
Gibson’s American Eagle is a recent acoustic guitar series that brings the brand back to the Golden Age that made it famous.

This is the best acoustic guitar I’ve played since I started to play some 25 years ago.

When I read some forum users taking it down without ever laying their hands on it, all I can say is “what a mistake”: they know not what they’re missing.
$1400 is quite a sum, of course, but after a few hours spent with it it turns out to be a great value for money for such a quality instrument. Definitely!