Gibson Tom Petty Wildflower SJ-200 £8,799
When Gibson chose to honour the late Tom Petty with a signature guitar, they decided to do so with a very special edition of their gentle giant acoustic, the SJ-200. Named the ‘Wildflower’ after Petty’s 1994 album, the guitar is a limited edition of which only 100 will be available worldwide. Crafted at Gibson’s Acoustic Custom Shop in Bozeman, Montana, the guitar seeks to replicate the model that was made for Petty during the time of the Wildflowers album – and, included with the case candy, there’s even a picture of him holding that very guitar.
As is the case with any special-edition collectorgrade guitar, the appointments are top-class throughout. The guitar’s top is made from AAA-grade Sitka spruce, while the back and sides are a luxurious quilted maple. The neck is flamed maple with a walnut stinger on the back of the headstock that bears the words: ‘You belong among the wildflowers’, an extract from the lyrics to the song after which the guitar is named.
On the front of the headstock, the theme continues with the Wildflowers motif that appeared on the original album cover and, we’re told, was also present on the band’s tour bus when they hit the road to promote the album in the mid-90s. The motif can also be seen on the guitar’s case, while the other personalised custom feature is Tom Petty’s signature on the pickguard.
Pickup duties are performed by an LR Baggs VTC system with volume and tone controls tucked away at the edge of the guitar’s soundhole. As far as the other furnishings on the SJ-200 are concerned, gold Grover Imperial tuners adorn the headstock, acting as a suitably deluxe foil to the guitar’s Antique Natural nitrocellulose finish. The bound rosewood fingerboard bears mother-of-pearl graduated crown inlays with a 43.8mm (1.73-inch) bone nut at one end of the guitar’s 647mm (25.5-inch) scale length and a bone saddle at the other.
Such a rarified acoustic doesn’t often pass through our hands and so we simply had to release it from its case, tune it up, play a few well-chosen chords and take a listen. For such a big body, the guitar sounds sweet and refined with a very focused midrange that would delight any singer-songwriter. All in all, the Wildflower is a wonderful tribute to one of the truly great songsmiths of our time.