NOEL GALLAGHER J-150

We take a close look at a new signature Gibson that replicates the Oasis man’s indie workhorse

The story of Noel Gallagher’s association with the Gibson J-150 begins when he saw the instrument hanging on the wall in a music shop many songs ago. Taking it down, he played a single E major chord and said to the salesman, ‘I’ll take it!’

“I instantly fell in love with that guitar,” Noel says. “When I think back now to the songs that I’ve written and the amount of time I’ve spent holding this guitar… there’s just something about it.”

Gibson originally produced the J-150 as a more affordable alternative to its prestigious J-200 and it first saw the light of day in 1999, the year Gibson springcleaned its jumbo range. Its ‘parent model’, the J-200, has been around since the 1930s and became a favourite with country singers, as well as the stars of popular cowboy movies of the era.

In keeping with the guitar’s modest position in Gibson’s acoustic hierarchy, the J-150 has the construction details of a no-nonsense workhorse. With AA-grade flame maple for the back and sides, the top is Sitka spruce with hand-scalloped X-bracing and a thin nitro VOS Vintage Sunburst finish. The neck is two-piece maple with a walnut ‘stinger’. It has a 25.5-inch (647.7mm) scale length and the rosewood fingerboard has a flat 20-inch radius, standard small crown frets and mother-of-pearl graduated crown inlays. Nut width is a very electric-guitar friendly 42.85mm (1.69 inch).

The J-150’s bridge tips its hat to its higher ranking J-200 sibling with a two-bar rosewood ‘moustache’ affair and, at the other end, the tuners are gold Gotohs with green keystone buttons.

For amplification, the guitar comes fitted with an LR Baggs Anthem pickup system, with controls for volume, mix, phase inversion, battery check and mic trim controls handily stowed away on the bass side of the soundhole.

Needless to say, this is a limited edition of only 200 models worldwide and so if you’re expecting some case candy, you won’t be disappointed – the custom case reveals a certificate, reproduced handwritten Little By Little lyric sheet and an Adidas sticker (as seen on Noel’s original), as well as a label inside the guitar signed by the Oasis man himself.

It’s a looker, for sure. But as for how close Gibson has managed to get to Noel’s own treasured J-150, as heard on so many of his albums, we’ll let him have the final word: “It sounds exactly like mine.”

1 1. The J-150 comes stageready with an LR Baggs Anthem pickup system with controls neatly stowed away inside the guitar’s soundhole

2 2. The Kluson-style tuners are by Gotoh with age-typical green-tinted keystone buttons

3 3. The back and sides of the guitar feature AAgrade maple, exactly the same as you’d find on Noel’s original

4 4. The maple theme continues with the J-150’s neck, which is affixed to the body using a compound dovetail joint and hot hide glue

5 7 6 7. The ‘moustache’ bridge is a nod to the J-150’s slightly more glamorous forebear, the J-200, which originated in the late 1930s. The J-150 is more of a newcomer to the range and was launched in 1999 5. The J-150’s fretboard is rosewood, adorned with 20 small crown frets and graduated crown inlays 6. Noel’s original J-150 made its first appearance in the Little By Little video (2002), and a reproduced lyric sheet is included as part of the case candy