Bourgeois SJ

A great small jumbo built with walnut and Swiss spruce.

March 22, 2023

Bourgeois Guitars is perhaps best-known for its dreadnought and OM models. But the company builds flattop guitars in just about every common size and body style, from the tiny Piccolo to the mighty DBJ jumbo model. So it’s no surprise that Bourgeois also builds a “small jumbo,” a body style whose seemingly contradictory name refers to a guitar with a traditional jumbo flattop shape but in a slightly smaller size. Small jumbo bodies usually have a width between 15 and 16 inches (rather than a full jumbo’s 17 inches) but keep the jumbo’s proportions and shape, which include a rounded lower bout and relatively tight waist. When Dana Bourgeois asked me whether I was interested in checking out an SJ model built with walnut and Swiss spruce, I jumped at the chance, and in this video, I demo the guitar in the Peghead Nation studio, with the help of San Francisco Bay Area guitarist Jim Nunally.

Bourgeois’s version of the small jumbo measures 15.5 inches across the lower bout, and while the body shape is reminiscent of certain vintage guitars, its outline is proportionally similar to Bourgeois’ full-size DBJ. The guitar’s domestically sourced walnut is beautifully quartersawn, displaying rich color and attractive grain patterns. Dana describes the Swiss spruce used for the top as being stiffer than most European spruce he uses. Evenly grained and uniform in color, the wood has received Bourgeois’s Aged Tone treatment. The guitar’s fingerboard and bridge are made of Madagascar rosewood that is similar to high-grade Indian rosewood in appearance. Bourgeois chose a simple set of appointments for this particular guitar, including a black-and-white rosette, ivoroid binding with black-and-white purfling, and mother-of-pearl dot position markers in the fingerboard.

The Bourgeois SJ was fun to play and offers a broad tonal palette. Its short scale contributes to easy playability, and it sounds great for traditional fingerpicking styles, though it also has a capable voice when strummed. Jim Nunally proclaimed it to be “a great guitar for playing country,” and in the video, he uses it to play a beautiful flatpicked version of “The Tennessee Waltz.”

Bourgeois guitars are available in a wide variety of woods and styles, so the walnut SJ we checked out is only one example of the myriad wood possibilities. With a cool combination of vintage vibes, contemporary playability, high-quality woods, and versatile tonality, this guitar is a serious charmer that would be at home in many musical settings.