Gibson Guitars is trumpeting its new 2009 Songwriter Deluxe Standard, which the company says “sets a new benchmark for today’s acoustic guitars by combining several time-honored production elements of the past with a number of modern, cutting-edge appointments.”

Gibson used its popular Songwriter Deluxe Studio as its template and added a new compound radius fingerboard for electric guitar-like playing action. The guitar also incorporates Gibson’s renowned red spruce top bracing from the 1930s and it’s bonded with traditional hide glue for maximum tone and volume.

The ebony fingerboard has rolled edges and New Deluxe Standard inlays, which are a completely new design made of genuine mother of pearl, and inserted into the fingerboard using a process that eliminates gaps and doesn’t require the use of fillers.

The body design of the Songwriter Deluxe Standard is known as a small dreadnought. The top is made from AA-grade Sitka spruce, while the back and sides are constructed from rosewood, giving the Songwriter a balanced, warm tone with clear lows and solid treble registers.

Gibson’s Songwriter Deluxe Standard comes equipped with a built-in Fishman Ellipse Aura electronics package, which combines Fishman’s most sophisticated onboard preamp design with the power of the popular Aura Acoustic Imaging Technology. The result is acoustic sound that is exceptionally accurate and true to life.

Every acoustic guitar made by Gibson features hand-scalloped, radiused top bracing inside the body, a feature normally found only in limited run, hand-made guitars. By scalloping each brace by hand, the natural sound of the acoustic is focused more toward the center of the body, enhancing the instrument’s sound projection. The bracing pattern inside the Songwriter Deluxe Standard is based on the design used for Gibson’s celebrated Advanced Jumbo models of the 1930s, consisting of a wider “X” pattern that allows the top to vibrate more freely and push the sound toward the soundhole.

The guitar definitely isn’t a toy, or a back-packer for that matter. It carries a suggested retail price topping $4,000. The price tag is already getting a few howls from consumers on Gibson’s own Web site, but it’s also getting its fair share of kudos.

The Gibson Acoustic Songwriter Deluxe Cutaway Modern Classic guitar, one of the new guitar’s younger cousins, won Best Guitar Product of the Year last year from AMG, Americanmadeguitar.com.