Crowyote Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Hi guys, I'm a long time Gibson admirer and still yet to own my first Gibson. I almost bit the bullet recently when I played the Midtown Kalamazoo at my local Sam Ash. I was very impressed with the tone quality and appointments on the guitar, but most of all I was blown away by the comfortable scale length. It fit perfectly in my small hands and even the most difficult jazz extensions and stretches became a piece of cake. The reason I did not buy the guitar is that I just bought a semi-hollow, and I was not able to justify the back-to-back purchase. The particular guitar also had a few cosmetic imperfections out of the box that irked me, also there were a few design elements that just didn't feel right for the modern "spoiled" guitarist. Personally I found it very difficult to play in the higher register of the MK. The Venetian cutaway and old school neck joint just make some left hand techniques difficult to nigh impossible in the upper reaches of the guitar. Also the frets were unseemly tall and got in the way of my fingers when trying to slide between frets. Perhaps, this is due to the fact that I play with a much heavier gauge than was on this guitar stock, but I did seem to get more resistance from the frets than I am used to. I would love to see this scale length on a double cutaway semi-hollow or archtop guitar with a smooth contoured neck heel made in the affordable $1500 range. The Schecter Custom Solo E/A I just acquired has a smooth heel neck joint and a Florentine cutaway which enables me to bar and accomplish sweeping jazz arpeggios with ease in the upper reaches of the guitar. Where this guitar falls flat in comparison to the MK is the scale length and the smoothness of the tone. It's still a killer axe and with my pu mods I've done (Seymour Duncan P-rails w/ Triple Shot Rings) the tone issues are taken care of. However, I'm still on the fence as to whether to sell this guitar, pick up an MK, and send it to a good tech. I've never played a better feeling scale than the Byrdland scale . . .and this is coming from a trained classical guitarist who played 650+ scale classicals for 15 years. So Gibson, please design new something along the lines of the Barney Kessel Byrdland hybrid guitars of the late 50s or early 60s with some modern touches. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would love to see something that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vangoghsear Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 A nice double cut with a 23.5" scale and a semihollow routered out solid mahogany body (for weight and constructability) the size of an ES339 (to balance out the short scale look within the body) and a carved spruce top for about $1700 street price would be nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crowyote Posted January 8, 2014 Author Share Posted January 8, 2014 A nice double cut with a 23.5" scale and a semihollow routered out solid mahogany body (for weight and constructability) the size of an ES339 (to balance out the short scale look within the body) and a carved spruce top for about $1700 street price would be nice. Yes! It looks like I am getting a Midtown Kalamazoo . . . biting the bullet. I just like the scale too much. It makes improvising at jazz gigs and comping on big chord extensions sooooooooo much easier! How did this question end up lying fallow for so long? It's kinda not fair that players with smaller hands had to shell out so much for guitar that is comfortable to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Congrats on your new Kalamazoo! I too have been eying this guitar for the short scale. Hopefully at some point I can find one to try out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctordub Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Hi guys, I'm a long time Gibson admirer and still yet to own my first Gibson. I almost bit the bullet recently when I played the Midtown Kalamazoo at my local Sam Ash. I was very impressed with the tone quality and appointments on the guitar, but most of all I was blown away by the comfortable scale length. It fit perfectly in my small hands and even the most difficult jazz extensions and stretches became a piece of cake. The reason I did not buy the guitar is that I just bought a semi-hollow, and I was not able to justify the back-to-back purchase. The particular guitar also had a few cosmetic imperfections out of the box that irked me, also there were a few design elements that just didn't feel right for the modern "spoiled" guitarist. Personally I found it very difficult to play in the higher register of the MK. The Venetian cutaway and old school neck joint just make some left hand techniques difficult to nigh impossible in the upper reaches of the guitar. Also the frets were unseemly tall and got in the way of my fingers when trying to slide between frets. Perhaps, this is due to the fact that I play with a much heavier gauge than was on this guitar stock, but I did seem to get more resistance from the frets than I am used to. I would love to see this scale length on a double cutaway semi-hollow or archtop guitar with a smooth contoured neck heel made in the affordable $1500 range. The Schecter Custom Solo E/A I just acquired has a smooth heel neck joint and a Florentine cutaway which enables me to bar and accomplish sweeping jazz arpeggios with ease in the upper reaches of the guitar. Where this guitar falls flat in comparison to the MK is the scale length and the smoothness of the tone. It's still a killer axe and with my pu mods I've done (Seymour Duncan P-rails w/ Triple Shot Rings) the tone issues are taken care of. However, I'm still on the fence as to whether to sell this guitar, pick up an MK, and send it to a good tech. I've never played a better feeling scale than the Byrdland scale . . .and this is coming from a trained classical guitarist who played 650+ scale classicals for 15 years. So Gibson, please design new something along the lines of the Barney Kessel Byrdland hybrid guitars of the late 50s or early 60s with some modern touches. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would love to see something that. I just received my Gibson MK and I can't stop playing it. I did however swap out the strings for 11 flat wounds. Now it is a Cool Jazz Box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crowyote Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 Loving my Midtown K, but I really wanna see one of these reissued by Gibson . . . A double Florentine cutaway Barney Kessel-style Byrdland . . . but without the $20,000 price tag . . . think $1750. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevDavidLee Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Loving my Midtown K, but I really wanna see one of these reissued by Gibson . . . A double Florentine cutaway Barney Kessel-style Byrdland . . . but without the $20,000 price tag . . . think $1750. Oh hell yes! Want! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortscaler Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 I could never understand why Gibson let's Fender walk all over them with the Mustang/Jaguar monopoly on short scale axes. Anyone that has a clue drools over the Byrdland's playability, the operative being playability. Just how hard could it be to tool up for a line of SGs and Studio Les Pauls with a 23.5" scale and show Fender how it should be done? Hell, Gibson has an armada of "new and innovative" bass body styles that would easily lend themselves to the short scale six string market. Just saying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old mark Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 Not even close to a Gibson hollowbody, but the old 1970's US made Peavey T15 has that same scale length, a thin maple neck with a solid ash body and 2 of their variable tone Ferite pickups, which go from single coil to humbucker via the tone pot...they have a neck angle adjustment feature that is very worthwhile, too. The whole Peavey T series was, IMO, their best effort and their big problem was that Peavey did not stick by that design over the long haul...Carl Perkins played T series Peaveys as did others in the late '70's and '80's ane they are still around used for very little money... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmJp-WQlJaA This guy plays his T15 in a little more jazzy style... The Peavey T series were THE FIRST guitars made using CNC methods and they are THE tightest fitting neck/body joints of any bolt neck I have ever owned. They are frequently on eBay for $200 or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crowyote Posted November 16, 2015 Author Share Posted November 16, 2015 Hate to bump an old post, but so disappointed that Gibson dropped the ball with this. Did the Midtown Kalamazoo perform so poorly that they decided not to pursue the scale length any further? It seems that they all sold out pretty quickly. I owned one, played it for a good while, but honestly I didn't care for the flat top and body style too much. I loved the scale length. I still think it would have been cool for them to make an ES style guitar w/ this scale length. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Hello! Byrdland is still in production. http://www.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Archtop/Gibson-Custom/Byrdland.aspx Cheers... Bence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crowyote Posted November 18, 2015 Author Share Posted November 18, 2015 Duh! I'm talking about guitars that don't cost over $5,000. Also a standard issue double cutaway version would be nice . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 Hello! These type of guitars from Gibson never been cheap, unfortunately. I guess, the Midtown Kalamazoo was very popular, and it is still in production, - at least - according to specs page. http://www.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Designer/Gibson-USA/Midtown-Kalamazoo.aspx Cheers... Bence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crowyote Posted November 19, 2015 Author Share Posted November 19, 2015 Hello! These type of guitars from Gibson never been cheap, unfortunately. I guess, the Midtown Kalamazoo was very popular, and it is still in production, - at least - according to specs page. http://www.gibson.co...-Kalamazoo.aspx Cheers... Bence Sorry to be a bit jerky there in my previous reply. Nope . . . The Midtown K hasn't been produced since 2013. I owned one for about 9 months. I really didn't care for it either. The neck was great, but I didn't like the clunky flatness and heaviness of the body and the resonance seemed dead to me. This one is way beyond budget, but I'm curious about it. I can't tell if it's a one off Guitar from the Gibson factory . . . a Byrdland Scale L4 CES Mahogany . . . or if it's just a mislabeled ad. Amazon is not much help either . . . Anyone have a clue? Byrland L4 CES?????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCBirdMan Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 Yes, I am also eaten up w the 23.5 scene. Even tho heavy would like a Midtown K. I did have an Epi Byrdland but I don't like natural finishes so sold it and will wait for suburst one. Thing is the Epi Byrd neck is really thin. They say current Gibson Byrd and this Midtown are thicker, altho same scale and that would be more to my liking. Would really like a recent burst sharp cut gibson byrd, but at my age I am just not spending 5-6K on any guitar and will settle for something less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crowyote Posted December 12, 2015 Author Share Posted December 12, 2015 Yes, I am also eaten up w the 23.5 scene. Even tho heavy would like a Midtown K. I did have an Epi Byrdland but I don't like natural finishes so sold it and will wait for suburst one. Thing is the Epi Byrd neck is really thin. They say current Gibson Byrd and this Midtown are thicker, altho same scale and that would be more to my liking. Would really like a recent burst sharp cut gibson byrd, but at my age I am just not spending 5-6K on any guitar and will settle for something less. Shortly after getting my Midtown K in 2014, I acquired a Haiku 350H Byrdland scale hollowbody. Although the Midtown K was much easier to play standing up, I came to prefer the neck dimensions (less chunky), feel , and overall tone of the Haiku 350H. The 350H is about 5" thick tho as its partially modeled on the Gibson 350 (no T). Although I could use it for recording for limited time periods, it was almost painful for my slight frame to play it for extended periods of time. I also acquired a Haiku 350L that summer which is a Byrdland scale Les Paul. I enjoy it, and don't want to let go of it unless I have to. I accidentally sold the 350H when I forgot to take an ad off of Reverb that I had made in more desperate times. The 350L is nice, but it doesn't fully satisfy my tonal desire in the way that a hollowbody would. With what you mentioned about the Epiphone Elitist Byrdland having a thin neck, I think that it is the perfect solution to my needs: a. wider nut than a normal Gibson Byrdland b. thinner neck profile than a chunky Gibson c. true Byrdland scale d. hollowbody no deeper than 3" I'm a classical/fingerstyle/jazz player and will likely put heavy tapewound strings on the guitar like I did with my 350H. The 350H also had a wider nut than a normal Byrdland, and was great for playing classical counterpoint and clustered chords, so I'm hoping it's exactly like or similar to the Epi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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