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epiphone dove or hummingbird


slasher1319

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There is so little difference except for the ' date=' wait for it...............................................pickguard is about the only =real difference between the two these days.Ship[/quote']

 

Hummingbird has a mahogany body; Dove has a maple body.

 

Red 333

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I own both - they are of similar quality.

 

Apart from the finish, the only real difference is the wood used in the body / sides.

 

The Dove has the maple back and sides to produce a bright and responsive sound, while the mahogany body on the Hummingbird produces a warmer tone.

 

I personally prefer the Hummingbird, but that is only because the one I have is 13 years old (1996 model) and has really opened up.

 

The Dove I have is a 2008 model so my two cannot really be compared side by side.

 

I recommend trying them both out.

 

IMAG0231.jpg

 

Dove1.jpg

 

IMAG0226.jpg

 

Hummingbird2.jpg

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Because they are both laminate its very difficult to really distinguish to much sound difference, of course I am talking about the ones made in the last several years, they are more or less more of eye candy to remind you of the older Doves and Hummingbirds of the past. And this is only based on my opinion of having played the old style and tried to find one in the newer models to get that old sound anbd have never even slightly come close. Thats not to say they ar ebad just not what I myself would like for sound quality.Ship

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Because they are both laminate its very difficult to really distinguish to much sound difference' date=' of course I am talking about the ones made in the last several years, they are more or less more of eye candy to remind you of the older Doves and Hummingbirds of the past. And this is only based on my opinion of having played the old style and tried to find one in the newer models to get that old sound anbd have never even slightly come close. Thats not to say they ar ebad just not what I myself would like for sound quality.Ship[/quote']

 

 

Ship,

 

I have a question. I am new to acoustics. When you say the guitars are laminate, what do you mean? They are being marketed as having a solid spruce top. Is that inaccurate, or are you talking about the sides and the back? Really just curious and trying to learn.

 

Thanks,

 

Kong

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Kong I am sorry I should have worded my last post on this better, they are solid tops with laminate bodies. I was just trying to say that I wish they reproduced the old sound that they use to have, they were once a killer guitar in the olden days and I played many that I just couldn't put down even though we were required to play another brand I would occasionally sneak one out to play and get supreme you know what later, reminding me of our commitment to the other brand ( I was a rebel with a cause of good sounding guits ) and always hoped to get that sound I liked about them, again my apologies to you and anyone else who read my post and I know that they are great to some folks and like all guitars there are diamonds in the rough out there that probably have a really great sound, just that I haven't found one yet,but I keep looking.Ship

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Kong I am sorry I should have worded my last post on this better' date=' they are solid tops with laminate bodies. I was just trying to say that I wish they reproduced the old sound that they use to have, they were once a killer guitar in the olden days and I played many that I just couldn't put down even though we were required to play another brand I would occasionally sneak one out to play and get supreme you know what later, reminding me of our commitment to the other brand ( I was a rebel with a cause of good sounding guits ) and always hoped to get that sound I liked about them, again my apologies to you and anyone else who read my post and I know that they are great to some folks and like all guitars there are diamonds in the rough out there that probably have a really great sound, just that I haven't found one yet,but I keep looking.Ship[/quote']

 

Ship - No apology necessary! It was an honest question and I'm not calling you out in any way. I really don't know squat about acoustic guitars and I wanted to make sure I got the distinction between solids and laminates.

 

It seems to me that there must be a good reason Gibson Hummingbirds go for up to a few thousand and Epi's go for a few hundred and yet Gibson somehow manages to stay in business. Better materials and workmanship come with a price. There is a good article with pics on how they make les pauls on the Gibson website, you can really see what they put into quality in every step.

 

I'm not sure if my ear is refined enough to pick out the nuances of the Gibson over the Epi at the stage I am at now. I sure would like to come into some money so I could experiment though.

 

cheers,

 

Kong

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I had both, the Epi hummer and the Epi Dove. I much preferred the Dove, which I still have. Its Maple body give it a more distinctive sound than the mahogany body on the Hummer. Although, in past treads I found that most people preffered the Hummer. I guess you will have to play both and be the judge.

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solid wood they will open up[laminated guitars cannot open up].

 

Well' date=' that's not [b']entirely[/b] true....it is true that an all-laminate guitar will not offer sound improvement as it ages, but the Dove and the Hummingbird are not all-laminate guitars. Their soundboards are solid spruce, not laminate. The majority of the sound quality offered by a guitar relates to the soundboard, and since the soundboard on these two models is solid wood, they will "open-up" with age.

 

I own two almost identical guitars from a different manufacturer. One has a solid-wood soundboard with laminate sides and back, the other is all solid wood (same tonewoods on both guitars). It is a bit surprising to me that the one with lam sides and backs is holding it's own with the all-solid wood guitar......however, it does have age on it's side. That one was made in 2003, I think, while the all-solid wood guitar is a much more recent product. I have no doubt that the all-solid wood guitar will someday surpass the sound quality of the one with lam sides and backs, but I do continue to hear improvement in the one with the lam sides and backs--and I'm sure that will continue, too, as the solid-wood soundboard continues to age.

 

Dugly :)

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