PrairieDog

I was told by the very helpful fellow at Gibson customer service that those online “serial number searches” are bogus and are as far as he can tell seem to be simply based on imaginary data. Write or call them, they are happy to give you the info they have. Don’t feel bad about skimming the Gibson guide. I couldn’t make heads or tails out of the serial number guide on the Gibson website. It seemed more like an incomplete cut and paste doc for various discrete series, but not a comprehensive guide. I just thought it seemed to be geared toward the electrics. Much thanks to Dave F above who deciphered it’s not YYDDD at all, but YDDDYXXX. Now that made total sense with my serial number finally. I knew mine was a 2017, but the serial started with 11. I believe the labels inside say where they are made? Ask for a picture of the sticker. Good luck. Hope it works out for you!

This is true. Blind testing can yield amazing results. We were generally clueless about the range of acoustic guitars beyond the makers names. I literally stumbled into Gibson just a few months ago while ostensibly shopping for a guitar for my spouse who wants to learn. I hadn’t played for 50 years, and that was on an entry level Yamaha classical that I subdued into working for me. We played nearly every freaking thing hanging in the general production room at GC (I know, the evil empire, but we were starting out and we wanted to try as many things as we could). We were thinking we were getting a decent starter for the learner, and maybe something new for me. Some were decent enough, but nothing was really right. My dear practical beloved kept insisting they didn’t want to spend much since they were just starting. I knew from all my musical training that an instrument that “fits” and you love makes learning much more productive. So, just to compare, I had the kid start unlocking holders in the small room where the better level/American instruments were. We went through the new Martins, to both our ears too muddy, but the Taylors started to come alive. They were too bright for my taste, but spouse could tell how different they were from the entry levels they were trying, but insisted they were too expensive for a newbie. I could not convince it would be okay and worth it if they liked it. To make sure we covered all the bases, I had the kid unlock the case where the only Gibson was living. The first strum stopped the room. We looked at each other wide-eyed, and I knew that was the one I wanted. Other than I knew Gibson was the top name in electrics, I had no idea about their acoustic line or where this model fit in. I talked the GC kid down a bit and came home with what turned out to be a J 45 walnut Studio. A whole bunch of belated research I was pretty tickled with my choice and the price. A few days later on a visit back to GC to pick up some strings for my old Yamaha there was a new Taylor GT with a fuller tone, marked down half price with case because it didn’t have the electronics of the new model. So, a similar moment for spouse. No idea what it was, but just loved the tone and playability. AND it wasn’t much more than the Breedlove they just returned because of issues we didn’t recognize until we got it home. Everybody was happy. On the flip side, during my crash course Gibson research I came across the Doves in Flight. I honestly liked it just because we are birders and I thought it would be cool to have a guitar with birds on it, eyeroll. I figured it would be a fun “someday” dream, especially since none were in stock or out in the wild that I could find or trust. But suddenly one popped up across the country in a right-timed google. Again, naive and clueless, other than some YouTubers saying it played nice, I figured the big mark up over a regular Dove was just for the bling. But I was cool with that since it was so pretty, and birds, chuckle. I didn’t even recognize this one had a special finish. The below retail price was manageable, so I impulsively bit figuring that might be my only chance. I had no idea about the extremely respectable Vintage vendor I bought it from, so I grilled him like he was a fence at an after hours pawnshop to make sure I wasn’t buying something from a dark alley, lol. I even called Gibson to verify the serial number. Poor patient dude was a class act the whole time. I know much better now, thank you. Anyway, it gets here, and I can’t describe the experience of those first licks. I thought my J 45 was amazing. The DIF plays like butter and sounds like angels. It really is an exceptional instrument beyond all the gussying up, Before this whole experience, I had no idea how different acoustic guitars could be. So yeah, I’ll say going in with no expectations or preconceptions is the best way to find “the one.”

A tiny bump in the outer Leewards, Nevis, most folks only hear about it from the hurricane tracks.

I’m sure that was probably disheartening work. I hear you about losing interest when we learn enough. While I say I miss conch, I doubt I would ever eat it again knowing what I do now about it’s life cycle, plus overfishing, the reefs, and all the terrible challenges the ocean is facing. Living in the middle of the continent, I start hyperventilating over how many seafood cases there are in grocery stores, every day, and how many Red Lobsters dishing up crab and lobster like hamburgers, nowhere near big water. Don’t even get me started on the hundreds of “decorative” dead octopus gracing fish cases. I’ve kinda come to the conclusion there is no good reason why folks in flyover land should have unlimited access to seafood, rueful smile. Also, I can’t swim in the ocean anymore after a snorkeling trip back then and seeing how many thousands of critters are swimming around down there, even right near the beaches, chuckle. Sorry, guess I kinda went off topic. Um, here, to get it back to guitars, this is all to say, “you can tune a guitar, but you can’t tune a fish” 😆

You would think, but actually dirt poor grad students. As long as one stayed away from the resort for the rich and famous (royalty did stay there) seafood was a staple on the island so really good food was actually pretty affordable. Plus, as folks got to know us we usually were given the local discount on top of it. We were very fortunate. Still miss conch fritters.

That is all I was saying. Re the records, yeah they are sketchy, but there sometimes is some info. Inventory records are kept by the company, not the builders. When I called about my DIF, and while they didn’t have the whole build, he could see at least one reason it was “limited” was the Autumn Burst, and that it was sent to Sam Ash in LA. At least it was something for someone who knew diddly about the guitar when I bought it. Oh, and conch salad, grilled lobster, banana’s foster, and a piña colada, chuckle. (No, not an eidetic memory, just got lucky. 30 years ago we were working on a tropical island, and today happened to be a special day back then).

Probably made in the same run, but the limited version made next got some feature your model doesn’t. If you haven’t yet, you might try calling Gibson and asking about the two serial nos and what the difference was. They were able to give me some details on my limited guitar since at the time I picked it up I had no idea what “limited” meant in the Gibson universe, chuckle.

Thanks and hey, Small world, I was born up north, but my old family roots were in the New Braunfels/Seguin/San Marcos area, Visited a few times, but I knew Wimberly the best. A pretty area, and you guys have some great bbq down there!

Hi all, Long (interrupted) time player, first time Gibson owner. Grin. This spring my spouse mentioned they always wanted to learn to play guitar, and particularly slide resonator. Happy to encourage and help, I’m now picking up where I left off 50 years ago. I had taken lessons for several years and got to be marginally good, mostly finger-picking/modern folk songs. Enough that I could play and sing for friends without offending anyone, and was once offered a bigger break that, too young, I self-consciously backed out of. Then life happens and it all just got left behind. We decided after digging it out, my entry level Yamaha classical was not going to work for either of us (how on earth did I ever manage bar chords on that 2” neck with kids hands? ) So we broke the seal on guitar shopping thinking we would pick up a decent starter guitar and maybe a better new toy for me. I hadn’t shopped guitars as an adult and hoo-boy, there sure is a whole lot of temptation out there. But here is the dream I never thought would land. I stumbled on the Doves in Flight when I was researching Gibsons for the new J 45 Studio I picked up, and began obsessing, thinking, “maybe someday.” To be sure I was already wowed by the J 45. I had never played a Gibson acoustic before, it was magic enough. I figured I was lucky to have that and was all set. Well, seems “Someday” fell much sooner than I planned. An idle google at just the right moment, I don’t think I ever called a shop so fast. Now, if I could only remember what I was doing a lifetime ago. My fingers feel like they know what they are supposed to do, my brain just keeps getting in their way. And now I’m back in school too. Never too old, right? Happy to be here, and looking forward to meeting everyone!

Thanks! I am a bit in love with my guitar. I was hoping to post over there, and I was trying to find the best spot, so I don’t clutter up people’s feeds. That’s when I ran into the search issue. Re “liking” (and other folks have mentioned this) there is no active heart for me to press. I can see hearts with numbers in the middle, indicating folks liked the comment, but when I press it nothing happens. I managed to find a post that referred to “all access” folks being able to do it, but “members” can’t? Part of my searching frustration is trying to find any info on what the different membership levels are or how you get them. I wish Gibson had a pinned FAQ on how to use the forums, like they the rules. Anyway, I do truly appreciate your taking the time to try to help me out. In any case, consider your reply “liked!” happy strumming/shredding as the case may be, chuckle.

Hi, New here, and sorry, I”m trying to figure out how to search use the forums. I’m trying to search for threads about the Doves in Flight. But it only lets me search every 2 or 3 minutes. That is really cumbersome since my searches are not turning up any threads. What am I doing wrong? All I’m getting is posts that contain the words “doves” “in” or “flight”! I’ve tried using quotes and no quotes, setting my search preferences to find “all the search terms.” Nothing is working. Having to wait minutes before I can try a new search a different way is a total bummer. So I give up and go play somewhere else. I know somebody must have talked about this guitar someplace. I stumbled on to a thread about a fellow who totally lucked out at an auction, but that was a link off a google search. I came here to find out more, and I’m just stymied. That can’t be the only thread, can it? The other thing I’d like to know is there a way to “like” comments I read? I’m finding all kinds of good info here in between the search, and I see folks interacting, but where are the buttons to do that? Thanks so much for helping a newbie out. (Guitar photo added for question tax.)

Wow, that was really lovely… great writing and performance. Thank you for sharing.