Oddity

Yes, could have been a ‘65 order and ‘66 construction date. It was indeed a special order (per my Dad) specifically for the left-handedness, no etching, and wider nut. (I measured to be sure it is 1 11/16”.) I did swap the strings around just to play it for a bit, but it’s not being left like that. (My left-handed son will end up with it.) Employee error is definitely another possibility for the 2 serial #s. Looking inside it appears they applied the 2 braces below the bridge pad angled the opposite way as a right handed guitar, and the bridge route is obviously angled opposite for intonation. Other than that I can’t see anything particularly different. Thanks!

My Dad gave me his 1965 Hummingbird for Christmas last year. His step-father (John Pellish) and he custom ordered it from a music shop in Norfolk, VA in ~1964. My Dad has been the only owner until now. The custom order details were: Left-handed; no pickguard etching; wider nut and string spacing. Here is the interesting bit: when the instrument arrived all was well except they didn’t make it left-handed per the custom order. So, he sent it back. It was returned some time later properly left-handed. He didn’t notice at the time when it was returned, but upon thoroughly inspecting it after he gave it to me I discovered the interior neck block and the headstock serial #s are off by 2 digits from each other. #400073 on the neck block and the label, #400075 on the headstock. Is this something known to have happened or simply a circumstance perhaps related to sending it back to be corrected for handedness when it was new? Here are a few pics: https://daleb.smugmug.com/Hummingbird Cheers