62burst

Ask for a photo of the back of the headstock. Like from the first fret up. Gibson has always had heavy finish over the serial number stamped on the back of the headstock, but your Bird in question looks to have some funny business going on up there. Other than that, it looks like a legit Hummingbird with a nice Gibson honey burst.

They're doing the brown cases lately. What's the case look like for your 2020 60's J-50? EDIT: oh, wrong guy- Boyd has the 60's J-50, yes?

Ok, then. Especially recently, always the possiblity that supply issues could've resulted in other tuners requiring smaller holes needing to be drilled in the headstock. I'd still check for out-of-round. All good. A disadvantage of the "let big G take care of it" would be if you were not near a trusted Gibson authorized repair facility, and had to risk having the guitar make a cross country trip. With that scenario in mind, I've dealt with issues such as this myself, rather than a rolling of the dice, and it's many opportunities for damage or hijinks along it's travels.

Are those press-to-fit tuners, or do they screw down like Waverlys, with their hexagonal bases? It might provide more info if you were to de-tune that A string & see if the tuner is seated all of the way onto it's lower half, and once the string's off, check the hole drilled into the headstock to see if it's out of round. Definitely a lighten-up-Francis situation: you like the guitar. If the holes are out of round, that can be fixed. . . if not by fill n' re-drill, then maybe conversion bushings (hello, StewMac) will have you back in business. This will in no way compromise the tone or reliability of the guitar. No biggie. Also- are the tuners stamped "Grover" ?

Sorry to hear you got GC'ed. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes not. Your dilemma could almost be a poll question- the whole signature guitar with swag items could most likely only be appreciated by serious Noel G fans. . . but as you've mentioned, there are items missing (not uncommon for a GC return). You also say these are sold out, and that returning is not an option, but this guitar has had a big reduction in value, so maybe getting the full refund might be the best way to cut your losses. Maybe with time, a 150NG will be returned by an individual who was careful with it and it's associated extras- you could verify all of that before purchasing. Or maybe with a little more time, you might have less of a desire for an NG. In general, the J-150 is a large guitar. . . have you ever spent much time with a superjumbo in your lap? Unless your interest in the guitar is mostly for speculative/investment value, it might not be the player you have in mind. Record that serial number- keep an internet eye out for that label, and the swag, too. Good luck with your decision.

Good to hear that you're optimistic that there is a good guitar in there, somewhere. A pro setup can make a so-so guitar just such a joy to play that it becomes a fine sounding guitar. Some wisdom acquired in that story.

Yeah, the definition of folk music does span several decades and many have stretched it’s definition. Although I don’t hear much latent note bloom (like some of the folkies who might’ve been playing rosewood slothead Martins may have been hearing ) on mine, thanks to that (mini) jumbo shape (?), it does have excellent balance across the eq, and it throws that percussive sound out there more quickly than bigger acoustic boxes.

That is a very tough decision to make. As you mentioned, the J-45 is the quintessential singer songwriter guitar- almost to the point anymore of being a cliché. It would definitely be the just-a-little bit-bigger brother to your 00-17. The J-185 however, would be a totally different experience; from the visual, the tone, and the playing experience- even how it sits in your lap. The maple will have your playing style searching out the areas where you can hear it shine. For me it's the b a s s note clarity, the punch, and the "report"/bite that maple gives when combined with that tight waist and short scale. There was a time when all of that was lost on me. Either that, or the one I briefly had a few years back wasn't the one. As far as encouragement in making up your mind, you can decide what you want to have alongside that 00-17: a bigger brother (J-45), or. . . a 185, which would be a "wow" level contrast when you switch out with your mahogany Martin.

Try a different saddle. Have you given a close look at the exit angle of the strings as they travel off of the saddle towards the soundhole? If the saddle makes too slight of a taper in that area you can get a metallic sound. Are you getting the classic "sitar" sound from the E and B ?

Well, pretty trippy can be demanding, too. The last frame was a fine depiction of what a Hummingbird would look like if it went down with the Titanic. But the first frame in the panel- that was some artful work capturing the Hummingbird's __ __ __ __ .

I've seen that on one of the ones I've had. . . 'just took a quick look at a few that are around here/not seeing it, I'll broaden the search later- maybe it's one of the gone ones. Similar to automotive sheet metal, whenever you bend it, it's going create surface tension in that area. But with wood's cell structure, it's not too much of a stretch to see how it could "pull" the reflection as the finish sinks in a little. Yeah, it could probably be minimized with some compounding, or even with some rubber-backed wet sanding with microfine paper if you cared to do so, but it wood bug me as little as it sounds like it bugs you. But it is curious. At 37 seconds in to the video, this Bozeman tour shows the sides not being steamed, but rather soaked before being put into the press:

Do you mean the practice of laying a straightedge on the fretboard to check neck angle, and seeing where it contacts the bridge? I thought that was just one of the things (like measurements) that are looked at before doing setup work on a guitar. But I don't recall any grumpy conversations on the matter.

Sounds like you could come down to the 2.4mm that you wanted to get to. Can you lay a straight edge on the top of the frets & see where it contacts the bridge (at, or even better, just above it's rounded forward edge, where the strings run out towards the soundhole) .

True, not exactly a sunny poolside song, but everything seemed to have the quiet decline of fall/autumn for Nick D. But what a unique tone he had.

I don't recall seeing anything at all (from Eyal), either. Maybe it was one of those Covid delays? An update would be good. Eyal? . . .

Yeah. I got one of the earlier ones (all mahogany). I would've posted that same observation, but I didn't know how to spell stripey.

But Mr. E.- it's blue. and you said . . .

Doh. 3 months? Blame it on Johan. Emin7 only "bit" 'cause it had Hummingbird in the thread title. Yours truly, as well. OP probably the proud owner of an Epiphone by now.

. . .blended with the forgoten step child of rosewood.

'Did not know Gibson was calling their contempo rosewood bird The Deluxe, either. To OP Eyal: while I do have an earlier Hummingbird Rosewood, and it is a favorite of mine, it does have a bit of a darker tone, helped in part by the square shoulders, as compared to the rosewood J-45's I've had. and . . . It may be no small coincidence in choice of words, here 👆, as the mahogany bird will have the fundamental Hummingbird tone. Yes, Koa does seem to take a little longer to open up, but play it often, then in time, you will have a nice surprise. More than just a pretty fa-. . . uhm. . . back and sides.

If you're up for getting a used guitar, a Standard, or ideally, as E suggested, a True Vintage model with almost ten years of aging on it, would be a fine first 'Bird- just verify condition and amount of fret wear first. The Koa that Johan suggested would be good, but maybe after you've got the basic Bird experience. It's a challenge to get one's head around the mottled/orange peel finish when combined with the matte Vintage Old Stock finish like the new one in the above Empire video. When the HB became available with the torrefied top about five years ago, the guitar still had the low gloss finish, but without the orange peel effect. Those are still very light guitars. . . one of those early Hummingbird Vintages would be a nice find.

Ah, invoking the Willie Nelson's Guitar Extrapolation- always handy when the subject of guitar aesthetics arises. . . . and the argument could be made that not only does he like the way Trigger looks, it fits his look, as well. (not that it's a prop, or anything) Willie's songwriting, vocals, playing, and timing of delivery have made him a national treasure, but would he be as well known outside of country music circles if he still had his look from when he started out?

As much as C. of P. might've been a good band name back in the day, when one looks too close, it is possible to miss the forest for the trees. Does this grain look ok ?

Any chance you could post a standard mug shot of the guitar? Bizarre angles or closeups make the head spin. Maybe upload to imgur if you've exceeded forum image limits. Thanks. As to your conundrum- I'd bought two J-45's of a limited run of 44 that came with beautiful 3-color sunbursts. . . returned the more beautiful one that faded into a warm vermillion (cinnabar). Kept the one that had a cosmetic imperfection, but sounded better. Also bought two Martins of a similar model- kept the one that had the better neck angle- thought I might stand more of a chance of warding off the ghost of neck-resets future. Anymore, it's not all about tone, tone, tone for me. As interesting as it is to explore all of the things that can affect how a guitar sounds, as forumite Zombywoof loves to observe, "I still sound like me".

I often can't remember what day it is, but 'Bird details tend to stick a little bit better. . . I thought your Honeyburst quilt was a custom order. Or by custom order, it was a special run for GC, like the one GC did in 2007? Yours is a looker, IIRC, but you could always refresh our memories with a pic (hint). I'll start: oh, that quilt (from the 2007 GC run): a nice fine-grained top: