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1990 Hummingbird


strat71

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Posted

hi,

i'm looking for a good hummingbird, and i found locally a 1990 bozeman hummingbird... in a almost untouched state...

is it great years? what would be a fair price for a nice clean one?

Ben

Posted

The price will vary for many reasons. If it is a dealer, make sure that they throw in all of the complimentary goodies that they can. If it is in any kind of shape, you should buy it. If you do not, I may buy it meself. Jed

Posted

Hi Ben,

 

A 1990 Hummingbird, will have the infamous double dove tail and paddle neck joint, which is harder to do a neck reset on if required. However if the neck angle is fine now, and the action is good, then it is more than likely never going to be a problem.

 

Those early Bozeman made acoustics are also finished in Fullerplast instead of Nitrocellulose. On the plus side, they didn`t make many guitars in the early days, and there was a lot more hands on lutherie in volved in them.

 

Some of the best Gibson acoustic guitars I have played come from the 89-94 period. that`s not to say that some of the new one`s aren`t pretty good too.

 

Steve.

Posted

A 1990 Hummingbird, will have the infamous double dove tail and paddle neck joint, which is harder to do a neck reset on if required. However if the neck angle is fine now, and the action is good, then it is more than likely never going to be a problem.

Those early Bozeman made acoustics are also finished in Fullerplast instead of Nitrocellulose. On the plus side, they didn`t make many guitars in the early days, and there was a lot more hands on lutherie in volved in them.

Some of the best Gibson acoustic guitars I have played come from the 89-94 period. that`s not to say that some of the new one`s aren`t pretty good too.

 

You might want to check the scale length as some had the longer 25 1/2",not the 23 3/4".Food for thought.

 

Good info on these plus/minus 1990 squares. I played an early 90's Southern Jumbo a few years back (might have been called Country Western - anyway the same creature as a Hummingbird) and it had the long scale. The Fullerplast (just learned the name, thanx) obviously wasn't nitro and it could be seen on the pick marks, which were long gray traces across the top.

That said, the guitar sounded very good - not sure it had the specific Bird-thing though. . .

 

 

Posted

You might want to check the scale length as some had the longer 25 1/2",not the 23 3/4".Food for thought.

The common scale length for Hummingbirds is 24-3/4".

Posted

Hi Ben,

 

A 1990 Hummingbird, will have the infamous double dove tail and paddle neck joint, which is harder to do a neck reset on if required. However if the neck angle is fine now, and the action is good, then it is more than likely never going to be a problem.

 

Those early Bozeman made acoustics are also finished in Fullerplast instead of Nitrocellulose. On the plus side, they didn`t make many guitars in the early days, and there was a lot more hands on lutherie in volved in them.

 

Some of the best Gibson acoustic guitars I have played come from the 89-94 period. that`s not to say that some of the new one`s aren`t pretty good too.

 

Steve.

 

Hey sTeve, thanks for the info, are you sure Gibson use the infamous neck joint in 1990? i was convinced montana gibson acoustic did turned everything right in building great acoustics... so if i' was wrong, when did they fixed this??

Ben

Posted

Hey sTeve, thanks for the info, are you sure Gibson use the infamous neck joint in 1990? i was convinced montana gibson acoustic did turned everything right in building great acoustics... so if i' was wrong, when did they fixed this??

Ben

 

Yes I`m sure Ben it is in "Gibson`s Fabulous flat top guitars" book. On page 173 it states "In May 1992 Gibson chose to go with the older-style single-dovetail neck joint instead of the more complicated double-dovetail, and to use traditional hide glue".

 

It was late in 1990 that Gibson switched from Fullerplast to Nitrocellulose for the finish, I can`t be more precise than that I`m afraid.

 

Steve.

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