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Whats the difference??


daveinspain

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Posted

Ok, so here is a dumb question... Looking at an ES 175 and a Birdland I can't really see any difference between the two guitars.., Maybe it's the thickness of the body? Construction? Cosmetic?

Posted

aside from the price(!) the main diffs, aside from some of the bling and cosmetics, the Brydland is a thinner body from the 175, about half the thickness (but still all hollow) and the body size in general is bigger than the 175.

Posted

Byrdland is made of solid woods, es 175 is laminate - hence the massive price difference. Byrdland has an ebony board, ES 175 has rosewood. Byrdland is wider at the lower bout by an inch so will feel bigger, although it's body depth is thinner. The byrdland also has a shorter scale length - very short compared to an ES 175. Gibson say not many solid wood carved top archtops are made per year due to the scarcity of the woods involved - hence you are paying a premium for the finest archtop you can get if you purchase a L4, Byrdland, L5, Super 400 or Citation. (135's, 137's, 175's etc are all laminated).

Posted

So it's like an ES 135? What would the difference be between a 135 and a Birdland?

 

135 has a center block, it's a semi like a 335.

Posted

They have pretty much nothing in common.

A Byrdland is closer to an L5 with its 17 inches bout and carved spruce top, but has a thinner body and a shorter scale.

A better guitar to compare to the 175 but with a carved spruce top would be the L4

Posted

The Byrdland was created as a top dollar jazzer with a short scale to facilitate the playing of 'impossible' stretchy chord voicings... :blink:

 

Has a hard core fan base for good reasons... [thumbup]

 

Also favoured by the 'wild man' of rock Ted(The Nuge) Nugent...who, some would say, takes a guitar of delicacy and subtlety and drives/beats it to within an inch of it's life.... :blink:

 

Byrdlands are, as implied, the crème de la crème for a specialised clientele.... [thumbup]

 

V

 

:-({|=

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

The 23.5-inch scale length is almost as short as that on a 3/4-sized guitar. The Byrdland was definitely not conceived as a student instrument, though.

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