ES vs. Birdland

[Lungimsam]

Do ES sound like Birdlands? Or are Birdlands another ball of wax altogether?

Do ES models have nice controllable feedback or are they not prone to feedback?

 

thanks for the info

[JimR56]

First of all, I think people need to stop using the term "ES" as if it exclusively corresponds to one particular model (or even a similar group of models).  People use it more and more these days to refer to ES-335's (and to a lesser extent, 345's and 355's).  Those three models (with all kinds of variants among them), along with the ES-330, are the most talked about ES  models I suppose, but Gibson's history included so many different guitars of various designs that all had the ES prefix in their model name.  So, if you're asking about a certain guitar to compare to a Byrdland (note the "y" in the spelling, as one of the co-designers was a player named Billy Byrd), then you should specify which one.

If you're referring to the semi-hollows like the 335, then yes, they're another ball of wax altogether.  Semi-hollowbodies have laminated maple bodies, and have a solid block of maple running down the center interior of the body.  It's a hybrid of a solidbody guitar and a hollowbody guitar.  It produces a sound that's between the two in character.  It provides more sustain than a fully hollow guitar provides, and generally reduces feedback compared to a fully hollow body.  The Byrdland model was a thinline variation on a more traditional style hollowbody jazz guitar with a spruce top.  So very different from a semi-hollowbody design.

The ES model that most resembles a Byrdland is the ES-350T.  It had a laminated maple top, but it was fully hollow and its shape and dimensions were similar to the Byrdland.

One of Gibson's most popular guitar models of all time is the ES-175, which has been in production since 1949.  It's full depth hollowbody guitar, and has been available over the years with both single coil P-90 pickups and humbuckers.  That's just one other common example of the many varieties of Gibson "ES" guitar models.

Feedback can be a complicated topic.  There are ways to control it, even on guitars that are more prone to it, and there are ways to induce it, even on guitars that are less prone to it.  

Edited February 6, 2020 by JimR56

[kidblast]

Jim sums it up nicely

in short... semi hollows are less prone to feed back due to the center block, hollow bodies, are far more sensitive to it. 

and an ES-335, won't sound like a Brydland so I agree with that too.

[Sgt. Pepper]

Listen to early Nugent. That's a Byrdland. 335s are played by a ton of people.

[bobouz]

One of the more notable features of the Byrdland is it’s 23.5” short-scale fingerboard.