NGD - Gibson Hummingbird

[MichaelT]

I posted a few questions in a thread a few weeks ago about the Hummingbird. I played a few others in the meantime, including the J-45 between then and now. They (Guitar Center) sold the specific Hummingbird I had played before that sounded so amazing. They did, however, get another one in and I played it Saturday and it played even better, sounded as good and I played it for a while. Needless to say, it came home with me. I took a few preliminary pictures and will get some more this evening. I spent most of Saturday evening and part of the day yesterday playing it. Thank you to everyone for your input. In the end, I chose the one that I was able to play. I was pretty well sold on it anyway and when this one played better, sounded just as good if not better and just felt right, I went with it.

According to the inspection card, this guitar was inspected on 02/20/2020.

This guitar along with my late 60's or early 70's Conrad acoustic. I can't find much information about it other than it was either late 60's or early 70's, made in Japan. It's a parlor style guitar, with a V shaped neck, adjustable bridge. It's not a bad guitar and I got it at a flea market for $75.00 a couple years ago. I probably overpaid for it but in with the package was an old Gibson string guide which I thought was kind of cool along with some old strings and other junk. It cleaned up pretty well for such an old mistreated guitar.

And, my 2017 Goldtop Tribute photo-bombing the picture. Although I also have a Les Paul Standard, Les Paul Traditional and Les Paul Classic, that Tribute is probably my favorite.

[uncle fester]

Super congrats, pics didn't show up for me - but I can tell it's a stunner!

[MichaelT]

6 minutes ago, billroy fineman said:

Super congrats, pics didn't show up for me - but I can tell it's a stunner!

Pictures should be public now.

[Jalex]

Beautiful Bird congrats.👍

[Lars68]

Wonderful. Congratulations!

Lars

[Hall]

Well Done!

[E-minor7]

What a harmonious and precious scene. Such a joy to bring the right Bird home.  A big thing.  May you spend endless weightless hours together. 

And say hello to Conrad and Paul too. .  

Edited March 9, 2020 by E-minor7

[EuroAussie]

Nice one, and great to see they went back to proper sunburst rather than that orange honey burst they’ve been applying for years  on the standard, non vintage models.

[E-minor7]

21 minutes ago, EuroAussie said:

Nice one, and great to see they went back to proper sunburst rather than that orange honey burst they’ve been applying for years  on the standard, non vintage models.

EA, just checking - do you still have the broad herd - guess NO. The Bird then, , , or did the Dove clean the sky. . 

[BoSoxBiker]

Congratulations on your latest addition to the stable. Mine keeps getting better and it's only been less than 2 years. Good times!

[Sgt. Pepper]

Beauty.

[MichaelT]

14 hours ago, E-minor7 said:

What a harmonious and precious scene. Such a joy to bring the right Bird home.  A big thing.  May you spend endless weightless hours together. 

And say hello to Conrad and Paul too. .  

That Hummingbird came into a whole house of Gibson guitars. Gibson Les Paul Tribute (pictured, named Goldtoppy on the custom truss rod cover), Gibson Les Paul Standard, Gibson Les Paul Classic, Gibson Les Paul Traditional, three Gibson Flying V's along with an Ibanez Jiva, Schecter CR-6, Fender American Pro Strat, Oscar Schmidt Classical, old Dixon Flying V and of course, Conrad.  :) I'd just never owned a really nice acoustic before and this was/is a bucket list guitar. I play mostly electric guitar in my band but a guitar like that needs to be played so I'm going to find other venues and outlets for it. Thanks everyone!

 

[uncle fester]

11 minutes ago, MichaelT said:

I play mostly electric guitar in my band but a guitar like that needs to be played so I'm going to find other venues and outlets for it. Thanks everyone!

 

Yeah it's got to be played.  Woul love to see the set list you built around it, and maybe hear a clip or two if you don't mind the bother?

[MichaelT]

1 minute ago, billroy fineman said:

Yeah it's got to be played.  Woul love to see the set list you built around it, and maybe hear a clip or two if you don't mind the bother?

I've not worked things out that far but the singer in my band loves playing acoustic and there's a couple other guys here locally that I've met and talked to that do acoustic sets and I might try to sit in with them, maybe play at a church or something. We also go to other peoples' houses from time to time and play music or have people over to our house and play. My lovely lady plays flute and sings so it's always fun for us to play with others. If you talk to kidblast, he does acoustic solo shows a lot. He would be a good one to talk to and there's probably a lot of others here who I don't know as well.

[kidblast]

that's a nice looking Hummingbird Micheal.    Seems that you plan to use it in the band work?  If so, any  ideas on how you will want to amp it? 

Plugging that into one of your guitar amps will sort of work, but as we all know,  they are not really well voiced for an acoustic amp.

I'd point you right off in the direction of a fishman loudbox artist.  But yea,, another purchase...  OY  it never ends right!?!! 🤑

[E-minor7]

3 hours ago, MichaelT said:

 My lovely lady plays flute and sings . . .  

Just the 4 of you could create small miracles.  

[MichaelT]

2 hours ago, kidblast said:

that's a nice looking Hummingbird Micheal.    Seems that you plan to use it in the band work?  If so, any  ideas on how you will want to amp it? 

Plugging that into one of your guitar amps will sort of work, but as we all know,  they are not really well voiced for an acoustic amp.

I'd point you right off in the direction of a fishman loudbox artist.  But yea,, another purchase...  OY  it never ends right!?!! 🤑

We have a couple of direct boxes on the stage that go to the snake for the PA. I probably won't use it with the band much simply because taking it to the places we play would get it damaged or stolen. I was thinking more like acoustic duo or something, which I can use a direct box for it as well. I don't think I'd need an amp for it and it would probably explode plugged into that Marshall. :D  I'm definitely looking for the right strap for it and some kind of locking mechanism for the strap. I'd have my friend who is a luthier/guitar tech do it. He's done guitar work for Billy Gibbons in the past and knows his stuff.

[kidblast]

D'Adarrio makes a "think" for the endpin jack (well... I think it's D'Adarrio....) 

Some guys use a strap lock up top.  I don't..  I just use a strap that has a nice tight fit (Levy) The bird has no pin in the heel I assume???

 

[BoSoxBiker]

I know it might be overpriced for what it is, but this is a great lower strap button lock for the LR Baggs equipped output jacks. Take a little bit of effort to cut out the hole to fit, but it's worth it to me.

http://www.marcusdanielsluthiery.com/purchase/

[MichaelT]

2 hours ago, kidblast said:

D'Adarrio makes a "think" for the endpin jack (well... I think it's D'Adarrio....) 

Some guys use a strap lock up top.  I don't..  I just use a strap that has a nice tight fit (Levy) The bird has no pin in the heel I assume???

 

It does. It's a rather largish pin. I think my GC sales guy gave me the D'Addario thing you're talking about for the output jack. I think it unscrews and this piece screws in with the straplock on it. I've not put it on yet. That guitar may or may not ever leave the house, at least not right away. :) The guys in the band asked if i was bringing it to rehearsal tonight and I said, "But, seriously, if y'all wanna see it you can come to my house, pass the security and background check, wash your hands, put on a biohazard suit and look at it through thick paned glass."

[kelly campbell]

Congratulations, weldome to the bird club...beautiful !   Enjoy it.

[kidblast]

16 hours ago, MichaelT said:

It does. It's a rather largish pin. I think my GC sales guy gave me the D'Addario thing you're talking about for the output jack. I think it unscrews and this piece screws in with the straplock on it. I've not put it on yet. That guitar may or may not ever leave the house, at least not right away. 🙂 The guys in the band asked if i was bringing it to rehearsal tonight and I said, "But, seriously, if y'all wanna see it you can come to my house, pass the security and background check, wash your hands, put on a biohazard suit and look at it through thick paned glass."

so that would be a "no" right?  LOL!

I have three 6 string acoustics,  my Sj200, a 2006 Taylor Grand Symphony, and a 1978 Yari Dy74 snowflake. 

The guitar I take to rehearsals is the Yari..  It's a pretty dam good d28 copy, back when Yari's were still handmade by the man himself. 

It is in great shape, but it's also  got a lot of stories to tell over the 42 years it's been around.  Anything smacks into that one, or I do something silly like knock it into a mic,  I really don't care. 

It plays great and it sounds fantastic plugged in.  (New Fishman Infinity in there)    I use it pretty heavy in one of the bands I'm in,  We have about a dozen songs where I use that one instead of an electric.

 

 

[JuanCarlosVejar]

On 3/9/2020 at 10:52 AM, MichaelT said:

I posted a few questions in a thread a few weeks ago about the Hummingbird. I played a few others in the meantime, including the J-45 between then and now. They (Guitar Center) sold the specific Hummingbird I had played before that sounded so amazing. They did, however, get another one in and I played it Saturday and it played even better, sounded as good and I played it for a while. Needless to say, it came home with me. I took a few preliminary pictures and will get some more this evening. I spent most of Saturday evening and part of the day yesterday playing it. Thank you to everyone for your input. In the end, I chose the one that I was able to play. I was pretty well sold on it anyway and when this one played better, sounded just as good if not better and just felt right, I went with it.

According to the inspection card, this guitar was inspected on 02/20/2020.

This guitar along with my late 60's or early 70's Conrad acoustic. I can't find much information about it other than it was either late 60's or early 70's, made in Japan. It's a parlor style guitar, with a V shaped neck, adjustable bridge. It's not a bad guitar and I got it at a flea market for $75.00 a couple years ago. I probably overpaid for it but in with the package was an old Gibson string guide which I thought was kind of cool along with some old strings and other junk. It cleaned up pretty well for such an old mistreated guitar.

And, my 2017 Goldtop Tribute photo-bombing the picture. Although I also have a Les Paul Standard, Les Paul Traditional and Les Paul Classic, that Tribute is probably my favorite.

Should you never be able to afford another guitar in life ... That hummingbird will be everything you need.

 

It will be a friend to you forever.

 

Glad you picked a bird.

 

My wishes are that you enjoy the entire process of the bird finding it’s voice and getting better and better with age.

 

 

Gorgeous LP too

 

 

JC

 

[FemmeParallell]

OMG congrats! Goldtoppy now has a new friend! hehe

one day i will have a bird too!!

 

enjoy!

[EuroAussie]

On 3/10/2020 at 12:05 AM, E-minor7 said:

EA, just checking - do you still have the broad herd - guess NO. The Bird then, , , or did the Dove clean the sky. . 

 

 I do .. havent sold off since the AJ about 3 years ago. Just dont play out much these days, but its all still hangin on the wall.  But if I was going to let a Bird go it would be the Hummy over the Dovey ...