Zackmonska@gmai Posted May 8, 2020 Share Posted May 8, 2020 Hey everyone, my grandfather passed down to me his Byrdland A33841 R4285 10 or at least thats what he had written down. I was wondering if anyone could help me with this and figuring out more about this (what seems to be) rare piece. He had it since he was a kid and its very important to me so Id like to continue trying to figure out more about it since he passed away in 2010. I attached a photo to see the guitar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimR56 Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 Hi Zack, Wow, what a great guitar to have inherited. Your Byrdland dates to the spring of 1960, during the golden era of Gibson. Both your serial number (the "A" series number) and your factory order number (FON, beginning with "R") confirm this. More info about serial numbers and dating Gibson guitars can be found here: http://www.guitarhq.com/gibson.html#serial Your Byrdland is rare compared to some models, but not really the rarest of the rare. Gibson produced about 50 sunburst finished Byrdlands per year between 1955 and 1965. So they are out there. Not the hardest model to find, but they were a high end model, and are quite valuable. On the down side, some players never cared for the shorter scale length and narrower neck width at the nut, both of which were distinguishing features of the model. So the demand for them was always somewhat affected by that. It's also notable that your photo shows the guitar with a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece. This is a custom feature which may or may not be original to the instrument, and also something that not all players would prefer (opinions will vary). If you are able to, please post some current photos of the guitar. I'm sure we'd all love to see it, and it would help to advise you in more detail about its condition, etc. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDC Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 From what I can find most Byrdland guitars are sunburst or natural. i have one from about 1967 that is kind of a candy apple red. is this common? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 On 3/13/2024 at 3:26 AM, DDC said: From what I can find most Byrdland guitars are sunburst or natural. i have one from about 1967 that is kind of a candy apple red. is this common? Not AFAIK. Refinished? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexcb Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 If you post the Serial Number I should be able to find out more about this guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimR56 Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 On 3/12/2024 at 8:26 PM, DDC said: From what I can find most Byrdland guitars are sunburst or natural. i have one from about 1967 that is kind of a candy apple red. is this common? Definitely not common, but it may be the original finish. Some guitars were custom-ordered in special colors. The "candy apple" shade of red on Gibsons was known as "Sparkling Burgundy". If you do an online search for "vintage Gibson sparkling burgundy", you will see numerous examples. There were also some models (including the Byrdland) which were not generally available in the more standard Gibson "cherry red" color, but were sometimes custom-ordered in that color also. On high end (expensive; hand carved) guitars like the Byrdland, L5, Super 400, etc, these custom-color examples are all the more rare, because fewer of the high end guitars were produced in general. Please post more info (and hopefully some photos) of your Byrdland! 🙏 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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