Anyone know anything about Keith Richards 70’s Dove?

[Dpreston82]

I know Keef played hummingbirds in the 60’s but I’m curious if anyone here may know anything more about his Norlin era cherry  sunburst Dove. Ive seen this guitar in two interviews from the 1980’s . He plays a snippet of Make No Mistake on it in one of these interviews.

Though the interviews are from the 80’s I wonder if he may have had that guitar since the early 70’s. I sometimes think I hear that maple Dove sound on some of their records and all of those Norlin cherry sunburst doves I’ve seen all seem to be from 1972-75.

Hearing his dove in that interview opened my mind to the 70’s Gibsons.
Now I don’t know if his dove was a special order custom shop without the double x brace but the 72 Dove I bought from a pawn shop a couple years ago sounds wonderful to me in spite of the double x brace and heavier construction. I’d say I play it equally as much as my 64’ hummingbird. 
Well I know it’s a long shot but thought I’d post about it and see if someone on here might be like oh yeah I worked for Gibson back then and remember Keith’s Dove.

 

 

 

[E-minor7]

Yes, we had it up ten years ago. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                No knowledge then or since. . 

[E-minor7]

Eeehhh, , , seems the wild horse on the wall is about to drag him away. . .

[zombywoof]

There are photos taken in 1968 of Keef playing a natural top Dove.  Must have been a Custom Department job as it had a P90 pickup slapped just beneath the fingerboard.  If I recall though the guitar was actually owned by Gram Parsons.  I always wondered if this was the guitar Chris Hillman smashed to pieces having become so fed up with Parsons words would no longer suffice.

[ksdaddy]

I doubt it was custom ordered in the 70s without the double X bracing because when those guitars were being built, I would bet the overwhelming majority of guitar owners wouldn't know a double x bracing if it came up and bit them.

[bobouz]

In the late ‘70s, I owned an early ‘70s Dove - which at the time sported the wide mustache bridge as seen on that era’s J-200 and Heritage Custom.  Double-X braced, it had a very pleasing tone.

[rct]

13 hours ago, ksdaddy said:

I doubt it was custom ordered in the 70s without the double X bracing because when those guitars were being built, I would bet the overwhelming majority of guitar owners wouldn't know a double x bracing if it came up and bit them.

Dark days indeed, for we did not yet know the tonal complexities of bridge pins either.

rct

[E-minor7]

1 hour ago, rct said:

Dark days indeed, for we did not yet know the tonal complexities of bridge pins either.

rct

 😅 No, and if someone mentioned scalloped bracing, people would look at him like an alien.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              But a satori was waiting further up the road - it became a general trend to look into things.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    From then on sausages, plastic, acoustic guitars, , , , and the world were something else. 

[fortyearspickn]

Yah.   Guilty as charged.  Again.  I was one of the unwashed masses back in the early days - the 60s.  Knew zip about bracing.  Good ol' Murphy Slaw here educated me on that - my first Newbie question.   Later, I came to realize the bridge on my LG1 was plastic.   Gave it to my son in disgust.  But, now I'm a regular cork sniffer.   

[zombywoof]

From the day Gibson started to turn out flattops they provided them in either a tenor version or with a plectrum neck,   And you could get your name inlaid on the board of anything.  But while they would slap features from other guitars on a custom build when it came to structure they did not offer anything other than what they were going with at the time.  So while you could get a Dove with say J200 inlays or a P90 pickup they were not going to build you one with a bracing footprint which they had abandoned.

[Jinder]

On 11/25/2021 at 1:45 PM, zombywoof said:

There are photos taken in 1968 of Keef playing a natural top Dove.  Must have been a Custom Department job as it had a P90 pickup slapped just beneath the fingerboard.  If I recall though the guitar was actually owned by Gram Parsons.  I always wondered if this was the guitar Chris Hillman smashed to pieces having become so fed up with Parsons words would no longer suffice.

I always thought the Hillman victim guitar was an SJ200, but you may we be right about the Dove. It did seem to disappear around that time, and Gram was seen primarily with a Frontier afterwards.

[scriv58]

Matte and framed RJ on the mantle 

[JuanCarlosVejar]

Steve Jones of The Pistols plays one as well :

https://www.instagram.com/p/BX5tbaYl8SH/?utm_medium=copy_link

JC