babydaddymusic Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 I had a thread asking could a Hummingbird be the primary acoustic in a studio situation and I believe for me, and what I do the answer is yes!!! This HB standard has been lurking in my heart and sinew for several weeks but I decided that I was going to opt for a J45 standard or 60's. The local shop had all three, along with a J45 KOA and True Vintage. I had played all of these but never videoed myself with my phone playing them, and then going back and listening. This may sound cheesy, but I wanted to see my body language when I played the guitars. As has been the case each time I have played these guitars, the HB sunburst standard just really lit me up. I decided to finger pick with it as a test. After weeks of obsessing and listening to countless songs and videos, I now believe that this is the sum of my "what an acoustic should sound like" for me. What I realized after capturing myself playing these guitars is that they all sound great in their own way. I would be happy to have any of them. Each time I have listened back I have been like "oh man that sounds great". The HB standard was like the girl you just know that this it. I wanted to challenge myself to get away from judging by how the guitar felt at the time and make it more about going back and listening after the fact. The HB still give me a chub! I can't upload any video of me playing (file too large) at 176 mB! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 4 hours ago, babydaddymusic said: This may sound cheesy, but I wanted to see my body language when I played the guitars. All okay ^ 4 hours ago, babydaddymusic said: After weeks of obsessing and listening to countless songs and videos, I now believe that this is the sum of my "what an acoustic should sound like" for me. Just great - CONGRATULATIONs, , , , gettin' a Bird home is an almost holy experience. 4 hours ago, babydaddymusic said: I can't upload any video of me playing (file too large) at 176 mB! Yet I for 1 can't wait to hear and see it. . lOVE my Birds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortyearspickn Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 I"m impressed with your local shop. Outstanding collection of Gibby Acoustics. Is it a Mom and Pop ? I assume some of these were 'previously owned' ? All in GOOD shape ? So, you bought the H'Bird standard ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babydaddymusic Posted January 23, 2023 Author Share Posted January 23, 2023 7 hours ago, E-minor7 said: All okay ^ Just great - CONGRATULATIONs, , , , gettin' a Bird home is an almost holy experience. Yet I for 1 can't wait to hear and see it. . lOVE my Birds Thank you. What’s interesting is the collectors and Gibson aficionados that I know look down on HB’s as “the Dom Perignon of Gibson acoustics” meaning the bottle is the attraction not actually a great champagne. I’m proud of myself that I have been going back and playing different guitars etc because the very first time I picked it up I knew something was different. I put it on layaway while my three acoustics are up for sale. 3 minutes ago, fortyearspickn said: I"m impressed with your local shop. Outstanding collection of Gibby Acoustics. Is it a Mom and Pop ? I assume some of these were 'previously owned' ? All in GOOD shape ? So, you bought the H'Bird standard ? Yes Leitz Music in Panama City. There is one in Pensacola too. all new guitars. I bought an L-00 from them recently Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortyearspickn Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 Hope they sell fast so you can declare a New Guitar Day here ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly campbell Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 Congrats The HB's are great guitars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 My wife is the only person I know who for around two decades has owned a six string guitar she loves to the point she just shrugs her shoulders and utters a "nice but meh" at every other one she has ever gotten her hands on. And that includes mine. I guess am too fickle to have found a guitar which is "The One." For me it is a moving target which depends on my mood that particular day. But it is when I get in the pocket where there is no thinking going on that I am aware of that guitar can sound like a heavenly choir. On other days though that same guitar can sound like it is stuffed with armadillos. Ain't life grand. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpbiii Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 (edited) I have a 1962 Hummingbird that for my late wife and I was almost exclusively a studio guitar for the past 20 years. But mine is basically an odd case. We had (I still have) a pretty large collection of vintage guitars which we acquired over the last 45+ years as a retirement investment. This includes about 50 vintage Gibsons and a similar set of Martins. From an objective viewpoint, the heart of the collection was/is older than the Hummingbird -- Herringbones, an AJ, a Trojan, several Banners, etc. We became bluegrass nuts in the late 70s, and we jammed and performed a lot of bluegrass and mountain traditional for about 45 years. Here is a picture of our prewar dreads -- you may have seen it before. These are all 1930s These are all the Gibson Js, all the way up to the 62 Hummingbird and 65 Dove. Well the Hummingbird is no bluegrass guitar, but our other earlier music passion was folk revival music -- and it is IMHO perfect for that. Starting in about 2008, I designed an acoustic studio in my basement that can create totally faithful recordings (that sound exactly like you are standing in the room) to demo the tone of vintage guitars. This has no moving parts -- you just sit in the right place and play a single guitar, and the magic happens. Well once that studio existed, there was a great temptation to use it for other stuff -- so we did. It was really a practice tool to see what we sounded like -- not really for distribution. But we used it a lot -- there are 1200+ video/audio recordings on line. Well because of room issues, you could not really run a traditional bluegrass group in full cry and have it work -- the loud standup bass and other loud instruments muddied up the room. To use it for that, we had to cut the acoustic volume down in the room. So we did the same stuff, but we used less powerful instruments -- 1/4 Kay bass, 1924 RB-4 Gibson trapdoor banjo and -- the Hummingbird. It worked like a champ! Here it is as a folk guitar. And some bluegrass light. So there you have -- my 1962 Hummingbird is my most used studio guitar -- go figure.😎 Best, -Tom Edited January 23, 2023 by tpbiii 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northcntryblues Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, zombywoof said: My wife is the only person I know who for around two decades has owned a six string guitar she loves to the point she just shrugs her shoulders and utters a "nice but meh" at every other one she has ever gotten her hands on. And that includes mine. I guess am too fickle to have found a guitar which is "The One." For me it is a moving target which depends on my mood that particular day. But it is when I get in the pocket where there is no thinking going on that I am aware of that guitar can sound like a heavenly choir. On other days though that same guitar can sound like it is stuffed with armadillos. Ain't life grand. I'm the same as your wife, except it's only been one decade so far for me and my L00. I'm a one guitar guy, happily. I made a decision after I put the first ding on it that I'm not taking this guitar with me when I go, and I really love playing it, so why not play it and not worry about it getting dinged around a campfire, etc? It's worked out well and it feels like *my* guitar. Now, I will admit to jonseing a little bit for a companion Strat or Tele....😁 Edited January 23, 2023 by northcntryblues Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortyearspickn Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 TPBill, those were all amazing. The H'Bird was great on John B, but extremely impressive on Nova Scotia. Might be the sound I have in my head for 'the ultimate acoustic guitar'. Thanks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortyearspickn Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 Of course - Blue Ridge Mountain Home is a classic and you all elevated it. I love Bluegrass - so that was the most enjoyable - but in terms of the context of this thread - The H'Bird on "Nova Scotia" stole the show. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 14 hours ago, babydaddymusic said: I can't upload any video of me playing (file too large) at 176 mB! upload to good old youtube the put the link here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 (edited) 7 hours ago, babydaddymusic said: Thank you. What’s interesting is the collectors and Gibson aficionados that I know look down on HB’s as “the Dom Perignon of Gibson acoustics” meaning the bottle is the attraction not actually a great champagne. I’m proud of myself that I have been going back and playing different guitars etc because the very first time I picked it up I knew something was different. I put it on layaway while my three acoustics are up for sale. Yes Leitz Music in Panama City. There is one in Pensacola too. all new guitars. I bought an L-00 from them recently I know a few of those too - and they are wrong. Things is that the Bird is so alternative that people who lean on more conventional acoustical norms and measure-sticks, will look for something the Bird doesn't have. We are of course talking finer nuances here - things beginners couldn't feel/tell - but still. For some players the model just don't answer their expectations of a strong acoustic guitar. And I can see why - the tinniness can play a role - so can the lack of depth. This however don't make the Bird bad or not great - it simply means the person doesn't get it. The communication isn't there. There's a reason no serious singersongwriters chose the Hummingbird as a solo-performance instrument. It's found in the lines above. We've discussed the square mahogany Gibsons many times on these pages - it would do you good to use the search-function and look back. In one thread you will hear Sal say "E-minor, you really understand the Bird"🧐 😅 , , , and he may be right. Salfromchatham as an example owned a handful, but never really settled with them. Fair enough, just how it was/is. Another member was madly mesmerized by his True Vintage for years, , , until he discovered the Dove - which is an entirely different (yet related) creature - and a guitar without the vulnerabilities of the Bird. 5 hours ago, fortyearspickn said: TPBill, those were all amazing. The H'Bird was great on John B, but extremely impressive on Nova Scotia. Might be the sound I have in my head for 'the ultimate acoustic guitar'. Thanks. 5 hours ago, fortyearspickn said: Of course - Blue Ridge Mountain Home is a classic and you all elevated it. I love Bluegrass - so that was the most enjoyable - but in terms of the context of this thread - The H'Bird on "Nova Scotia" stole the show. Intereztinnnng as I'm sure you realize tpbiii's old honey-flier has the rarest, mellowest, weirdest and most scorned bridge/saddle combo in the entire acoustic history = Hollow plastic with wooden insert. It's things like that which make it all so intriguing. And keep telling us that there are no rules, but the ones you make and feel yourself. Edited January 23, 2023 by E-minor7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpbiii Posted January 24, 2023 Share Posted January 24, 2023 Quote Intereztinnnng as I'm sure you realize tpbiii's old honey-flier has the rarest, mellowest, weirdest and most scorned bridge/saddle combo in the entire acoustic history = Hollow plastic with wooden insert. Indeed -- and that is exactly why it worked so well as a folk revival instrument. Historically my late wife and I had two great musical interests -- the rural acoustic revolution in the 1930s kerosene circuit period (before widespread sound reinforcement was available), which basked in the new power of the Dreads and Js; and the incredibly mild and inclusive urban "folk revival" in the 1960s, where everybody strummed and played along. After c. 1940, both Martin and Gibson began a long slide toward less powerful guitars, but Gibson dropped faster. For the former, the cutoff for Gibsons was 1955 -- for Martin it was the late 60s. So really no HBs or Doves made that cut at all -- the tunematic bridge and plywood maple B&Ss of the Dove was not a formula for a strong guitar. The HB on the other hand is solid wood and has a big blended and (surprisingly) strong tone excellent for singalongs in the 60s. Depends on what you are after. In the 1960s, I played a late 50s LG-1 -- here is sort of what it sounded like. You would never take that to a bluegrass or other strong traditional session. The right tool for every job.😎 Best, -Tom 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the other side Posted January 24, 2023 Share Posted January 24, 2023 Very nicely done Tom! Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted January 24, 2023 Share Posted January 24, 2023 (edited) My cutoff with Gibsons has been 1959. I really liked the light un-scalloped bracing they had gone to at mid-decade but I had trouble making peace with the combination of the neck carve and string spacing at the bridge Gibson went with in 1960. Finding a guitar though which rises above the crowd into that special category is not that hard. Finding one which has that Mojo Bone factor though can be somewhat daunting. Edited January 24, 2023 by zombywoof Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G Man Posted January 24, 2023 Share Posted January 24, 2023 Tom, you've got to be sure to let us know when you decide to share some of those old beauties with the rest of us mortals. That is a a dream collection of old wood, bordering on hording. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpbiii Posted January 24, 2023 Share Posted January 24, 2023 In my experience, what constitutes an extraordinary guitar for an individual is subjective and is framed by musical goals and abilities. But for many people, it is also framed by genre and the communities associated with those genres. My late wife and I were very involved with the Georgia mountain bluegrass community (40 years), the "folk" revival community (60 years) and the singer songwriter community (less intensively, 20 years). The first two at their core are acoustic music -- we almost never plugged in. The first was the one is most intensively involved in old power guitars, the second used generally much less powerful guitars, and the last like Taylors. I don't have any Taylors. After our mild folky beginnings, we struggled mightily for 35 + years the achieve the power, speed, and "high lonesome" singing style of traditional bluegrass -- we never made it. I don't have a lot of recording of our bluegrass stuff -- it was too hard to record it in my basement. But I do have a few shows where a recording was made of the board. Her is one from a jam show in 2012 in Lockeport Nova Scotia. Not a broadly popular style. We use a lot of folk materials in bluegrass, but with BG keys and speed. Here is an example using 62 HB, Also not a popular style. It is not true that all of our 60s era Gibsons were mild and under-powered. This weird 65 F-25 is really raw, in-you-face example with 30s power. Here is a folk song with the 65 Dove at a folk key One more with the 62 HB and mountain harmony. Best, -Tom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsongs Posted January 24, 2023 Share Posted January 24, 2023 On 1/22/2023 at 5:38 PM, babydaddymusic said: I had a thread asking could a Hummingbird be the primary acoustic in a studio situation and I believe for me, and what I do the answer is yes!!! This HB standard has been lurking in my heart and sinew for several weeks but I decided that I was going to opt for a J45 standard or 60's. The local shop had all three, along with a J45 KOA and True Vintage. I had played all of these but never videoed myself with my phone playing them, and then going back and listening. This may sound cheesy, but I wanted to see my body language when I played the guitars. As has been the case each time I have played these guitars, the HB sunburst standard just really lit me up. I decided to finger pick with it as a test. After weeks of obsessing and listening to countless songs and videos, I now believe that this is the sum of my "what an acoustic should sound like" for me. What I realized after capturing myself playing these guitars is that they all sound great in their own way. I would be happy to have any of them. Each time I have listened back I have been like "oh man that sounds great". The HB standard was like the girl you just know that this it. I wanted to challenge myself to get away from judging by how the guitar felt at the time and make it more about going back and listening after the fact. The HB still give me a chub! I can't upload any video of me playing (file too large) at 176 mB! Why not make a YouTube video & post it? I’d love to see how all those Guitars sound compare….. It might be helpful to those who are trying to decide on their next Guitar… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babydaddymusic Posted January 25, 2023 Author Share Posted January 25, 2023 On 1/19/2023 at 8:52 PM, Sgt. Pepper said: Record and play what sounds good to you. That’s all I got. 9 hours ago, Larsongs said: Why not make a YouTube video & post it? I’d love to see how all those Guitars sound compare….. It might be helpful to those who are trying to decide on their next Guitar… Great Idea Hummingbird- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babydaddymusic Posted January 25, 2023 Author Share Posted January 25, 2023 60's j45 : Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babydaddymusic Posted January 25, 2023 Author Share Posted January 25, 2023 J45 Standard: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babydaddymusic Posted January 25, 2023 Author Share Posted January 25, 2023 10 hours ago, tpbiii said: In my experience, what constitutes an extraordinary guitar for an individual is subjective and is framed by musical goals and abilities. But for many people, it is also framed by genre and the communities associated with those genres. My late wife and I were very involved with the Georgia mountain bluegrass community (40 years), the "folk" revival community (60 years) and the singer songwriter community (less intensively, 20 years). The first two at their core are acoustic music -- we almost never plugged in. The first was the one is most intensively involved in old power guitars, the second used generally much less powerful guitars, and the last like Taylors. I don't have any Taylors. Great insights here and what a collection. I'm sorry to hear about your partner- I hope I get a lot more years with my honey. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsongs Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 Good Videos of those 3 Guitars.. I can see how it was difficult choosing.. All 3 were excellent just different.. Nice choice with the Humminbird! Although, I can see others choosing either of the other 2… Thanks… Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustystrings Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 The whole quest for Excalibur is a strange thing. I think you chose the right guitar, and to my ears the HB was the best one - in your hands. Though the standard J-45 ticked a lot of boxes with me, but that particular HB in your hands was lovely. I spent years chasing the perfect guitar, first playing primal roots rock and rockabilly, then playing solo acoustic gigs. I had a bunch of Telecasters of varying vintages, multiple Gretsches, assorted vintage Gibson flattops, several archtops, a steel-bodied National Duolian, both used and new Taylors, and lots and lots of Guilds. In the end, it was while looking for a single-pickup archtop that I stumbled onto MY J-45, which announced itself as such the moment I touched it. And 16 years later I still marvel at how it sounds under my hands, I still feel better every time I settle it against me to start playing, I still delay putting it away, and I still feel a little sad when I have to put it back in its case. May you have the same enjoyment of your new Hummingbird! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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