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New member from Peru – Epiphone Hummingbird


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Howdy, everybody!

I recently acquired a sweet Epiphone "Inspired by Gibson" Hummingbird, and I thought it'd be a good idea to join the forums! Here's a pic of my new guitar:

image.thumb.jpeg.50bd75f8f963f595390a301855137910.jpeg 

It's one of the "Made in Indonesia" ones. Sadly, the newest ones are being made in China now.

I plan to make a few mods to the guitar:

  • Replace nut and saddle with new unbleached bone ones. I believe they're already bone from the factory, but they're a really white, which doesn't look the part with the cream/ivory binding.
  • Replace the stock plastic bridge pins with new unbleached bone ones.
  • Remove the entirety of the Fishman Sonitone amplification system. It sounds terrible! Also, removing the under-saddle pickup might improve sound.
  • Install a new L.R. Baggs HiFi amplification system, which uses bridge plate transducers.
  • Replace the outrageously thick pickguard with a new thin one (0.025-inch thick). BTW, has anyone measured the thickness of the stock pickguard?
  • Replace the stock strings which sound dead. Any suggestions of good strings to try?

That should be all. My hope's the mods will make the guitar sound even better. 😄 Overall, I'm really excited with my purchase, and I'm looking forward to participating actively in the forum.

Take care, everyone!

Edited by DerComputerist
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Welcome aboard.  Nice looking Epi you have there.  You may want to also post this in the Epiphone Acoustics forum.  You will get a lot more feedback from members in that forum.  Enjoy your stay.

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12 minutes ago, tx-ogre said:

Welcome aboard.  Nice looking Epi you have there.  You may want to also post this in the Epiphone Acoustics forum.  You will get a lot more feedback from members in that forum.  Enjoy your stay.

Thanks for the nice words! I followed you advice and posted on the Epiphone Acoustics forum, too. 🙂 

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Welcome! 
 

I gotta admit I laughed when you mentioned changing the strings as a modification lol

 

There is definitely no bone on your guitar, bleached or not 

 

If you hate the sound of the Fishman you should expect to hate the LR Baggs as well. There is no real sounding transducer based option. They all sound like a cheesy transducer. There is only one way to electronically amplify an acoustic guitar properly and that is with a microphone. A built in mic is inherently in the wrong position and dampening the top of the guitar etc. 

 

Try a decent condenser mic pointed approximately at the neck joint 

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58 minutes ago, Dub-T-123 said:

Welcome! 

Thanks!!

59 minutes ago, Dub-T-123 said:

I gotta admit I laughed when you mentioned changing the strings as a modification lol

Haha, at least it was a good excuse to ask for string recommendations. 😄 

59 minutes ago, Dub-T-123 said:

There is definitely no bone on your guitar, bleached or not 

Are you positive about this? The specs sheet for the IBG Hummingbird on the Epiphone website claims they're both "Bone" from the factory. Have a look:

image.jpeg.7e7fc78b9c2637cd40bbfa8382b39bc9.jpeg

image.jpeg.4ba3bab27d4c89229a66e04105e520f7.jpeg

1 hour ago, Dub-T-123 said:

If you hate the sound of the Fishman you should expect to hate the LR Baggs as well. There is no real sounding transducer based option. They all sound like a cheesy transducer. There is only one way to electronically amplify an acoustic guitar properly and that is with a microphone. A built in mic is inherently in the wrong position and dampening the top of the guitar etc. 

 

Try a decent condenser mic pointed approximately at the neck joint 

I appreciate the recommendation! Will look further into this.

Cheers!

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Well **** maybe there is bone on that thing. That’s really surprising and I don’t think it was ever standard on the original Gibson mode. Maybe they meant bone colored and it was kinda lost in translation 

 

Peru is such an amazing place. What kind of music are you playing?

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Posted (edited)
On 4/6/2024 at 6:25 PM, Dub-T-123 said:

Maybe they meant bone colored and it was kinda lost in translation 

That is certainly a possibility. They list the bridge pin's material as "Ivory", but they're obviously Ivory-colored plastic.

On 4/6/2024 at 6:25 PM, Dub-T-123 said:

What kind of music are you playing?

I'm a big Beatles fan, so I'm mainly playing their songs. I also happen to love jazz and blues, so I'd like to venture into those genres, too, as my playing ability increases. There's some Peruvian folk music that sounds beautiful on the classical guitar, and I'd love to learn some of those pieces, too. Fingerstyle is also very appealing to me. 🙂

Edited by DerComputerist
Fix typo
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