tremolo arm Posted May 31 Share Posted May 31 I recently acquired a 2017 Hummingbird Vintage, which features a thin lacquer finish and a baked top, along with the vintage style Kluson tuners. Strangely there is very little information about this model, which is discontinued by Gibson. The next closest model seems to be the 1960 Fixed Bridge, which also features the three specs mentioned above. So for all intents and purposes they seem to be the same guitar. But why the different model name? Can anyone throw and light on the differences between these two models? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrairieDog Posted May 31 Share Posted May 31 I don’t have an answer but I hope it’s just because they are phasing out the totally confusing “vintage” moniker. Trying to search “vintage hummingbird” (or vintage anything) and you’d get back a hot mess of real vintage guitars, “vintage” labeled, “true vintage” labels… Then folks the who didn’t understand the distinction, and you have to do extra work to find if what they were selling as their inherited aunt’s “vintage” guitar wasn’t just recent, vintage-tagged. And now some of the vintages are getting old enough to be real vintage 😆 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremolo arm Posted May 31 Author Share Posted May 31 14 minutes ago, PrairieDog said: I don’t have an answer but I hope it’s just because they are phasing out the totally confusing “vintage” moniker. Trying to search “vintage hummingbird” (or vintage anything) and you’d get back a hot mess of real vintage guitars, “vintage” labeled, “true vintage” labels… Then folks the who didn’t understand the distinction, and you have to do extra work to find if what they were selling as their inherited aunt’s “vintage” guitar wasn’t just recent, vintage-tagged. And now some of the vintages are getting old enough to be real vintage 😆 That makes total sense. I spent hours trying to find info on the model before buying. Luckily the seller was very descriptive with the listing, point out that it had a baked top and the thin finish - which (along with the beautiful looks) sealed the deal for me. It is a tone machine for sure. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrairieDog Posted May 31 Share Posted May 31 Congrats!! I have an 2020 Original out on the delivery truck right now and should be here within the hour. Wish I could have gotten the baked top, but this one was a great deal, so I went with instant gratification. Have you put up pics yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremolo arm Posted May 31 Author Share Posted May 31 2 minutes ago, PrairieDog said: Congrats!! I have an 2020 Original out on the delivery truck right now and should be here within the hour. Wish I could have gotten the baked top, but this one was a great deal, so I went with instant gratification. Have you put up pics yet? Awesome. Enjoy your new baby. Here are photos of mine: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave F Posted May 31 Share Posted May 31 Here you go! Hummingbird Vintage (gibson.com) Introduced in 1960 as Gibson's first square-shouldered dreadnought, the Hummingbird arrived at the dawn of a new era in music, and was rapidly embraced by the prime movers on the scene. Built with Thermally Cured Sitka spruce top, the 2017 Hummingbird Vintage reflects the appearance and performance of those early iconic instruments Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremolo arm Posted June 1 Author Share Posted June 1 13 hours ago, Dave F said: Here you go! Hummingbird Vintage (gibson.com) Introduced in 1960 as Gibson's first square-shouldered dreadnought, the Hummingbird arrived at the dawn of a new era in music, and was rapidly embraced by the prime movers on the scene. Built with Thermally Cured Sitka spruce top, the 2017 Hummingbird Vintage reflects the appearance and performance of those early iconic instruments Awesome. Thank you. So it looks exactly the same as the current 1960 Fixed Bridge version.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 (edited) Would be surprised if there's any differences between the Vintage and the Fixed Bridge (which btw. also came with a non-fixed bridge ☺️) As said to Prairie 2 minutes ago : nothing like gettin' a Hummingbird home. It sets an entirely new scene. Please post some larger photos - the guitar deserves it. And let's hear how it sings. You'll have a hovering summer Edited June 1 by E-minor7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremolo arm Posted June 1 Author Share Posted June 1 29 minutes ago, E-minor7 said: Would be surprised if there's any differences between the Vintage and the Fixed Bridge (which btw. also came with a non-fixed bridge ☺️) As said to Prairie 2 minutes ago : nothing like gettin' a Hummingbird home. It sets an entirely new scene. Please post some larger photos - the guitar deserves it. And let's hear how it sings. You'll have a hovering summer Damn right - this bird definitely sings. I have a Martin re-imagined OM-42 and that is a lovely guitar (especially for the bass response), but the Hummingbird has a certain sparkle and evenness which is so addictive to play. I think it is the baked top - notes are just so easy to extract with minimum effort. The forum only allows 53Mb so can't post larger photos unfortunately. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortyearspickn Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 Congrats on the NGD. I think Gibson Acoustic tends to give new names to models every time they tweak the specs. The version before your 'Vintage' was the "True Vintage". Only difference was that one had an unbaked Sitka top. They also had a 'TV' and the later'Vintage' line for the J45 and SJ200 - I think all 3 models were produced in low numbers. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 36 minutes ago, tremolo arm said: Damn right - this bird definitely sings. I have a Martin re-imagined OM-42 and that is a lovely guitar (especially for the bass response), but the Hummingbird has a certain sparkle and evenness which is so addictive to play. I think it is the baked top - notes are just so easy to extract with minimum effort. The forum only allows 53Mb so can't post larger photos unfortunately. 👍 - Maybe you should try IMGUR. Not that hard to handle. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorristownSal Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 I owned that 2016 2017 Vintage model. A fantastic guitar. Congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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