izston Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Over the last few months I have been reading up on Hummingbirds and drifting onto reading about Gibson acoustics in general. One thing I read that did arouse my curiosity was a comment that '80's "Birds" are inferior to, not only earlier models but also the later models as well. Now... granted I acept that the '60's models are very collectable and nostalgic. I am also aware that the bracing changed at different times and accept that this would affect the sound. Does anybody think there are grounds for this argument. By the by... I am very happy with my '80's Bird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 My understanding is that 80's Birds are not much different from 70's Birds, until 89' When Ren & Co tooker over at Bozeman. However if you are very happy with your Bird, then thats all that matters ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izston Posted January 29, 2012 Author Share Posted January 29, 2012 My understanding is that 80's Birds are not much different from 70's Birds, until 89' When Ren & Co tooker over at Bozeman. However if you are very happy with your Bird, then thats all that matters ! Cheers EuroAussie, I'm having a little trouble finding a guitar tech that gives me confidence enough let him do a possible re-fret on my bird I bought no so long ago. I live in Perth WA and bought the bird online from a guy in Tasmania. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfox14 Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Why do you think the guitar needs a re-fret? Is it possible to just have the frets re-dressed and a good setup? I thought the quality (or lack there of) of the 70s & 80s Gibsons was pretty much common knowledge. There was a real lack of good guitars coming out of Gibson for quite a while there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drathbun Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 I don't know the exact years, but whenever they started bracing the #}%^*% out of the top in the '70s to '89 are suspect guitars IMO. If you find one that sounds good in that range, good on ya. You found a very unique guitar. My '77 Bird was a total POS. Looked nice though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissouriPicker Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 My first "bird" was purchased around 1980. Could have been 1979. Could have been 1981. I bought it new. I lost it because of my own stupidity. I liked the way it sounded and played. I didn't worry about the bracing then, and I don't worry about it now on my current Hummingbird. If you like the guitar you have, then play it and don't sweat all the who-said-this-and-who-said-what. Appears that you have a sweet guitar. Not looking to start a fight (and I won't participate in one), but all this "common knowledge" stuff is nonsense. Label something "commom knowledge" long enough and it becomes fact to those saying it and those not knowing better. Most of it is formed from opinions. The fact that guitar bracing changes for various guitars at one time or another doesn't mean they are inferior guitars. Go on the forums that have a definite anti-Gibson slant to them and you'll find "common knowledge" everywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Don't know about common knowledge but based on a couple of decades of playing, for my 2 1/2 yen, the acoustics Gibson started making around 1984 were the best to be turned out since probably 1967. Even the bursts were starting to look like they were supposed to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Don't know about common knowledge but based on a couple of decades of playing, for my 2 1/2 yen, the acoustics Gibson started making around 1984 were the best to be turned out since probably 1967. Even the bursts were starting to look like they were supposed to. ZW, what happened at Gibson around 1984? I know that as far as electrics go, Gibson began to turn a corner in 1981 (at least with the ES 335, and then temporarily, according to some people) when they went back to an early 60's specification with the dot neck re-issue, including widening the board at the nut to 1 11/16" (43mm), rather than the 1/9/16" (40mm) nut used from 1965 through 1980. Things like this don't happen in a vacuum. Was there someone in the acoustic department that was undergoing some sort of soul-searching on product quality as well? After all, we're still in the Norlin years in the early 1980's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-1854Me Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 I had a 1985 Hummingbird, natural finish. Sounded lovely, but after it reached somewhere around the ten year mark, the neck began to warp. (I bet it was warping slowly on before that, it just wasn't too noticeable yet). Despite it sounding great, the neck twist was not going to be overcome and made the guitar unplayable. I do not know whether that guitar was an anomaly in terms of the neck wood (solid neck, one-piece, not laminated, so probably more prone to instability than a laminated neck), or what, but it did possess very nice sound! Fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 ZW, what happened at Gibson around 1984? /quote] Not really sure what got into the good folks at Gibson. '84 is the year, of course, Gibson finally fully shifted production to Nashville. It was also the company's 90th anniversay. They did stuff like re-introduce the slope shoulder J-45 andf finally dumped the nasty Norlin-era double bracing. And as I said, the bursts started looking a whole lot better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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