rhpage Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 I have a '65 Hummingbird with a thin neck that seems to have the shape of a 60s LP thin neck. I always assumed it must have been custom ordered. Someone recently told me Gibson built about 400 Hummingbirds with the thin neck in the mid-60s. Does anyone ave any info on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 I don't think the neck profile has anything to do with the Custom Department. In 1960 Gibson went to what they called a low action fast playing neck (or something like that) on all their guitars. The necks got a bit beefier in '63 but in '65 Gibson switched to a narrower nut making the necks feel thinner they actually were. I believe '65 is also the year the headstock pitch was changed from the traditional 17 degrees to 14 degrees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfox14 Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Can you post some pix and the serial #? That will definitely help nail it down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 65-66-67 were the narrow years for the squares - meaning 1-9/16 or 5/8 nuts. There were still some 11/16's made in 1965 (maybe as things gradually changed), but not until '68 did the nut-widths go back. By then other issues had 'grown' into something else – some would say unrecognizable. The braces f.x. got heavier. This approach culminated in 1970 and further up that decade, where the once light weight square shouldered G's turned into log built western forts (look up double X-bracing). You are lucky to have a '65 around – especially if the slim neck/width doesn't bother you – and should post a picture or 3. The number 400 seems far too low to me – Maybe you are down in neck-details of which I know nothing. Welcome aboard - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 The number 400 seems far too low to me – Maybe you are down in neck-details of which I know nothing. Gibson was churning out a fair number of HBs by 1965 - some 1500 a year. But as far as I know they were all stock guitars. 400 guitars would have been a very large number of guitars for Gibson's Custom Department in 1965. The Custom Department of the 1960s was a totally different beast from today's Custom Shop. They did not specialize in limited runs or special editions. The Department simply made all of Gibson's hgh dollar guitars like the J-200. These were made in fairly small numbers - something around 20 to 200 per year. There was not even such thing as a Custom Shop label. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 Read you loud and clear – when I said that 400 was far too small a #, I didn't think Customs. But Zomb – Can you tell me about my 1968 Southern J. It has the screwed on guard, vintage double ring tulips* and says Custom on the t.r.cover. According to seller, it was kept under a bed for many years by the original owners wife until she finally decided to pass it on. She went to a shop and the keeper, who was in contact with the guy I bought it from, subsequently sent it overseas to him. Of course the tuners + cover might have been added after '68, but is there a chance the guitar is real ?, , , , which means there was a Kalamazoo Custom channel behind this mix. As a matter of fact I think I've seen a few others like it. Could it be the original owner ordered it or picked it from the shop/plant this way ? *S.J.'s typically had white buttons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 Man, that is a beauty, Em7....! Hard to say if those tuners came on your SJ from the factory, but they would be 'period correct' for that vintage. I once had a '68-'69 transitional square-shouldered J160E that was equipped with those tuners. I like them on a square-shouldered acoustic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 Mine has a pencil thin neck and is also long scale. I think it might be more common then you think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhpage Posted April 3, 2012 Author Share Posted April 3, 2012 Thanks for the responses. I'm sure now I have a standard 1965 Hummingbird, well worn. I bought it from the original owner in 1971 and he didn't say anything about it being special or different. The guy who recently said it was one of 400 special "thin necks" struck me as a bit of a blowhard anyway. I never researched it. I just know it's the thinnest neck I've ever played on an acoustic. I love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 I do not have a clue why the truss rod cover would say "Custom" on it. I have seen other guitars like a late 1960s Heritage that have the "Custom" on the truss rod cover. I have seen SJs from that period with either nothing on the truss rod cover or with "SJ" on it. But I am not sure when Custom Department was changed to a Custom Shop in the sense that we think fo them today. Gibson started using thicker pickguards around 1963 and I have run across a good number of guitars made in 1967 & 1968 on which the pickguards were screwed down. So the one on your guitar is probably the original. Yours really looks in about as good condition as I have seen on a guitar that old. Sorry I couold not be of more help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spot Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 I have a '65 Hummingbird with a thin neck that seems to have the shape of a 60s LP thin neck. I always assumed it must have been custom ordered. Someone recently told me Gibson built about 400 Hummingbirds with the thin neck in the mid-60s. Does anyone ave any info on this? Why don't you take the the time to introduce yourself? Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 I do not have a clue why the truss rod cover would say "Custom" on it. I have seen other guitars like a late 1960s Heritage that have the "Custom" on the truss rod cover. I have seen SJs from that period with either nothing on the truss rod cover or with "SJ" on it. But I am not sure when Custom Department was changed to a Custom Shop in the sense that we think fo them today. Gibson started using thicker pickguards around 1963 and I have run across a good number of guitars made in 1967 & 1968 on which the pickguards were screwed down. So the one on your guitar is probably the original. Yours really looks in about as good condition as I have seen on a guitar that old. Sorry I couold not be of more help Yes the guitar is in superb condition (with a capo bite in the neck) and I tend to believe the tuners. The t.r. cover may have been added later – I remember seeing the S.J ones while reseaching, but they would be on the white button version I guess. Let's say this was one of the famous crossovers born in the steam of Kalamazoo back then. rhpage - you should offer us those pics. . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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