Gibson Customshop Hummingbird Vintage Review (quite long!)

[Ten]

Awesome review and beautiful guitar. I was a Gibson electric guy myself for years. Really glad to hear how much you like it, congrats.

[Mr Bojangles]

Nice Bird! I hope you enjoy it. I still have my 1968/9? Hummingbird that I've owned for the last 47 years. The serial number indicates 1968, but it doesn't have a screwed-on pickguard like other '68's. It's also a blonde top with a two- piece back and a beautiful center inlaid back binding. The intonation out of the factory was terrible, so I had a luthier fashion a compensated bone bridge to correct it, and remove the adjustable bridge metal hardware. I just wish it had a beefier neck profile.

[gibpicker]

Glad to hear you love your Hummingbird, but I'm still reeling over how Gibson let that out the door with all the fit and finish problems, and I'm a Gibson fan.

Reminds me of the GS in 1979 in Hollyweird (used to be Wallichs music city) looking for a Guild F-50 Blond, and checking out the many Hummingbirds they had hanging. I was shocked at all the finish and intonation problems. It looked like they just threw them together with all the holidays in the finish etc. I was told it was the 70's Gibson's, but my 74 had no initial problems.

My 74 Bird was the best sounding guitar I had ever heard, and when you dug into it, that Bird would drown out any guitar in the room! I now have a 86 J-30 that has that exact sound. Nothing like it IMHO. Have fun!

[zmf]

Originally Posted by RalphH

Tuners:
Gotoh did such a good job relicing these things that they are EXACTLY like knackered out 1960's tuners; the tuner posts are wobbly without strings on and yet they are so hard to turn you almost need a wrench, simulating a tuner that is both worn out and corroded gears or is full of gunk and dried out greese.

Wow. I'd love to have that upgrade.

I actually use a wrench tuning a 60 year old Aria. Major mojo.

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by RalphH

He said it would be hard to get right because you can't put it on thick and sand it back like you do with a glossy finish. It has to go on ultra-thin and be just right. It's not so much that it increases costs in terms of materials, but you have to have someone who is really good at it really paying attention and getting it right first time. You pay more for a more highly skilled job.

Thanks for the response.

[RalphH]

Thanks all!

Originally Posted by Goodallboy

Congrats on staying focused on what really counts. Too often it's the other way around.

It is so easy to forget that many of the tracks that inspired you into music as a teenager were recorded on 70s and 80s Gibsons with all the same fit and finish issues that are now somehow 'not good enough' for middle-aged guy strumming on his sofa

Originally Posted by golfreggie

Congrats on your new Hummingbird! I have always loved the look of the Hummingbird and if I had it in my meager budget I would strongly consider adding one to my meager arsenal. And you love it's sound, so great!

Says the man with two guitars in his sig that cost more than my Hummingbird

Originally Posted by charles Tauber

Thanks for the response.

no probs.

It also occurs to me now that it may also need better surface prep - generally the thinner the finish, the higher grit you need to sand to to get a perfect finish.

220 grit it typical for nitro, but I've found that with an oil finish (which is really, really thin because it penetrates before it hardens), getting up to 800 grit is necessary if you want a really perfect finish. I doubt that extra thin nitro needs 800 grit, but it might need 360, which is an extra amount of work which needs to be done by hand.

The little 'hole' (not really a hole, just a low point at the edge of the wood) next to the binding is probably only visible because of the thin finish too - a thicker finish would have filled that in and it would be invisible.

Originally Posted by archerscreek

And maybe Gibson was being period correct with the sharp nut and overspray on the fretboard binding. Haha

Yeah, they probably - at great expense - purchased genuine 60's VOS (that's Vintage Original Spec for those that don't speak Gibson) masking tape with terrible glue that won't stay stuck down at the edges

Originally Posted by gibpicker

Glad to hear you love your Hummingbird, but I'm still reeling over how Gibson let that out the door with all the fit and finish problems, and I'm a Gibson fan.

There would be a world-wide Gibson shortage if they didn't send these kinds of things out the door

[rokdog49]

I assume you were jesting with the “$.50 intern stuff”.

[RalphH]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

I assume you were jesting with the “$.50 intern stuff”.

Hmmm... kinda.. It was tongue in cheek, but in all honesty, most of those issues could be fixed in a few seconds by someone with little to no skill.

I see no reason not to give the work experience kid a box of truss rod covers and a scraper and have him sit and neaten up the ones with burrs on. Assuming he can do about 1 a minute, which is all it took me, you could pay him $30 and hour and only add $.50 to the cost of building the guitar.

Unless of course, all my issues are one-off. I got the only truss-rod cover with burrs, and the only scratchplate with a rough corner, and the only case with a busted hinge and the only, and the only, etc etc etc.

But if it did, I am seriously unlucky because I kept getting the only Les Paul with xyz prolems too. No wonder I never win the lottery.

[zombywoof]

Congrats! John Hiatt once called the HB the greatest rock & roll acoustic ever built.

[RalphH]

Ooh, I never heard that, and I don't have anywhere near enough experience to confirm or deny his assertion. All I can tell you is that I can belive it.

[gibpicker]

BTW, if they would have used the skinny blue automotive tape and knifed it in, it wouldn't have bled under. Why don't Martin's, Taylor's etc. have these finish problems? For 5 grand they should spend a little more time! Of course I still love Gibson's. Always have.

[zoopeda]

Wow, such a balanced, comprehensive review. Sounds like the big positives outweigh the tolerable negatives. Congrats on a killer guitar!

Ps. FYI the vanilla smell is likely the fragrance they spray in the case to conceal the chemical smell of the case. I’ve had several new nitro lacquer guitars, and some smell vanilla and some don’t...just depends on the case they come in.

[RalphH]

Originally Posted by zoopeda

Wow, such a balanced, comprehensive review. Sounds like the big positives outweigh the tolerable negatives. Congrats on a killer guitar!

Ps. FYI the vanilla smell is likely the fragrance they spray in the case to conceal the chemical smell of the case. I’ve had several new nitro lacquer guitars, and some smell vanilla and some don’t...just depends on the case they come in.

Thanks!!

They can't be bothered to make it a guitar neatly. It seems highly unlikely they would go out of their way to perfume their cases

If they are I wish they'd spent that 30 seconds doing a better job with the masking tape instead!

Also, I keep cases in the loft and the guitar on a hanger in my room and it made my whole room smell nice. I'm not sure the case smell could have penetrated the guitar that much. Variation in smell might just be different lacquer formulations

[zoopeda]

Originally Posted by RalphH

Thanks!!

They can't be bothered to make it a guitar neatly. It seems highly unlikely they would go out of their way to perfume their cases

If they are I wish they'd spent that 30 seconds doing a better job with the masking tape instead!

Also, I keep cases in the loft and the guitar on a hanger in my room and it made my whole room smell nice. I'm sure sure the case smell could have penetrated the guitar that much. Variation in smell might just be different lacquer formulations

I'm no Gibson expert and don't even know what cases they use. But TKL (who makes Martin cases) drenches their case linings in specifically Vanilla scent to mask the off-gassing plywood and vinyl chemicals. Martin's confirmed this for me as well. I've also sprayed lacquer in my shop, and it really doesn't smell like that. That vanilla that TKL uses, at least, really sticks to the guitar. It really doesn't matter what you believe as long as you like it.

[RalphH]

My apologies, I stand corrected! You learn something new every day, thanks!

TKL do indeed make Gibson cases as far as I know.