gibson hummingbird | a true vintage experience

 

last week i had to sell my beloved gibson super jumbo 200, but pretty much right after i'd sold it, a fortunate opportunity presented itself - and so the purchase of a beautiful gibson hummingbird true vintage happened.

i've had quite a few guitars through the years. some have been decent, some have been less than ideal and some have been amazing. how can i tell the difference? apart from aesthetics, the amazing ones have this feeling about them. you pick up the guitar and the creativity starts flowing - it's almost as if they contain songs, songs that are waiting to be discovered rather than created. this gibson hummingbird tv is that kind of amazing.

 

in some ways guitars are like cars...or even women. they come in all kinds of different shapes, sizes, colors and tones - and believe me: they require maintenance...acoustic guitars even more so than the electric ones. the climate (cold weather, electric heating, dry air) we're used to up here in the northern part of the world, is the death of an acoustic guitar if you don't use a humidifier.

a well-built, well maintained and correctly adjusted acoustic guitar is something that's a unique kind of treat when you find one. the sound is full of resonance, the tones are vibrant and the response the guitar gives you when the sound of the strings reverberate through the body of it is exquisite. if your thoughts went from treating guitars to women over the last few sentences, you're not far off. the two are closer than you'd think!

the gibson hummingbird tv is a supremely built guitar, with a body made of AAA sitka spruce and rich mahogany and the fingerboard of the neck is made of rosewood with inlays of genuine mother of pearl. usually you have to play an acoustic guitar for en extended period of time to have the sound 'open up' and really learn how the instrument will age. from what i've heard, and to some degree experienced personally, these true vintage models seem to give you that shimmering top-end, a defined mid-range and those well-rounded lows right off the bat. impressive.

my only complaint with this guitar is some spilled glue around the sound-hole from placing the pick-guard. it doesn't mean anything, but still - with such an instrument, why not pay attention to the little things? after all - the difference, more often than not, is in the details.

 

speaking of details - i made these pictures using a canon 5DMKII and a canon 70-200 2.8L IS MKII utilizing only the natural light coming through my windows.

as always i appreciate your comments, input and feedback...and do feel free to click that like-button to share this with your friends.