❌ NO LONGER AVAILABLE❌ Gibson Hummingbird Square Shoulder Dreadnought Sunburst, 1975

Appearing in 1960 next to the top of the line J-200, the Gibson Hummingbird was Gibson’s first square-shoulder – Martin style – dreadnought guitar. This model used a Spruce top with Mahogany for the back and sides, and a longer scale length of 25.4 inches. It has always been fairly fancy, with multi-layer binding, sunburst finish, mother of pearl position markers in dual-parallelogram or block form, and a hand-painted pickguard. The pickguard is fairly thick, and Gibson sometimes explains that it adds a ‘natural compression’ to the guitar’s sound.

This Gibson Hummingbird example dates to 1975 at Gibson’s historic Parsons Street plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and has a ‘Union Made’ label. This was built while Gibson was owned by Norlin (from 1970 to 1983).

It is in overall good condition, and has recently had a neck reset, major work that nearly all steel string guitars of a certain age will require. The bridge has also been replaced, and the original is in the case. Consequently, the action height is good, and there’s plenty of range for adjustment. The frets are original, fairly low and flat, but that matters less on an acoustic where string bending is less common. Wear is most visible to the first few frets.

The Gibson Hummingbird finish is in overall good shape. There is of necessity a bit of touch up at the neck joint because of the neck reset. Gibson’s production process has the guitar neck mounted prior to finishing, so the lacquer covers the heel-side seam. That covering finish has to be carefully cut to remove the neck. There is an amount of natural and expected lacquer checking, a number of small dents, and a bit of buckle rash on the back. On the heel, a strap pin had been mounted, then moved to the heel cap.

The sound is great – a full, rich, even tone with the top-end sparkle that comes from a Mahogany back and side set.

The original, or period correct, hard shell case is included.