Visually stunning, acoustically amazing, the Gibson Hummingbird has always stood out. The first Gibson Hummingbirds were created in 1960. The body shape unique: Gibson called it a Square Shoulder design. Gibson s design goal was easy on paper, but not easy to do that is, to create a guitar specifically designed for vocal accompaniment, a guitar with a voice all its own but yet a voice to complement the human voice, not overpower it. Gibson certainly achieved that lofty acoustic goal, and to make sure listeners knew that you had arrived, they made sure a Hummingbird looked distinctive, and couldn t be mistaken for any other guitar.Today, The Gibson Hummingbird has a fanatical, almost religious following among acoustic guitar players. The particular Hummingbird model selected for inclusion in the Gibson Acoustic Icon series of guitars represents the model as it would have appeared in the mid 1960 s. To make it even more exclusive, we didn t select just any mid-60 s Hummingbird to recreate, but an apparent one-off custom ordered Hummingbird of the era, recently discovered by an international guitar collector!Back in the mid sixties, a dedicated Gibson Hummingbird fan wanted his personal Hummingbird to really stand out. He (or she) placed a custom order for a Hummingbird with Mother of Pearl Block style inlays (then found on the Gibson L-5 CES archtop jazz guitar). In addition, the customer had ordered the guitar with a custom color finish combination of a natural colored top with a beautiful dark cherry red colored back and sides. This is the guitar chosen for the Acoustic Icon series.This mid-60 s Hummingbird Special offers solid Honduran Mahogany back and sides, along with a AAA grade solid Sitka Spruce top . The body offers 6 ply binding on the top, 4 ply binding on the back. The neck is one-piece Mahogany, graced with a fingerboard of hand-selected Indian Rosewood. The bound fingerboard also features the Gibson birds-beak design where it meets the body. The neck shape is the Gibson rounded style of the mid-60 s, topped off with a bone nut 1.725 wide for added playing comfort. The bridge is Indian Rosewood as well, with a period-correct adjustable saddle. To make this guitar even more unique, the pickguard, featuring the original ornate hummingbird design is hand cast from the original mold used in the 60 s! This guitar also includes a custom, form-fitting hardshell case, and signed Certificate of Authenticity from Gibson.The Gibson Hummingbird has always stood above the crowd of look-alike acoustic guitars. Our mid-60 s Hummingbird Special is a step above all of the other birds with its custom-ordered features. Its part of a limited availability series of Gibson acoustic guitars we call the Acoustic Icons , specially created for us by the luthiers at Gibson. You ll have to agree, the Mid-60 s Gibson Hummingbird Special is an iconic guitar in every sense of the word.
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