Buying a vintage Gibson guitar- Part 1:On the hunt

Just got married few months ago and my wife and I decided to go on a U.S road trip as our honeymoon. For me it was really an excuse to buy myself another acoustic guitar (honey, I hope you don’t read this). I already had two Martins and was determined to buy a vintage Gibson this time I am a folk singer song writer and have noticed that most of the old artists I admire (Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, James Tylor, Donvan, Arthur Lee from ‘Love’ etc.) played Gibsons in their early career (with the exception of Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Don Mclean- who played Martins) so I really wanted one. I do a lot of strumming and playing rhythm chords is the way I usually judge a good big body acoustic guitar.

I set myself a 3000$ plus budget with the thought in mind of buying a 50’s or 60’s Gibson J-50 or J-45 model which is what considered to be the classic Gibson acoustic of the era. The ones from the 50’s and 60’s have slope round shoulders which is more sought after by collectors and in my opinion has a nicer and better shape than the boxy squared shoulders of the standard dreadnought (but not a deal breaker for me). Still I tried to keep an open mind and play all kinds of acoustic guitars until I find ‘the one’.

Luckily, my wife has relatives and friends all over the U.S. so we planned to be in many places that have guitar shops including New York, Michigan, Arizona and Florida. However, I figured that my guitar hunting would really start to kick in when we rent a car and go for a two weeks trip around the south eastern states (Tenesse, Lousiana, Alabama).

In New York City I went to Rivington Vintage Guitar store in the East Village. They didn’t have what I was looking for, but I did played an awesome 60’s Gibson B-25 which had a small body and a really sweet sound for finger picking style. Who knows, maybe next time

In Sam Ash located on the infamous 48th street I played an old road worn 1967 Gibson Hummingbird. They asked 2000$ mostly because it had many issues including a nasty head stock repair. It had the “not so desired” adjustable bridge with the rosewood wooden saddle. In spite of that and the square shoulders of this model, it did have a lot of mojo, and I loved it. The sound was extremely woody, warm and dry- me like! I think a good Gibson acoustic must possess this old dry folky middy tone that not all of them have.

I also played a new Gibson Hummingbird that didn’t have anything to do with the magic that this old one had.

There were three reasons why I didn’t buy the ‘67 Hummingbird:

• It had too many cracks and issues and was afraid a bit afraid of that
• I felt that I had a long trip ahead of me and I must play more guitars in order to decide. There must be better ones on the way. I still hoped for a slope shouldered model at the time.
• It will ruin all the fun part finding my guitar already on our first stop

To be continued…..

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One Response to “Buying a vintage Gibson guitar- Part 1:On the hunt”

1. Darmelan says:

   October 13, 2011 at 1:18 pm

   Hej it is Darmelan from Vintageandrare.com. I really like your story quite funny mixed with good reviews of the gibson’s.

   Still i had gone for the hummingbird:)