October 19, 2011
The Gibson Hummingbird – Sounds Beautifull
The Gibson Hummingbird is an acoustic-electric guitar with an unrivalled, rich sound. The sound of this guitar is truly something be-hold. It has been beautifully built for versatility and sound projection.
The body of the Gibson hummingbird has been designed to produce fantastic sound and ease of play. It is bound with 6 ply on the top and 4 ply on the back. For Gibson, two of the most important parts of the guitar building process is selecting the right wood and the right way to dry it out. Mahogany makes up the sides and back, whilst stika spruce makes up the guitars top. The sound this creates is unparalleled. It is through this process of construction that this guitar gains its rich lows, balanced mid-range, and crisp trebles. The Gibson Hummingbird guitar is a square shoulder dreadnought and this allows easier access to the upper parts of the fingerboard.
The fingerboard is built very strong and designed for quality sound. Just as many classic Gibson acoustics do, it has traditional binding over the fret ends. Gibson meticulously choose their processes and materials to build their guitars. The fingerboard is made from very resilient rose wood. This choice of wood allows the Hummingbird great stability and provides each chord with respective clarity and bite. Inserted in a way that needs no filler and ensures no gaps, the inlays are made from real mother of pearl.
One of the key features of the Gibson Hummingbird is the brace. The brace gives wonderful sound projection through its excellent construction. It is so well constructed that it would usually only be found in limited runs. The bracing in this guitar, like all Gibson guitars, is hand scalloped. The brace achieves very worthy sound projection by focusing the sound centre-ward. Each and every sound range is improved by this ‘X’ shaped brace.
One of the greatest testaments to the construction of this guitar is its acoustic pick up system. It is an L.R Baggs element ES. It’s very durable and fitted to the guitar very intelligently. It has a low profile under saddle element, which is more stable than standard ribbon pickups. The volume control is mounted just inside the sound hole so it doesn’t get in the way when you’re playing. They have removed the need for internal components with the design and placement of this pick up system.
The Gibson Hummingbird is an acoustic-electric guitar has been loved by many musicians and artists over the years. This guitar has become the icon of the Gibson range since its release in 1960. It is not uncommon to see this guitar in the hands of legends like Gram Parsons and Keith Richards. The Hummingbird was Gibsons first square shoulder release.
The Gisbon Hummingbird provides the musician with wonderful versatility. It really can play any style. It sounds beautiful cranking out first-position chords and just as sweet flat-picking up the neck. No matter what you want this guitar for, whether it be blues, rock and roll or anything in between and all around, it will deliver sensational sound.
This Gibson Acoustic Electric is probably one of the nicest sounding acoustic-electric guitars available. Its excellent design characteristics and the materials used to build it have given it a truly beautiful sound.
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May 25, 2010
Masters of Blues Guitar
It is common for guitar lovers of all abilities to have old masters of guitar that they look up to and try to style themselves upon.
In most cases it is not possible to play like any of the greats as there are so many variables at play when creating sound and tone.
What exactly contributes to the sound and tone of a guitarist is a multitude of elements such as the style of guitar being played, the type of pickups, the guitars tone and volume settings, the type of guitar strings used, and of course the type and settings for the amplifier – and this is even before considering the actual guitarist and how they bend the strings.
Two legends of guitar immediately come to mind when one thinks of the Blues style of guitar playing and those players are John Lee Hooker and BB King.
The Epiphone BB King Lucille electric guitar is a classic blues masterpiece designed originally by Gibson and used by BB King for some time now. It is an absolutely beautiful looking guitar and has some really neat features for varying the tone while playing.
BB King is the penultimate performer playing to audiences in most years, 5 nights a week, and this living legend is well into his 70’s.
An inspiration to all us guitar bunnies who continue to plug away at the guitar. Follow BB’s lead and you can keep performing for audiences at your rest home!
Another great guitar I want to put up for consideration is the Epiphone Sheraton II – a personal choice of John Lee Hooker in the middle of the 60’s .
John Lee’s life is the story of blues legends – having grownup in a family of poor farmers in the South he lived through some of the toughest times in US history – the Depression followed by WWII before settling in postwar Chicago where he worked at Ford during the day and played guitar at night. His real fame came in the late 70’s with his hit album ‘The Healer’ and he acted in the cult movie “The Blues Brothers”. The legend John Lee died in 2001 and he left behind an extensive legacy of his particular music style.
An acoustic guitar was John Lee’s guitar of choice in the early part of his career, then he moved to an electric guitar while playing in Chicago, and in the 60’s switched to the Epiphone Sheraton II guitar.
The quality of guitars produced as reissues of those used by guitar masters is significantly extremely high and the goal is generally to honor the name or memory of the guitarist.
Owning such guitars provides a guitarist an opportunity to get some feel for the guitar equipment that the blues masters used.
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