1963 Gibson Hummingbird Acoustic Guitar Vintage

1963  Gibson Hummingbird Acoustic Guitar

Guitar has been played and shows player wear. Excellent sounding example of a classic instrument.

Purchased from GE Smith in the late 1990's.

Serial # 141110

Non Original Hard Shell Case included.

Appears on many recordings including these http://www.greatcg.com/music.asp   Album: Means To An End. Tracks: 2 & 6

Email with questions or for specific photos.

Here is an interesting article concerning 1960's Hummingbirds.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Gibson Hummingbird (1960-present)

Gibson hummingbird guitars were gibson's first square shoulder dreadnought guitars , although the guitar was a little pricy when it was introduced in 1960 it was an immediate success .

The Hummingbird "was and is" an eye catcher and plays acceptionally well ( rich tone), it opened and paved the way for other household named flat top gibson acoustic guitars with square shoulders such as the dove custom guitar , country western and the gibson heritage .

Many collectors debate on whether this guitar is truly collectible because of its square shoulders , in my opinion the hummingbird is a significant part of gibsons' history and according to the trend its price value keeps on going up year after year .

From 1960 till present there was no drastic changes to the hummingbird accept for minor features .

In 1960 the hummingbird was 16 .25" wide , it had a rosewood bridge , mahogany body back and sides , engraved hummingbird on pickguard , bound body and neck , gold tuners , double parallelagram fingerboard inlays , and were made in cherry sunburst .

In 1963 some hummingbirds were made with maple back and sides ( which was optional ) , and pickguards were a little smaller , in 1965 gibson added humminbirds made in natural finishes , some pickguards were attached with screws in late 60s .

In 1970 the hummingbird had non adjustable bridge saddles, and a 3 piece mahogany neck . In 73 they started making them with block inlays on the fingerboard , during the early 80s parallelagram fingerboard inlays were reintroduced .

Vintage Guitar Price Values For 2007 :
1960 - 1962 > $4200 to $4700 ( mahogany )
1963 - 1964 > $3800 to $4200 ( maple optional )
1965 - 1968 > $2500 to $3500 ( natural finishes were added in 65 )
1969 - 1983 > $1500 to $2500
1984 - 1999 > $1200 to $1700

1960 - 1962 > Avg Upward Trend Of 15% a Year since 2000
1963-1964 > 11% 1965-1968 > 7% 1969-1983 > 5% 1984 - 1999 > 3%

Note : Pre 65 models are very difficult to find and were made in limited quantities . Prices above are according to 4 different vintage guitar price guides and rounded off to the nearest dollar .