Incoming Gibson Byrdland - Due Diligence

[Archie]

I’m going to look at/buy a Byrdland in a few days and wanted to dot some i’s and cross some t’s

It's a 2000 busrt and looks legit. Sadly it was put in a cedar creek case and the lining has stained the binding in places. I’m not seeking to remedy that but really to authenticate the guitar as best I can.

Seller seems totally legit, no qualms there. Lack of original case and second ‘tone bar’ label inside the body, combined with my lack of experience with 2000 era Gibson, means I want to get some second opinions.

Serial number is: 21600002. If anyone has a contact at Gibson, can you ask them what that number refers to?

Did Gibson also drop the second label inside their carved bodies post 1990’s? Anyone have any examples of the ‘tone bar’ sticker in their post 2000 Gibson carved top?

What era of Gibson is this, Crimson, Custom? Did they have booklets with them? Are we looking at 'funny ebony' for the finger board or is it all pretty straight ahead stuff?

A lack of all of all of the above is not super concerning. I doubt anyone could tell if a Gibson booklet was real or not and as a 24 year old guitar, lots can happen. A lot of buyers don't care for such stuff and ends up lost.

No signature on the label either.

Here’s a pic of the label, more pics to follow.

[Archie]

Just heard from a friend that his Legrand of same era, did not have two labels, nor the main label singed. Good to know.

[vinnyv1k]

Crimson started in 2006 IIRC so it is Custom shop. No booklet.
The serial no. does show it as a 2000 model.
Byrdland’s are fun guitars and sound great.

[Archie]

Crimson started in 2006 IIRC so it is Custom shop. No booklet.
The serial no. does show it as a 2000 model.
Byrdland’s are fun guitars and sound great.

Thanks Vinny

[Minor Seven Flat Five]

Nothing to worry about!

If you email the Gibson Customer Service providing the serial number as well as detailed pictures, they will tell you everything you need to know about the guitar.

Some specimens have two labels, some just one. I've never really figured out the rationale, if any.

[Archie]

Nothing to worry about!

If you email the Gibson Customer Service providing the serial number as well as detailed pictures, they will tell you everything you need to know about the guitar.

Some specimens have two labels, some just one. I've never really figured out the rationale, if any.

Thanks m7b5

[Archie]

The guitar is with me now. Got back at 2:30am. 5+ hour drive.

I thought condition was a little bit rougher than expected. A bit of buckle rash, some dings and matt finish areas. Defiantly needs a mop and and general clean
Frets and binding good, which was a bigger concern and neck straight and good.
Beautiful neck carve. Up there with my JS Award and Heritage JS. Chunky but not too chunky.
Acoustic sound is very strong. Much much better than my Jim Triggs 90’s example. Top is very thin yet tone is nice and deep. The owner thought it was too bright but I think for a Byrdland, it’s very rich with quite a bit of sustain.

Burst is really nice. Really nice colours and done with very good accuracy.

The plates are bit all over the place regarding the carve. Clearly not done purely by CNC alone. Not sure if that’s a positive lol
Will be hard to get good scan data on the plates, without having to do a lot of rebuilding and editing in CAD, which is a shame but certainly fixable. Just time consuming.

Still I got it for a very good price and am happy to have it.
The seller was a lovely bloke and from what I briefly heard, an excellent player.

[Max405]

Wow Archie, that a really beautiful guitar. Vinny swears by Byrdland’s and one of these days I’d like to try one.
Yours is a real beaut man. Enjoy it. Big time.
Joe D

[equenda]

My Dream Guitar.
Some days ago I did see a Facebook ad with a very similar Gibson Byrdland on Facebook.
The price was less than 5.000 UK Pounds.
Unfortunately the guitar was too distant for me.....and now the UK is outside the EU and the custom taxes are 22% or more.

Have fun with your sweet & lovely Birdland!

Ettore

[Archie]

My Dream Guitar.
Some days ago I did see a Facebook ad with a very similar Gibson Byrdland on Facebook.
The price was less than 5.000 UK Pounds.
Unfortunately the guitar was too distant for me.....and now the UK is outside the EU and the custom taxes are 22% or more.

Have fun with your sweet & lovely Birdland!

Ettore

It was likely this guitar. I think the seller had it on ebay for a few hours before I slid him a £100 holding deposit and asked for a few days to raise the funds. He kindly agreed and so that’s what happened.
The price was very good.

I’m currently cleaning it and going to change the top portion of the bridge to ebony, restring it with 12’s and then take some pics. They should be up as soon as I can.

I’ll be passing it on one day so get saving!

[bohemian46]

I wanted one until I owned one.

[garybaldy]

I wanted one until I owned one.

Please tell us more!

[Archie]

I wanted one until I owned one.

I’ve had two now and I think they have certain design aspects that work against them.

1) The addition of two extra frets is pointless as you cannot reach them and they push the neck pickup back.
It could be argued that given the scale length, it was felt that this is where the pickup should be and they added the two extra frets, to avoid a huge gap between the end of the fingerboard (20 frets on an L5) and the pickup.

2) The top is way over braced to accommodate the heavy pickups. If you add this to the body depth, the guitar doesn’t resonate very much. There is a strong tone but probably one that leads more towards a 330 with 12 gauge strings, than an L5 or X700. This does beg the question, why make it out of carved wood in the first place? This is likely because the original designers played carved top Gibsons and so Gibson just did as asked.

3) The tailpiece is badly designed because the thin bars vibrate sympathetically and create a large unavoidable metal ringing, when playing the guitar unplugged. The pickups also add to that as well as the metal top bridge section, which rattles. This was averted by the previous owner by changing the top part, to one without those little bent wires.
All a bit of a mess in this regard but this guitar really is a good example of a hodgepodge of different ideas, pushed into one design that really should have been designed from the ground up.

Remedies:

1) Remove the humbuckers and install either 1 floating one, or one fixed mini humbucker. At worst, one standard humbucker.
That would allow them to reduce the bracing.

2) Move the position of the pickup forward by removing 1 or two of the frets. This would make the guitar sounds a bit darker.

2) Remove the tail piece and replace with a wooden one or one that has thicker metal parts, to stop the ringing.

3) Use an all wood bridge assembly to help darken the tone.

In spite of these somewhat critical issues, I like this example more than my blonde Triggs one. There are some QC issues but it’s a 24 year old guitar, so is structurally sound and looks really good. I enjoy playing it and will be happy to have it around for a while.
I love the neck shape.

[Woody Sound]

Very pretty lighter burst shade on that Brydland [sic].

[Archie]

Very pretty lighter burst shade on that Brydland [sic].

I agree. I think Gibson's of that era had particularly good paint jobs, although they had issues with the finish itself.