Peerless Songbird

**blille** · 07-13-2017, 01:55 AM

My wonderful wife got me this for my birthday.

It's a 2012 Peerless Songbird. Peerless used to build the Casino for Epiphone and then they launched their own version. The quality of the build is really good, top quality and a perfect sized neck.

It was a great deal but you could tell the guitar hadn't gotten a ton of love lately and the pickups were too hot for my taste. I was lucky enough to find a P90 set from a CS Gibson ES-330 VOS at a great price which is underwound and A2, perfect for what I was after. I also cleaned it up real good, put a Kluson with nylon saddles, a black pickguard and boy am I happy. Grant Green, here I come.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**AlohaJoe** · 07-13-2017, 02:11 AM

Beautiful! I eyeball those now and then... I'd love to hear a follow up once you've had some time with it. Congratulations!

**TOMMO** · 07-13-2017, 05:08 AM

Happy Birthday and Happy New Guitar Day then!

**Max405** · 07-13-2017, 06:41 AM

Happy birthday, and have fun with your new Guitar.
Joe D

**Teddyfm** · 07-13-2017, 10:38 AM

Happy birthday and enjoy your Songbird. Got one myself. Like it alot. Light and comfy.

Cheers
Ted

**Thumpalumpacus** · 07-13-2017, 11:06 AM

Oh yeah!

**Rob MacKillop** · 07-13-2017, 11:30 AM

Looks nice, and those AII P90s will sound great with it. Have fun.

**silverfoxx** · 07-13-2017, 02:12 PM

Happy Birthday & NGD, your wife deserves a bunch of
flowers too. The Peerless looks great especially with
P90's , enjoy the day & the guitar for many moons

Silverfoxx

**Little Jay** · 07-13-2017, 03:27 PM

It looks great, congratulations! Don't those have a centre block? I thought they did, right?

**blille** · 07-13-2017, 04:31 PM

Thanks all!

Originally Posted by Little Jay

It looks great, congratulations! Don't those have a centre block? I thought they did, right?

It's actually fully hollow like an ES-330 or Casino.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**Little Jay** · 07-13-2017, 04:35 PM

Originally Posted by blille

Thanks all!

It's actually fully hollow like an ES-330 or Casino.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oh cool, it is indeed a serious contender for a Casino or ES-330 then!

**blille** · 07-13-2017, 04:50 PM

Originally Posted by Little Jay

Oh cool, it is indeed a serious contender for a Casino or ES-330 then!

Yes, it's just my playing that gets in the way of the guitar sounding great

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**pingu** · 07-13-2017, 08:31 PM

How does the bridge like that mount without
a block under it ?
(I guess the top is thicker at that point somehow)

Looks great man is it ok acoustically ?
Played a Sunset that had a good acoustic voice

**citizenk74** · 07-13-2017, 09:28 PM

Happy Birthday and NGD! Sweet looking guitar, and a lovely gesture from your Better Half. Congratulations on all fronts, and play it in good health!

**blille** · 07-13-2017, 09:37 PM

Originally Posted by pingu

How does the bridge like that mount without
a block under it ?
(I guess the top is thicker at that point somehow)

Looks great man is it ok acoustically ?
Played a Sunset that had a good acoustic voice

Thanks!

It's like a pinned bridge.

Acoustically it's ok, it's a thin line so not much volume.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**Doctor Jeff** · 07-13-2017, 09:44 PM

Your wife is a keeper for sure!

I'm a big Peerless fan--hit well above their weight price-wise. Great quality, looks and sound. The Peerless bursts look particularly nice, and yours is no exception.

I have a Peerless Sunset, which is kind of a cousin to the Songbird--fully hollow thinline, single cut, humbuckers, floating bridge. It has good acoustic tone for being a thinline.

I would recommend either of these wholeheartedly to someone looking for a quality jazz guitar that's comfortable to play at not too high a price.

**Little Jay** · 07-14-2017, 02:15 AM

Originally Posted by pingu

How does the bridge like that mount without
a block under it ?
(I guess the top is thicker at that point somehow)

The ES-330's top is reinforced like this:

They just left out the 335's centre block. Still gives enough meat for the studs of the bridge.

The Casino is reinforced in a similar way:

I am guessing the Peerless is more like the Casino.

**sgosnell** · 07-14-2017, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by Little Jay

The ES-330's top is reinforced like this:

They just left out the 335's centre block. Still gives enough meat for the studs of the bridge.

Is that the top or the back? It has a label, but no holes for anything.

**TOMMO** · 07-14-2017, 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by sgosnell

Is that the top or the back? It has a label, but no holes for anything.

Obviously the back - like you mentioned: no holes but the giveaway is that you usually can see the label glued to the back when looking through the bass side f-hole.....

**Little Jay** · 07-14-2017, 12:15 PM

Yes that is a back, but take it from me that the tops are reinforced the same way. This is the back of a 335, that guitar has the centre block - that is shaped like a brick - wedged between the top and back. The kerfed spruce liners or spacers connect the block to top and back. For the ES-330 they simply left out the centre block and also the kerfed spruce spacer to the back.

Here's the top:

**Little Jay** · 07-14-2017, 12:22 PM

@blille: you put in some Gibson P90s, right? So there was enough room for those, especially at the neck? I read somewhere that Epiphone P90s are lower than their Gibson counterparts and because of the shallower Epiphone neck-angle there is no room for a standard P90. But I take it that you didn't have that problem?

Man, this is so interesting! I've been wanting to add an ES-330-like guitar to my arsenal for a long time now, but I don't want to spent the premium dough for a Gibson, as it wouldn't be my main guitar. Casinos always left something to be desired for me, but your Peerless with the Gibson P90s might rock my boat.... I am inclined to go your route!

**blille** · 07-14-2017, 09:22 PM

Originally Posted by Little Jay

@blille: you put in some Gibson P90s, right? So there was enough room for those, especially at the neck? I read somewhere that Epiphone P90s are lower than their Gibson counterparts and because of the shallower Epiphone neck-angle there is no room for a standard P90. But I take it that you didn't have that problem?

Man, this is so interesting! I've been wanting to add an ES-330-like guitar to my arsenal for a long time now, but I don't want to spent the premium dough for a Gibson, as it wouldn't be my main guitar. Casinos always left something to be desired for me, but your Peerless with the Gibson P90s might rock my boat.... I am inclined to go your route!

Glad you're intrigued

I was in the same boat.

These Gibsons were from an ES330 so they were a direct fit, which is not normal, neck is short, bridge is tall.

Here you have all the information about P90s in these kind of guitars: Lollar Pickups: Dogear and Casino Model Page

I'll give you my personal opinion though (so take it with a grain of salt). It's not a big deal, you would be fine with normal pickups. There are 4 factors:

1) pickup height: you can solve it with shims
2) neck pickup width: a normal P90 has slightly more width between poles but it's a bit like f-spaced vs gibson spaced, not a big deal. This is how the string spacing looks like if you put a Normal p90

3) covers: some people want to keep the original chrome covers of the Casino for whatever reason. IMHO black is more pleasant but you can rewind the original P90s that come and be happy. IME the P90 is a robust design and with the right winding and a magnet you like, you can't go wrong.
4) slant: the neck pickup has a slant. Some people like it, others don't, I don't think it's a big deal again.

I looked A LOT into this so if you need any help feel free to ping me.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**Little Jay** · 07-15-2017, 04:15 AM

Great info, thanks! Yeah, black covers is the way to go! :-)

(Btw, what is the 4th factor? You didn't mention that anymore.)

**blille** · 07-15-2017, 11:00 AM

Originally Posted by Little Jay

Great info, thanks! Yeah, black covers is the way to go! :-)

(Btw, what is the 4th factor? You didn't mention that anymore.)

A pleasure. You're right! I edited the post, it's the neck pickup slant.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**TOMMO** · 07-15-2017, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by blille

A pleasure. You're right! I edited the post, it's the neck pickup slant.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have an Epiphone WildKat (P90s) where the neck pickup also has a slant. I made a wedge-shaped wood shim and got the pickup to be parallel to the strings that way...