Gibson Byrdland
| Gibson Byrdland | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| General | |
| Type | Jazz guitar / archtop |
| Manufacturer | Gibson ; United States |
| production | since 1955 |
| Construction and materials | |
| Scale length | 23.5 inches (597 mm) |
| Body | Sound box with f-holes , sides and back made of maple , top made of spruce |
| neck | Set-in, three- to five-striped neck made of maple and mahogany or walnut |
| Fingerboard | Ebony , 22 frets |
| Mechanics | 3 × left, 3 × right; capsuled |
| Footbridge / bridge | Two-piece: rosewood bridge with individual metal saddles ( Tune-O-Matic ) and metal tailpiece |
| Pickups and Electronics | |
| Pickups |
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| Tone control | passive
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The Gibson Byrdland is an electric guitar model with sound (hollow body, English Hollow Body ) and electromagnetic pickups , which the US instrument company Gibson Guitar Corporation has been produced for the 1955th Its special feature at the time of its market launch was the flat frame, which was new at the time . This resulted in a body depth of just five centimeters for the first time for a guitar with a hollow body; around four centimeters less than the hollow-body guitars built before the introduction of the Byrdland . This characteristic made the Byrdland one of the first semi- resonant guitar models.
History and meaning
With the introduction of guitars that could produce their sound not only through the resonance of the body, but also by means of electromagnetic pickups and electric guitar amplifiers - such as the Gibson ES-150 (since 1936) and Gibson ES-175 (since 1949) - the importance of the acoustic structural properties of guitars in the sound structure of music groups and orchestras had declined.
While in the 1920s and 1930s attempts were still made by various manufacturers to increase the volume of acoustic guitars with the most voluminous instrument body possible, this design feature became less important with the introduction and increasing success of electric guitar amplification. In return, the desire of guitarists increased for more comfortable to use and more ergonomic to play instruments.
The construction of the Gibson Byrdland was intended to convince those guitarists who wanted their instrument to be more comfortable to play, but who shied away from the heavier weight of a solid-body guitar (such as the Fender Telecaster introduced in 1950 and the Gibson Les Paul, first published in 1952 ).
The model designation, which differs from the naming scheme "ES model number" previously used by Gibson, goes back to the two country musicians Billy Byrd and Hank Garland , who are now believed to have influenced the design of the instrument.
At the same time as the Byrdland model , Gibson launched two other models with a flat body, the ES-225T and the ES-350T . All three models, which are very similar in appearance (but not in the woods used), can be considered groundbreaking for the Gibson ES-335 electric guitar model introduced in 1958 ; the model that for the first time had a solid block of wood inserted into the body with flat sides - while the construction method of an acoustic archtop guitar was otherwise retained (curved body top and back, separately manufactured and joined top , back and sides of the body).
Construction way
The construction of the Byrdland is similar to the archtop model L-5 , first presented by Gibson in 1923 ; However, it has a shorter neck , which leads to a length of only 23.5 inches (597 mm), and a specially designed, trapezoidal tailpiece (3-loop tailpiece) . The body top of all model series has two sound holes in the typical curved "f" shape .
A typical design feature that, in addition to its flat body , makes the Byrdland easily distinguishable from its similar-looking sister models , is the fingerboard with multiple bindings and a curved fingerboard at the end of the body . This design element is used by Gibson exclusively for high-priced, elaborately manufactured models (such as the L-5 and the Super 400 ). Another sure distinguishing feature of the Byrdland is a decorative inlay ( inlay ) in the front of the headstock of the instrument, which represents a stylized flower pot with a plant ("Flowerpot Inlay") . The overall design of the Byrdland is identical to an L-5 CES , with the exception of the narrower body, the shorter scale length and the Byrdland-specific tailpiece .
Model series
The first Byrdland series model from the 1950s has a top made of spruce wood and a back and sides made of maple wood . The first model has two pickups in single coil design ( single coil ) with " alnico " magnets and a round-shaped body incision (Cutaway) at the neck base. All exposed metal components of the instrument (tuning mechanisms, bridge and tailpiece) with the exception of the pickup pole heads of the first model series are gold-plated .
From 1957/1958, the Byrdland received the double- coil pickups ( humbuckers ) that were introduced at the same time for the Les Paul and ES-335 models , which were supposed to suppress disturbing stray noises.
From 1960 to 1968, the Byrdland was produced with a tapered ("Florentine") cutaway , which approximated the model in its external appearance to the ES-175. In addition to this change, the three-striped neck (maple / mahogany / maple) was replaced by a five-striped neck (maple / mahogany / maple / mahogany / maple, or later walnut instead of mahogany) from mid-1962. A year later, in 1963, not all floors in the Byrdlands were made from two parts of solid maple, but partly from one-piece, laminated maple. Subsequently, the model was only built with the original round carcass cut until the 1990s. The model is currently offered in both versions.
literature
- Tony Bacon, Dave Hunter: Totally Guitar - the Definitive Guide . Guitar encyclopedia. Backbeat Books, London 2004, ISBN 1-871547-81-4 (English).
- Tony Bacon: Guitar classics - all models and manufacturers . Premio-Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-86706-050-9 .
- AR Duchossoir: Gibson Electrics - The Classic Years . Hal Leonard, 1994, ISBN 0-7935-9210-0 .
- Adrian Ingram: The Gibson L5 - Its History And Its Players . Hal Leonard, 1997, ISBN 1-57424-047-1 .
