Gibson Hummingbird Special Wine Red
All about the Gibson Hummingbird Special
The Hummingbird in Gibson's history
First released in 1960, Gibson Hummingbird is one of the most distinctive and popular acoustic guitars ever made. The new Gibson Hummingbird Special is handcrafted in Bozeman, Montana by Gibson's experienced luthiers and offers players a US-made Gibson Hummingbird model at a very attractive price.
Tonewoods and construction of the Hummingbird Special
The Gibson Hummingbird Special features a traditional, square-shoulder body. The back and sides are genuine, solid mahogany. The solid Sitka spruce top is reinforced by Gibson's traditional scalloped X-bracing. This combination of tonewoods delivers a warm, balanced tone with excellent dynamic range, suitable for any musical style. The "Concert Depth" body is slightly thinner than the body of the Hummingbird Standard. This gives it a more focused and tighter bass response. The instrument is also lighter and easier to play.
Neck construction and fretboard
The Utile neck is joined to the body with a dovetail joint and, as with all Gibson acoustic guitars, is glued with hide glue. It has a comfortable, rounded profile. The rosewood fretboard has a 12" radius and features parallelogram inlays made of mother-of-pearl: the visual trademark that makes the Gibson Hummingbird easy to recognise! The fretboard is fitted with 20 standard frets.
Appointments and design details
The traditional belly-up rosewood bridge is fitted with a TUSQ saddle, and the nut and the bridge pins are also made of TUSQ. High-quality Grover Rotomatic tuners provide rock-solid tuning stability. The pickguard shows a more restrained version of the world-famous historic Hummingbird graphic. The Gibson Hummingbird Special is finished in satin nitrocellulose lacquer in Vintage Cherry Sunburst and Wine Red. All Gibson Special models come from the factory fitted with an L.R. Baggs Element Bronze pickup with active preamp.
Matte nitrocellulose lacquer finish in Wine Red
Belly-up rosewood bridge with TUSQ saddle and bridge pins
Simple tortoiseshell pickguard with Hummingbird graphic
- Back / Sides: Mahogany
- Binding: Cream
- Body Shape: Square Shoulder
- Body Shape: Dreadnought
- Body finish: Satin
- Bridge: Rosewood
- Bridge-Pins: White Plastic
- Color/ Finish: wine red
- Colour: Red
- Construction / Acoustic: Solid
- Controls: 1x volume
- Country of Origin: USA
- Cutaway: no
- Factory Stringing: D'Addario EXP
- Finish: Nitrocellulose
- Finish: Matt
- Fretboard: Rosewood
- Fretboard Inlays: Pearloid Parallelogram
- Fretboard radius: 12" (305 mm)
- Fret material: Nickel silver
- Frets: 20
- Fret size: Standard
- Headstock: Open Book Headstock with Gibson Logo
- Includes: Softcase
- Neck: Utile
- Neck Mount: Dovetail
- Neck Profile: Round
- Neck finish: Satin
- Nut Width: 43,815 mm / 1,725 in
- Pickguard: Hummingbird Black
- Pickup Details: L.R. Baggs Element Bronze
- Pre-amp system: L.R. Baggs Element Bronze
- Rosette: Black/Aged White
- Saddle/Cross piece inlay: Tusq
- Scale Length: 24,75" (629 mm)
- Strings: 6 string
- Strings thickness ex factory: .012 - .053
- Top: Sitka Spruce
- Top Bracing: Scalloped X-Bracing
- Translation: 1:18
- Tuning Machines: Grover rotomatic
The L.R. Baggs Element Bronze pickup system — the amplified sound
All Gibson Special models are equipped with the active L.R. Baggs Element Bronze piezo pickup mounted under the saddle and an active preamp with an easily accessible volume control in the soundhole. This makes the guitar immediately stage- and studio-ready! A Gibson Premium softshell case is included.
Unlike typical bridge pickups for acoustic guitars, which mostly develop their sound based on string compression, the L.R. Baggs Element system was designed to capture the actual movement of the guitar top.
The heart of the pickup is a flexible sensor film only two thousandths of an inch thick, which captures even the subtlest nuances of the guitar.
About the Gibson Special acoustic guitars
The Special models make the famous Gibson sound accessible to guitarists who, despite a smaller budget, don't want to give up the distinctive Gibson logo and the "made in USA" badge. With the new models Hummingbird Special, J-45 Special and L-00 Special, Gibson presents reinterpretations of three classic models that are inseparably linked with Gibson's history. In terms of price these guitars sit below the Standard series but above the visually simplified Studio models.
About Gibson
The American Gibson Guitar Corporation, founded in 1902 by Orville Gibson in Kalamazoo, Michigan, first became known for the production of mandolins and banjos. Today the company’s headquarters are in Nashville, Tennessee, and Gibson is one of the world’s most renowned and respected manufacturers of electric guitars.
The model Les Paul, named after its creator Lester William Polsfuss, is one of the most famous and best‑selling electric guitar shapes of all time and established the single‑cut guitar form, which has been copied, adopted and reinterpreted by numerous other manufacturers. The Les Paul is mainly prized for its sound, characterised as warm and full. The humbucker pickup largely responsible for that sound, in its now common design, was developed by Seth Lover at Gibson.
In the early 1960s the Gibson SG appeared as another solid‑body electric from Gibson. Originally intended as the successor to the Les Paul, it became — helped by Angus Young of AC/DC — another rock‑history icon and is the basis for the double‑cutaway guitar type.
With the Flying V and the Explorer Gibson is responsible for two body shapes that, although they were far ahead of their time when introduced in the late 1950s, have over the years also achieved legendary status. They still serve as the foundation for a host of heavy guitars today, for example from makers such as Jackson or ESP.
The Gibson Custom Shop produces custom orders, high‑quality one‑offs and precise replicas of famous models and legendary instrument years. These are often subjected to an artificial ageing process called relicing.
Almost as long as the company has existed, acoustic guitars have also been produced. The J‑45, the Hummingbird, the L‑00 and the SJ‑200 are among the world’s most beloved steel‑string acoustics and were the instruments of choice for Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and John Lennon.
Besides the instruments already mentioned, you can of course also buy picks, bags and cases or merchandise from Gibson with us.
We are particularly proud to host a Gibson Flagship Store in our Frankfurt branch. There you’ll find not only a large selection and exclusive models to try out in person, but you’ll also benefit from the expertise of our Gibson‑trained and certified staff when choosing the perfect guitar.
