Gibson Songbird Custom Deluxe KOA Reviews 
4 / 5 based on 1 reviewsI purchased this guitar from my local music store in down under south Australia in late 2002. I walked into the store to buy some guitar strings for my Taylor twelve and walked out around AUD $4500.00 poorer! Why on earth did I do that? It's commonly refered to as "impulse buying", and reinforces the theory that one should always be completely sober when one enters ones favourite music store, particularly when the store is known to stock a vast erray of quality American built guitars!
Small (7/8) size dreadnaught built in limited numbers in the Gibson custom shop in 2001.Superb build quality,beautiful sitka spruce top, offset by the most amazing
highly flamed koa wood back and sides I've ever seen - a fine example of this fast diminishing tone wood. This guitar plays superbly, action was low straight out of the
box. Mahogany neck is straight, slim and fast. Rosewood fingerboard,fretwork is superb.I"m starting to forgive it for almost sending me broke and relegating me to the proverbial "dog house" Anyway, this guitar feels better in my arms than my ex wife ever did AND sounds so much sweeter!
Strummed gently or fingerpicked the "Gibbo" sounds alive.Nice string separation with a tight bass response that cuts off well before drowning out the melody notes. Once
the plectrum is driven though, the sound becomes compressed, loses clarity and the whole thing starts to fall apart to a degree
(just like my marriage, really ) I must say though, that with time, I have noticed the guitar is really begining to open up and the above mentioned sonic annoyance has become far less noticable. One tiny thing which does annoy me though is gibsons use of a cheap looking plastic body binding on such an otherwise expensive looking guitar.
Grained ivoroid would have been my personal choice, but then, who the hell am I anyway?
As i mentioned earlier, construction is typical of Gibsons Montana era, just bloody superb. Finished in high gloss nitro laquer
which, as we all know ages beautifully. The
neck profile may not suit everyone,being so
slim it can sometimes feel as though it's disappearing in your hand! Other features
include dovetail neck to body joint,reverse belly bridge (rosewood) scalloped x bracing,
Gibsons usual parabolic top, abalone soundhole rosette, "floret" fingerboard inlays,Gibson crown headstock inlay with gold grover tuners,hmmm...
This Gibson songbird is not (yet?) a great guitar.It's a very, very nice guitar which plays superbly, effortlessly, feels great and sounds almost really bloody good. Sonically it is definately improving with age and hopefully this will continue until it reaches it's full potential (unlike my marriage) It is beautifully built in every aspect, from the finest quality materials and being made in such limited numbers, should hold its value to some degree - not
that resale is a consideration - she's not for sale (the guitar i mean)
Dave Ross rated this unit
on
2003-11-19.
