NAGD Hummingbird Content

[ezbass]

Having been beset with dreadnought GAS for quite a while, I delved into what I actually wanted despite being wowed by a Yamaha trans-acoustic . It had to be 24.75” scale for comfort, mahogany back and sides for that nice midrange (I have a rosewood folk sized guitar for that deeper tone, very much suited to fingerstyle) and sound good of course. Research led me to the ‘inspired by Gibson’ range by Epiphone. These are built from solid woods, more attention detail and a very thin, semi-gloss finish. The two in the running were the J45 and Hummingbird. I trotted off to Dundee with the two acoustics I already own for comparison (no point buying something that does the same as you already have), pretty sure that it would be the Hummingbird, which I’d gleaned from the YouTube videos I’d watched. I started with the J45 and was immediately mightily impressed, it knocked spots off my run of the mill Epi EJ200 and I thought I may have been hasty in my preconceptions. Then I played the Hummingbird, within one strum I knew that this was what I was looking for. It had the same playability as the J45, combined with a wonderful, vibrating feedback from the back of the guitar, but with a really sonorous low end lacking in the J45 (which is designed not have this apparently). I played a few things on it and compared it to the EJ200 and my Simon & Patrick Rosewood Folk Pro, but it was unnecessary, I was hooked from the get go. Yes, it needs a little setting up and a string change (kudos to Kenny’s for not even blinking when I asked if they’d throw in a set of strings and for their sterling service altogether), but I think we’re going to be very happy together. 

What’s that I hear you say  

 

Very well…

 

[ezbass]

Day two. Restrung yesterday, as well as putting some lemon oil on the board and bridge plate (the frets did not suddenly sprout out ), lowered the bridge a shade and tightened the truss rod. However, after a good bit of playing (it is new after all), I noticed some things that needed a little attention. Therefore, this morning, off came the strings again and I polished the frets with a micro mesh cloth, as the frets were ever so slightly gritty when you moved a plain string from side to side, not terrible by any means, just not perfect. I was a bit concerned about the D & G string tuners not reacting as they should, but a clean out and lube of the nut has sorted that out. The finish on the inside of the sound hole was a bit bobbly and a quick rub with some 800 grit paper has fixed that too. I also took the bridge down about 0.5mm again for an even lower action. All back together again and even better than it was. The corners cut are understandable for a guitar that sounds this good (the most important bit) at this price point, so I have no complaints.