NathanCahill
New member
A while back I posted a thread about a friend of mine's Gibson Byrdland he bought back in the 60's , somewhere around 69. This guy can play great but his idea of maintenance leaves a little to be desired. Several years ago he quit playing with a band and started using all kinds of effects so he could play by himself. He wound up switching to a Strat and stored the Byrdland. Before he stored it he thought he was doing it a favor by spraying it down with furniture polish and wiping it down. He got it out recently and the gold pickup covers and the bridge to some extent have a green tint to them and have some sort of powder at the edges (kinda like the corrosion on copper). The pickgaurd has also almost disintegrated, so it will need replaced. Beyond that the finish has some checking and small spot. If I can get the pickups straitened out and a new pickgaurd on it he would like to start playing it again. At the moment he is just ashamed of it.
First off are the pickups worth saving or should I just replace them with Antiquities? - either way the originals will be saved they just may get replaced in the guitar.
Second, I have asked about getting a pickgaurd made for it and the name Chris Mirabella has came up multiple times. Should I just give him a call and go from there or would just a pickgaurd be kind of pretentious to ask for.
The guitar is a tobacco burts finish with gold hardware and an original Bigsby. The Pickgaurd according to my friend (after showing him some examples) appears to have been a tortise shell type guard with a white stripe around the edge (standard tortise shell laminante).
The sticker inside the F-Hole Says it is from the Kalamazoo plant and it's serial number apears to be 801025. I could not fully read the one on the back of the headstock being black finished and the serial number in Black as well but from what I can tell it also appears to read 801025.
I would appreceate it if some one could date it for me.
(I have a few pics if I can figure out how to email them to my self from my phone. I can't seem to find out how to input the @ symbol for the email address.)
First off are the pickups worth saving or should I just replace them with Antiquities? - either way the originals will be saved they just may get replaced in the guitar.
Second, I have asked about getting a pickgaurd made for it and the name Chris Mirabella has came up multiple times. Should I just give him a call and go from there or would just a pickgaurd be kind of pretentious to ask for.
The guitar is a tobacco burts finish with gold hardware and an original Bigsby. The Pickgaurd according to my friend (after showing him some examples) appears to have been a tortise shell type guard with a white stripe around the edge (standard tortise shell laminante).
The sticker inside the F-Hole Says it is from the Kalamazoo plant and it's serial number apears to be 801025. I could not fully read the one on the back of the headstock being black finished and the serial number in Black as well but from what I can tell it also appears to read 801025.
I would appreceate it if some one could date it for me.
(I have a few pics if I can figure out how to email them to my self from my phone. I can't seem to find out how to input the @ symbol for the email address.)
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