In 1955 Billy Byrd and Hank Garland, two of Nashville's most prominent session guitarists, worked with Gibson to produce a guitar that would fit their playing style. What they wound up with: a 23 1/2 inch short scaled, 1 5/8 nut, 2 1/4 inch thick archtop guitar with two pickups and a cutaway, was the first "Thinline" guitar Gibson ever produced, taking the usually bulky feeling of an archtop guitar and slimming it down to a much more playable size for most. The design altered very little over time, with the only major change being a switch back and forth between the new, sharper Florentine cutaway and the rounder, older Venetian cutaway.
Though its association with Country would fade into a much more jazz-oriented scene over time, the Byrdland remained in Gibson's catalogue for many years, all the way up until the mid 2010's, when they essentially axed all archtops from production. This guitar dates to June 16th, 2014, basically right at the end of the line.
This particular guitar, with the sharper Florentine cutaway, is in great condition, with barely any marks on it. Everything is all original, and the '57 Classic pickups sound warm and punchy in the thinner body. The sunburst finish is gorgeous, as is the case with all Gibson archtops. The gold hardware is in great condition, and the ebony bridge + ABR combination makes for a very expressive sound, one that spans multiple genres. The switch is a little sticky, and tends to prefer to be in the neck position.Serial #11674001 comes with the original hardshell case.
