HOLD 1969 Gibson Dove

Gibson’s higher-end accompaniment to the iconic Hummingbird model, the Dove features a full-sized, square-shouldered dreadnaught body, Spruce top with Maple back and sides, long-scale, Rosewood fretboard with split parallelogram inlays, an adjustable bridge and the signature mother-of-pearl dove-inlaid pickguard. This guitar is in very good condition with light signs of use for its age including light play wear and light finish checking. Plays beautifully delivering a boomy low-end with a punchy, woody midrange and piano-like top-end clarity, and sounds great plugged in as it comes fitted with an aftermarket DeArmond pickup. An excellent example of a Gibson classic. Includes hardshell case.

Check out the feature from our luthier Tyler in the ECG Newsletter:

"It’s difficult to imagine an instrument undergoing a more drastic evolution over the span of a decade than the guitar did in the 1960s. In the early 60s the guitar played a somewhat peripheral role in American culture. You may have watched Conway Twitty strumming his OM-18 on American Bandstand, but it was far from the star of the show. By the end of the decade and due largely to the Beatles, there was a guitar in nearly every household and Jimi Hendrix was shredding the National Anthem for an unwashed sea of conscientious objectors. The two major American guitar companies had been sold off to multinational conglomerates and still couldn’t meet the seemingly insatiable demand for their instruments. Things would never be quite the same. 

1969 was the perfect time to play a guitar with a dove on it. It was common knowledge at the time that carrying a flat-top acoustic along with a copy of The Bell Jar would secure you at least a date with any girl on NYU’s campus, regardless of proficiency with either. This particular example remains in extremely minty condition with no discernible repairs, virtually unheard of for a guitar of its age. At some point the original owner decided amplification was needed, presumably so his neighbors could hear his “pretty decent” solo cover of Fortunate Son. His solution was to install a DeArmond soundhole pickup, which may not reproduce the sound of an acoustic guitar as faithfully as modern pickups, but without a doubt sounds exactly like a DeArmond soundhole pickup. This instrument is a true time capsule from a bygone era defined by its incredibly formative popular music and questionable hygiene. Whether you like it or not, there isn’t a cleaner 60s Dove out there at any price."