The Gibson Songbird Deluxe is a dressed-up version of Gibson's Songbird, a guitar that I reviewed a few weeks ago (http://www.epinions.com/content_78899351172). As I stated in that review, the Songbird was constructed with a "no frills" approach, intended to provide a guitar made from quality materials, with excellent sound and playability, but at a price that was affordable to the consumer. The Songbird Deluxe is a little bit fancier than the Songbird, but it's not really that much more expensive, even though it has several appointments that the Songbird is lacking. Both guitars have excellent, but different, sound--more about that in a moment.

The Songbird Deluxe is a member of the Hummingbird Square Shoulder line, which has been in production since 1960 or so. This instrument is a square shoulder dreadnought acoustic guitar with a bound Sitka spruce top and rosewood back and sides. The mahogany neck has an ebony fretboard with mother of pearl double parallelogram inlays, and the soundhole rosette is made of shimmering abalone. The gold kidney tuners and sculpted three-point pickguard perfectly compliment the antique natural finish, giving this guitar an understated but elegant appearance. If you prefer the acoustic-electric mode, available options are a cutaway model and a Fishman active transducer.

Materials And Construction

The workmanship that went into this guitar is almost flawless--my inspection revealed no defects, and from all appearances this is an instrument that is built with that rigid Gibson commitment to craftmanship. The materials used are of the finest quality, and the adornments that set it apart from the Songbird, like the inlay work, binding, rosette and sculpted pickguard, are very tastefully done and give the Songbird Deluxe a pretty snazzy look without appearing gaudy.

Playability

I've said time and time again--I can't detect much difference in the feel of any of Gibson's acoustic guitars. All of the guitars in the Hummingbird Square Shoulder Series probably have a little bit bigger neck than most other acoustic guitars, but the neck of the Songbird Deluxe felt like an old friend, probably because my personal guitar is a Hummingbird. The ebony fretboard is faster than the traditional rosewood fretboard, making the action on the Songbird Deluxe just a little slicker and faster. The soloist would like this, and it probably shouldn't make too much difference to the fingerpicker or rhythm player, unless light gauge strings made the action a little too "squirmy". Overall, the Songbird Deluxe plays like the quality instrument that it is.

Sound

The combination of the spruce top and the rosewood back and sides give the Songbird Deluxe a bright, lively sound, as opposed to the darker, warmer mahogany sound of the Songbird. There's more emphasis on the treble tones than the bass tones, and the result is to give the Songbird Deluxe a punchier sound than her mahogany sister. A soloist would have no trouble being heard in an an acoustic ensemble, but the brightness of this guitar necessarily sacrifices just a little of the sustain. As I said earlier, this is a guitar with a great sound, just a little different because of the woods used to construct it.

The Songbird Deluxe can be had for around $1,600.00, and in my opinion that's a bargain. As I recall, the Songbird goes for around $1,200.00, so you'd be paying $400.00 for a little more dressier guitar with a different, distinctive sound. Should you do it? That depends on what you're after. If you want the most guitar you can get for the money, you should buy the Songbird, with its dark, warm sound. If you want a guitar with some nice, but not gaudy. appointments, and a bright lively sound, spend the extra cash and get the Songbird Deluxe.

You really can't go wrong with either choice.

Thanks for reading.

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