Review : Epiphone Hummingbird 12 String
Epiphone Inspired by Gibson Hummingbird 12 String. Image sourced from Epiphone.com
Hello folks. In this review, I take a hard look at Epiphone’s Inspired by Gibson Hummingbird 12 string acoustic guitar.
Since Gibson owns Epiphone, I’m not clear on what inspired by Gibson actually means when it’s at home. However, regular readers know how impressed I have been with recent Epiphone products that I have tested, and in some cases purchased and brought home. This is one of those.
The Inspiration
With the recent passing of Canadian musician Gordon Lightfoot, I recalled seeing Mr. Lightfoot playing a Hummingbird 12 string some time ago. As I own an older (1981) Gibson Hummingbird 6 string, I am familiar with the sound of that spruce over mahogany dreadnought sound. Given it’s age, my Hummingbird has “seasoned” and the replacement of the Fishman under saddle piezo by professional tech Kevin at The Arts Music Store, with what I call a proper pickup, the K&K Pure Mini, I can say that on its own or amplified, the Hummingbird has a unique sound. The Epiphone version is also Sitka spruce over mahogany, and while I have not tried their six string version, I did go looking for a 12 string.
Wood Tone Makes a Difference
I own two Boucher 12-strings as well as an all Koa 12-string from Taylor, so I have expectations of what a 12 string acoustic might sound like. However, the Bouchers are either Adirondack Spruce over Bubinga or Adirondack Spruce over Brazilian Mahogany, they won’t sound like sitka over mahogany (the mahogany bodied Boucher is an OM size) and Koa has its own voice entirely. Wood matters in any kind of guitar, but the sound of wood is most evident in acoustics. Looking at my other acoustics, other than the Hummingbird, there was nothing else with sitka spruce over mahogany, so I had a limited reference available.
Fortuitous Timing
At the time I was looking, The Arts Music Store was advertising a used Epiphone Hummingbird on their website. When I went in to see it, I was advised that the used one was gone, but that they would make my day by offering me a new one for the used price. That’s awesome customer service. I have known Ryan at the store for a long time, and he is an incredibly talented artist so when he shared that he thought the Epiphone sounded similar to the Gibson logo version, I trust his judgement.
What I Learned
Unlike the significantly more expensive Gibson, the Epiphone does not come in a case. This does not bother me because I have a storage area full of guitar cases, and if I will transport a guitar, my preference is a Mono gig bag. The Epiphone came very well packed and to my surprise included a sound hole humidifier. I had never seen a humidifier like it and have since bought many others of the same type for my other acoustics. Check the article on guitar humidifiers for more information.
I typically do not like the factory strings on any guitars, other than those from Paul Reed Smith, but the ones on the Epiphone are not awful. They are a Gibson Phosphor Bronze 10-47 12 string set. When it is time to replace them, I will go with my preferred D’Addario XS 12 string set that is 0.010 to 0.046 as I like them best for tone and longevity. Taylor Guitars recently changed to use the XS strings as their standard, a change from their long alliance with Elixir.
Very clean mahogany back and mahogany neck. Image sourced from Epiphone.com
The Hummingbird 12 has a rich open tone. It does include a Fishman Sonitone pickup system powered by a 9V battery. As you will expect from me, I don’t care for the pickup, but by adding a TC Electronic Body Rez, a Source Audio EQ2 and an Empress Compressor Mk II in the chain before my AER amplifiers, I can negate that nasal ear offending piezo tone. At some point I will remove the Fishman and replace it with a proper K&K product. You may not hate piezo pickups the way that I do and be perfectly happy. To each his or her own.
Fit and finish on the Epiphone Hummingbird 12 is superb. The top, sides and back are all solid wood. No laminates here, despite the very aggressive price point. The fretboard is Indian laurel and while the Gibson model is Indian Rosewood, the Laurel looks similar and has a very similar feel. Buyers who do not care for the nominally lighter colour of Laurel can apply a couple of coats of Monty’s Montepresso wax and that issue will be resolved. You can find out more about Monty’s products in the article reviewing them.
Note the smooth grain in the side and the nice ivory coloured binding. Image sourced from Epiphone.com
Fit and finish is awesome. Image sourced from Epiphone.com
It is my personal experience in comparisons, that the quality assurance on many Epiphones surpasses the QA work done on the more expensive Gibson options. This Epiphone has no fret sprout, a common issue with recent Gibsons, and while there are those that argue Gibson uses better woods, both companies use outsourced neck blanks now, and Sitka spruce is sourced from the same locations. I found the transparent cherry on the sides and back to reveal excellent grain patterns and to have no sign of lesser woods. Mahogany has larger pores and pore fillers are commonly used, but these sides and backs are superb and there is no sign of gallons of pore filler, and yes, you can tell if you know what to look for. Respectfully, I do know. The Sitka spruce top has a gentle faded look cherry sunburst, that is not the garish red lipstick look sometimes found on cherry sunburst guitars. Sitka has a different grain pattern from Adirondack spruce and sounds different of course, but the top on this guitar is excellent in terms of wood quality and responsiveness. The tuners are Grover mini rotomatics and are very smooth, plus the mini heads make tuning 12 strings independently very smooth. The nut is bone as is the saddle. The specs say the bridge pins are Ivory but as the import of Ivory is illegal, I suspect that they mean ivory coloured plastic. I will replace them with Crosby real bone bridge pins at some point, because bone conducts tone better than drainage pipe. (PVC is always PVC folks). Intonation and action were excellent out of the box with no additional setup required of me.
Audio Samples
The samples in this section were recorded by connecting the built in pickup directly to the Hi Z input on the Apollo Twin X fed into Logic Pro. No processing was done on the guitar track at all, to avoid colouration of the tone. During the mastering, a Pultec EQ-1A was used with even levels, as it takes a bit of the high frequency sheen off the top and then a Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor was used to level to level things out using a low compression level. Strings are the factory strings, and the pick used was a Cat’s Tongue 0.60 to avoid pick ticks as well as pick snap.
It’s a very simple chord progression, followed by the major chords starting at E Major, a method for sound samples, that I adopted from Chris at Driftwood Guitars, a fine luthier out of Freeport Florida.
Closing Up
The guitar retails at $1299 MAP in Canada, and as far as I am concerned, it is a top choice for an acoustic / electric 12 string in this price range. Solid wood does make a difference but so does the fit and finish. Those elements go together to define overall playability. Despite the larger dreadnought standard body size, this guitar is comfortable to play sitting or standing with a strap and its C shaped neck is neither too thin nor too chunky to be uncomfortable. If you are interested in an amazing 12 string at a reasonable price point, I do not think that you can go wrong. Support your local guitar store if you have one.
Thank you as always for reading. Please feel free to post questions or comments, I read and respond to all. I’m Ross Chevalier, until next time, peace.
