Epiphone Hummingbird Studio Acoustic/Electric Guitar

Mine just arrived this evening, and I’ve only had it out of the box long enough to verify that it was all in one piece and looked and sounded good.

Boy, does it ever look and sound good. 🙂

I got this one because my 18-year-old Takamine G-series has some serious fret wear, and a slightly warped neck, even with the truss rod maxed out, and will cost more to repair/refurbish than this one cost outright. Hence, the action is quite high, and it’s hard to play bar chords higher than the 3rd fret, and there’s some noticeable buzz and rattle unless I hold my mouth just right…

I primarily play electric guitar, and I’m not really what you’d call “good”. But I know enough to know that this guitar was well set-up right out of the box. The action is nice and low, yet with no noticeable rattles. Bar chords and open voicings are easy to finger and play clearly well up the neck. It’s not as obviously, meticulously crafted as the Gibson Hummingbird I looked at the other day, but at 10% of the price of the Gibson this is a killer bargain. I was a bit apprehensive about buying one online, especially as I’d never even seen the Epiphone Hummingbird in a store, but those fears were solidly laid to rest. Epiphone did a fine job making and setting this one up, and Music123 did a fine job packing it up and getting it here safely.

The tone is beautiful and full. Not quite as big and deep as my Tak, but neither is the guitar. Back when I bought the Takamine, I played several Fenders, low-end Taylors, a Guild, and some other brand I can’t remember. None had as big and rich a sound as the Tak does, which I later learned was due to (at least in the case of the Fenders) many lower-priced acoustic guitars being made with laminate tops and backs. This guitar has a solid spruce top and back, which really does open up the sound more. My Takamine has more resonating volume, being probably 1″ or so thicker than this guitar, and therefore a deeper, fuller tone. But this guitar really hits the sweet spot in the acoustic tone I’ve been liking to listen to (and want to learn to play) lately. It booms just enough, but is nicely defined and not muddy. The low end doesn’t overpower the high end, which is surprisingly bright and twangy given the mahogany back and sides. I had heard that the maple back and sides on the Dove made for a brighter tone, but if it’s much brighter than this it would be a bit too bright for my tastes, I think.

I haven’t played it plugged in yet, so I don’t have anything to say about the sound through the pickup.

But in short, so far I have absolutely nothing to complain about and I’m looking forward to playing this guitar (much) more.

Since I bought both the Hummingbird and the Dove guitars at the same time, I am going to do a review on both of them. There seems to have been a lot of questions about which one is “better”, or which one is “easier” to play. Since I have been playing both of these guitars for a couple of weeks now, I will do a review on both of them.

First of all, one is not “better” than the other. They are both quite different from each other.

The Hummingbird came fully set up and ready to play right out of the box. The playing height, and intonation were spot on right out of the box. I only needed to tune the guitar and start playing. The guitar was strung with D’Addario light strings. This is what Epiphone puts on the Hummingbird, and on the Dove guitars at the factory.
The Hummingbird has a smaller diameter neck than most full size guitars, so it is very easy on the hands, and easy to play most chords. It is very light weight, and this makes it very easy to hold and play – especially for smaller frame people (like women, or children) who either already play, or want to learn to play guitar.
The Hummingbird has a very bright, vibrant sound when playing. It is much louder than I expected when playing without an amplifier. I was surprised at the clarity and brightness of the sound when playing. Being light weight, and small neck, it makes it very easy to pick up and start playing every time I walk by it! It has now become one of my favorite guitars to play.
The on board pre-amp and pickup are very good quality too. When plugged into my Behringer acoustic amp, the sound is very clear, bright, and loud. I am very pleased with the electronics.
The finish on the guitar is spotless. The Hummingbird and flowers are engraved into the pick guard, so they will not wear off from playing.

The Dove guitar had a few small issues right out of the box. The strings on this guitar were completely worn out – this was either someone’s return, or a demo guitar in a store somewhere. When strings are played for a while, they get wear spots on the surface – think about a keypad for an alarm system. The more times you push a key, the more it gets worn. After a long while, you can see the keys that you have been pushing are more worn than the rest of the keys. Same holds true of guitar strings. The surface areas where the most frequent chords are formed have a more worn appearance. Also, after strings have been heavily played for awhile, they become dull and “dead” sounding. That is basically the condition of the strings when I took the guitar out of the box. Also, all of the paperwork, and tags were laying in the bottom of the box. They had been removed from the guitar, and removed from their plastic bags. The Hummingbird had all of the tags attached to the guitar, and the paperwork was secure in a plastic bag.
For me, this was nowhere close to a deal breaker, and did I did not even consider returning the guitar. I simply put new D’Addario light strings on this little beauty, and started playing. There was a lot of string vibration/rattle when I played it, so I checked the playing height, and the neck. I needed to make a small adjustment on the neck truss rod, and after that this little beauty plays beautifully. Might be worth your while to get a professional setup done if you decide to buy the Dove. Most music stores have a guitar tech that can do a pretty nice setup job for $30 or so.
Another issue that came up was the pre-amp and pickup. This particular pre-amp is in the sound hole, and has two small thumbwheel controls (volume and tone). I really do not like these setups, but they are quite common now.
When I plugged this guitar into my Behringer acoustic amp, the only string that was being picked up was the High E. All of the other strings were not being amplified at all. This would have been a deal breaker for me, but I had another pre-amp and pickup assembly on hand, so I changed them out. The guitar sounds very nice now!! If you are not able to do this yourself, then you would either have to return it and hope you get a guitar with a good pre-amp/pickup assembly, or get it replaced professionally. Replacement by a professional will cost you a good chunk of change.
The Dove neck is a little larger than the Hummingbird. It is still smaller than a full size guitar, but is not as easy to play as the Hummingbird. The chords are still easy to form, and the neck is easy on the hands.
The sound of the Dove is more closely related to a Gibson guitar – a deep, warm tone versus the bright, vibrant sound of the Hummingbird. Both sound incredibly good, especially for the price of these guitars. They both sound even better when plugged into an amp!

Bottom line is that both guitars are well made, have great sound, and both are lightweight – especially compared to a full sized guitar. They are both a pleasure to play, and this is what keeps a guitar player coming back and picking up the instrument frequently. I have several acoustic guitars, and right now the Hummingbird is my favorite to play, followed closely by the Dove. These two guitars get more than 50% of all of my playing time right now. The remaining guitars I have get the other 50% of the playing time.

The Dove is a little larger, heavier, and has a deeper tone than the Hummingbird. In my opinion, it is better suited for older players (neck size and weight factor into this). The Hummingbird is better suited for younger, or smaller players – especially if they have small hands.
Both guitars are a real bargain at this price, so you really can’t make a bad decision on buying either one.

J’adore cette guitare jolie couleur le motif avec le colibris est super elle a un joli son métallique je recommande et bravo pour la rapidité le lendemain de ma commande la guitare était devant ma porte bien emballé et en super etat

Avevo già provato questa chitarra in negozio emi ero innamorato del suono delle epiphone. chiaro, non sono delle gibson, ma il rapporto qualità/prezzo è eccezionale, considerando che il suono effettivamente ricalca quello delle gibson. Ottimi materiali, ottima anche la parte elettrica (amplificata ad una cassa suona veramente una favola). Manico molto molto scorrevole. L’unica cosa che ho notato è che, rispetto ad altre chitarre della stessa fascia, il manico risulta un pò più rigido a suonarsi: in altre parole, si suona con una leggera difficoltà in più (ho anche una Crafter e questa è veramente leggerissima a suonarsi!!!). Ho approfittato del prime day per comprarla e quindi direi che è stato un vero affarone, consigliatissima!!!
Arriva in una scatola di cartone, corde già montate. Spedizione come sempre perfetta.