JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Guitars and Guitarist Forum V

The Byrdland came out in 1955 and was one of the first Gibson thinline guitars. It was unique in a couple of aspects. The body was designed similar to the Gibson L5, but obviously thinner. The neck was a shorter scale length of 23.5" to accommodate the complex chord explorations that Billy Byrd (Byrd...) and Hank Garland (...land) were working with at the time. They were experimenting with piano chord voicings with more expanded intervals, as well as saxophone solos that incorporated large interval leaps that were popular particularly in the beebop jazz era.

If you have ever seen Ted Nugent with his guitar you would have seen a Byrdland. He is unique in rock and roll for his exclusive use of a jazz guitar.

[This message has been edited by swainja (edited 10-22-2006).]