Epiphone Hummingbird Deluxe EC with Deluxe Gigbag

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Epiphone Hummingbird Deluxe EC with Deluxe Gigbag - Natural

The Epiphone Hummingbird Deluxe EC in Natural is what happens when somebody looks at an already rather fancy Hummingbird and decides it could stand to be fancier, more resonant and considerably harder to walk past without picking up. Part of the Inspired by Gibson Custom collection, this is a premium cutaway Hummingbird developed by Epiphone in collaboration with the Gibson Custom acoustic team in Bozeman, Montana.

The big story is the wood selection. Rather than the mahogany back and sides traditionally associated with the Hummingbird recipe, the Deluxe EC uses solid rosewood back and sides, paired with a thermally aged solid spruce top. That rosewood contributes a deeper low end and sparkling harmonic detail, while the thermally aged spruce is treated to give the top some of the resonant characteristics normally associated with naturally seasoned timber. Underneath, traditional scalloped X-bracing made from quartersawn solid spruce lets the top breathe and respond properly.

So yes, it looks extremely pretty. But there's some serious acoustic engineering happening underneath all the jewellery.

The square-shoulder Hummingbird body also gets a cutaway, giving you considerably better access to the upper reaches of the fingerboard. That's particularly useful on a guitar with this much clarity and harmonic richness – there's every chance you'll actually want to go exploring beyond the usual open chords rather than treating fret twelve as some sort of forbidden border crossing.

The neck is one-piece genuine mahogany with a comfortable Rounded C profile, joined to the body using a traditional dovetail joint. On top sits a proper ebony fingerboard, with a 12" radius, 20 standard frets and beautiful mother-of-pearl split parallelogram inlays. The familiar 24.75" scale length keeps the feel comfortable, while a bone nut measuring 43.82mm gives the strings a little more breathing room.

The premium treatment continues at the bridge. Epiphone uses a Gibson reverse-belly ebony bridge, accompanied by a compensated bone saddle and white bone bridge pins. Up at the Gibson-style Open Book headstock, gold Grover Rotomatic tuners handle tuning duties. Multi-ply body binding, bound fingerboard and headstock, an abalone-accented rosette and mother-of-pearl headstock inlays finish things off very nicely indeed.

And obviously, there's that pickguard. The Deluxe version uses an acrylic-celluloid sandwich pickguard with the iconic Hummingbird artwork etched in gold. Subtle it is not. Nor should it be. If you're buying a Hummingbird and nobody can identify it from the back row, something has gone terribly wrong.

For the stage, Epiphone has gone with an L.R. Baggs VTC Bronze pickup and preamp system. Discreet soundhole-mounted Volume and Tone controls keep the front of the guitar beautifully clean while giving you straightforward control over your amplified sound. Plug into an acoustic amp, PA or recording setup and you're ready to work.

The package is completed by Epiphone's Protector Ultralite case. It's a hybrid design combining the portability and shoulder straps of a gig bag with substantially more structure and protection, plus a plush interior and storage for the usual collection of strings, picks, capos and mysterious accessories every guitarist somehow accumulates.

At Musicmaker, this is exactly the sort of acoustic we love seeing arrive: unmistakably traditional at first glance, but with enough thoughtful upgrades underneath to make it far more than a nostalgia exercise. Solid rosewood, thermally aged spruce, ebony, bone and L.R. Baggs electronics – this particular Hummingbird has brought the good cutlery out.