Last year I received a text from a friends phone claiming he had passed away. The person claimed to be his mother; at first I thought this was some sort of sick joke but when links to videos of his memorial service at school started coming in, I knew it was serious. I called the phone but she didn't pick up. A couple of weeks go by and I receive a text of a memorial service for him back at home. I asked his mom if she would consider leaving his line open for a little bit so I could send her pictures of her son. She said she would and also texted me her number to stay in touch.

Ryan was a great friend of mine. We met each other first day we arrived at Ft. Benning and ended up being roommates during our time at field artillery school together in Lawton, OK. He did his 3 years then left the service, went back home to law school and then went out of state to another law school. When he still lived in CA and I lived in El Paso, we would always get together for coffee when I drove through to see my folks in Los Angeles. We stayed in touch until about a month before his death. We were both guitar players but he never brought his guitars to Lawton because he was afraid of damaging them so he played my Martin D-28 when he got the itch.

About a month ago I texted his mom to see how the family was doing. She said it was rough but they were starting to go through some of his stuff. She's a music teacher so we started talking about guitar playing. Then she mentioned that she still has his guitars and amps and asked me if I would like to take his Gibson Hummingbird acoustic guitar. I couldn't refuse. She said the pickguard had started to come off, probably from being in storage and/or the heat.

The guitar came in last week, the pickguard was lifted on the edges. I took it to a great little repair shop here in Orlando and had the guitar set up. They could not salvage the pickguard so I'll need to see if I can get an authentic one. From my preliminary research, it appears that there is an Epiphone and a Gibson version of the pickguard with the Epiphone version being slightly smaller. I was also told that Gibson makes it difficult to buy original parts. The repair shop removed the old pickguard, I still have it here with me at home as I wanted to keep the original. You can see the tan line from where the pickguard used to be. The luthier sanded the saddle down a little bit, adjusted the truss rod, installed a battery in the pickup and put new strings on. This is what it looks like, a really lovely guitar with great memories of a great friend:







The guitar is perfectly playable but even before she shipped it, I told her even if it was not playable, I would hang it on the wall as a memory to my friend. In a very personal touch, she and her husband, my friends father, included a handwritten note thanking me for being his friend and to cherish this guitar as a memory to my friend.

edit to add: the pictures are sideways and I don't know why.

That is a great story with a happy ending.
Thank you for sharing it..

Wow, nice guitar. Bet it has the real vintage tone to match. The $10 humidifier you stick inside of it would be proper.

Very nice! I always wanted a Hummingbird. There is something about the sound and easy of play that I love. I am not very good and I don't play that much so I could never justify the cost. I do have a less expensive Gibson, but love the Hummingbird. That one will be a great memory of your friend.
Rod

Great Story.......I have a friend that served with me in the Navy in the early 70's. He plays both banjo and guitar. He has a classic Martin that I actually played with him about 40 years ago in the Deliverance days. He was on his banjo and I was on his guitar.

We have a unwritten deal, I get his or he gets mine - who ever is still standing. We'll see.
Mike

One of the finest guitar players I've ever known or heard play owned one of those in addition to a Custom Byrdland when plugged in. He could make them sing. You name it he could play it. He could also pick up a song for the first time hearing it play and playing along with it before the song ended. I guess he was like a music savant, likely he was autistic. Back then we just called him weird because we didn't understand him or behaviors in the 60-70's growing up.

That's a beautiful acoustic, play it well, enjoy it. I love those old grover machine heads

I've owned a mid-sixties Hummingbird since about 1974. I love it and wouldn't let go of it for anything (well, almost anything!). Great guitar; you'll love it.

I have an early 70s Martin D35 with a pickguard that is curling up around the edges. A repair person said she’s seen several early 70s Martins with this particular problem. Apparently due to problem with plastic used then.

They have a fix. They place the pickguard between a couple of “plates” and apply heat. Supposedly reflattens to original contours suitable for remounting on guitar.

You might inquire. There may be a luthier around who does this.

Great story and a beautiful guitar. Thanks for sharing.

If the pick guard is not too bent you could bring it to a machine shop and they could skin the back of it to flatten it out.

Bob

Stunningly beautiful. I hope you find a way to repair or replace that pickguard. There are one or two luthiers in Nashville that have worked on some of the most valuable classic guitars in this country. I think Glaser Instruments worked on guitars from Vince Gill’s collection that were damaged in the flood a few years back—not too tough to find out which luthiers have earned a great reputation. Warped or not, think about posting a picture of that pickguard.