Last year, Gibson and country star Miranda Lambert reimagined the Hummingbird acoustic guitar as the Bluebird, which – according to the Gibson Gazette – became the company's best-selling signature acoustic over the past 12 months. Fittingly, Epiphone has now responded to that demand with a more affordable version.
Lambert, who has eight solo albums and three Grammy wins to her name, had called the signature build “a dream come true,” upon its release, praising Gibson as “a company that was an early believer in me and my career.”
Now, players working with tighter budgets can enjoy her take on a dreadnought acoustic staple, which she gave a radical makeover as a nod to her song, Bluebird.
“I wrote Bluebird with Luke Dick and Natalie Hemby in 2019 when Luke brought the line, 'There's a bluebird in my heart' from a poem by Chuck Bukowski to us,” she told Guitar World last year. “I love that Bluebird has a hopefulness to it; even when we face tough times, getting through them makes us stronger and makes us appreciate the good moments.”
The same tone woods have been used for the gloss-finished square shoulder body acoustic, with a solid Sitka spruce top combined with layered mahogany back and sides. Six- and four-ply ivory is used for the body’s binding, with one-ply binding used for its fretboard.
It offers a rounded C-profile mahogany neck, a 24.75" scale length, and 20 frets for its Indian Lauren fretboard. There are also Pearloid Split Parallelogram inlays, with its nut made of plastic.
Its neck differs from the Gibson version with a tapered dovetail neck joint, as opposed to a compound dovetail neck-to-body joint, but otherwise, its core build is very similar indeed.
Gold hardware continues the aesthetic, with a reverse belly bridge, Epiphone Deluxe tuning machines, and ivory pins helping keep the price point low.
The Gibson model's L.R. Baggs VTC under-saddle pickup and preamp have been replaced by a Fishman Sonicore pickup and Fishman Sonitone preamp, which are tweakable via soundhole mounted volume and tone controls.
While the custom bluebird design of its Hummingbird-style tortoise pickguard remains, its colors are a little more muted.
In conversation with Guitar World last year, Lambert spoke of how the ornate signature model could also help inspire more female artists to pick up an acoustic guitar, and that its extension into the Epiphone family will help further those aims.
“My hope is that the release of the Epiphone Bluebird with a more approachable price point will make it possible for young girls and women in general to get their hands on one,” she told the Gibson Gazette. “If it makes it more accessible and achievable for girls to chase their dreams, then it’s a win in my book.
“A guitar is a powerful thing for a young artist, so we wanted to create a design that was special because of that.”
It ships with .012 - .053 gauge strings in a hardshell case and is available for $799 from the likes of Guitar Center – nearly $4,000 cheaper than the Gibson model.
Head to Epiphone for more information about the Bluebird.
