2013 Gibson Custom Shop One-of-a-kind Claude Nobs Tribute Byrdland

Gibson Custom Shop One-of-a-kind Claude Nobs Tribute Byrdland

From the Gibson Custom vault: a 2013 tribute to the late great Claude Nobs, who put together some of the greatest concerts of all time.

Claude Nobs Tribute

In founding and managing the Montreux Jazz Festival, Claude Nobs was a pivotal and influential figuare in music history, inspiring this one-of-a-kind Gibson Custom Shop tribute guitar. Using the platform of a Byrdland archtop, if features extensive hand-painted portraits of Claude on the front and back, hand-engraved gold appointments throughout, and a beautiful firemist finish.

Claude Nobs, the man behind the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival passed away on January 10th 2013 after a skiing accident during Christmas.

Nobs co-founded the jazz festival in 1967 with pianist Geo Voumard and journalist Rene Langel and with backing from Atlantic Records President, Nesuhi Erteguen.

Rock fans will know Nobs as Funky Claude from Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water,” which recalls a fire at the Montreaux festival in 1971.

Quincy Jones tweeted: “There are no words to express the deep sorrow and hollowness in my heart that comes with news of Claude Nobs.”

Keith Emerson, told Progrockmag.com: “Claude was responsible for turning a sleepy Swiss village, once a year, into a haven of jazz, blues, rock and even classical. Every artist that meant anything almost begged to be there.

The Gibson Byrdland

• History

Many working musicians of the fast-paced and musically adventurous ’50s required a new instrument — one that captured traditional Gibson archtop artistry and craftsmanship, but represented a redrawing of the blueprint for the needs of the day. Enter the Byrdland, released in 1955 after consultation with first-call Nashville session musicians Billy Byrd and Hank Garland. Outwardly every bit a Gibson, this model represented a handful of developments that were radical, even revolutionary, in its day.

The Byrdland retained the traditional carved solid-spruce arched top and wide dimensions (17”) of big-bodied jazzers like its predecessor the L-5CES, but was considerably thinner, at only 2 1/4” deep. The electric guitar was here to stay, and Gibson’s designers quite rightly determined that a guitar that was intended primarily as an electric—rather than acoustic—instrument should be made in a way that would minimize feedback. Gibson created the Thinline series, which included the Byrdland partnered by the ES-350T, released the same year. Together they constituted the first of the new thin-bodied breed, and launched a design trend for archtop electrics that would proliferate to this day. So successful was its design ethos, that it not only offered a popular alternative for jazz, pop, and country players, it also proved capable of cranking out heavy rock in the hands of guitarists such as Ted Nugent.

• Body

At the request of Billy Byrd and Hank Garland, the Byrdland was made with a reduced scale length, but featured all the finery of a top-of-the-line Gibson archtop guitar. The Byrdland’s super-thin neck and 23 1/2” scale length might have implied a “student model” instrument, but it was intended purely for speed and playing ease, and its five-ply binding, ebony fingerboard with pearl block inlay, gold-plated hardware, and triple-loop Byrdland trapeze tailpiece all single it out as a top-shelf guitar.

• Hardware

Originally offered in 1955 with Alnico V single coil pickups, the Byrdland was upgraded to PAF humbucking pickups in 1957, and that remains its most popular incarnation. Coupled to the traditional independent volume and tone controls and a three-way selector switch, these units gave the Byrdland the ability to produce anything from a smooth mellow purr to a hot, cutting twang.

• Near-perfect Recreation

The instrument produced today by the Gibson Custom Shop offers the finest original-spec rendition of this classic model that has been available since its production of the late 1950s. From the select maple and walnut used in its neck to the high-grade spruce of its top, no expense is spared in making this thinline electric guitar that Hank Garland and Billy Byrd would be proud of. Details such as the pearl flower-pot headstock inlay, multi-ply fingerboard binding, rounded Venetian cutaway or Florentine cutaway (pictured), multi-ply bound pickguard, bound f-holes, and sculpted fingerboard end are all true to classic form. In the electrics department, a pair of Gibson’s popular ’57 Classic humbucking pickups keep it all sounding as good as it looks. Each Byrdland includes a Custom Shop case and Certificate of Authenticity.