Vintage Vibes: 1965 Gibson Dove Sunburst

VINTAGE VIBES: VINTAGE VIBES - 1965 Gibson Dove Sunburst

Our acoustic guru Karl soars on this 1965 Sunburst Gibson Dove. Not a feather is ruffled, nor out of place on this bird. Clean and pristine, just like its namesake, this Dove is in very good, original condition save for a strap pin installed on the neck heel. Even the ABR-1 bridge is present, preserved, and awfully lovely, as is the original chipboard case.

Karl Describes the 1965 Gibson Dove Sunburst

Today, we have for you a 1965 Gibson Dove in 99.9% original condition, outside of a strap pin that's been installed on the heel. This Dove comes with its original chipboard case and is equipped with a fully functioning ABR-1 bridge.

On guitars of this era, you'll often see the ABR-1 swapped out for something more conventional. However, this one is still installed and in its original condition, and it sounds amazing. It’s not the best way to design an acoustic guitar, in my opinion, but here we have a very lovely example of where this rare and flawed bridge worked very, very well.

Without further adieu, let’s listen to this dove spread its wings.

The metal piece on the side of the pickup actually focuses the energy into the middle of the whole piece of a much more defined sound than you would in a Strat pickup.

The Bass VI also has a really great Fender mute, which also came on the Jaguar. So if you really wanted to get that Tic-tac bass sound, you just have the articulation of the note, but not the sustain. You can mute the notes. This one's actually intact. A lot of the old ones fall apart. You need to replace them.
These instruments were played by the likes of Carol Kaye, Glen Campbell, The Beatles, The Cure and more.

I think it's just a fun hybrid, again, between playing bass and electric guitar, because you can really make beautiful chords that are obviously an octave below what you normally would be in as a guitar player, but still have all the feel and functionality of a guitar. I mean having a trem on a bass is really interesting. It also has an offset waist. So it's very comfortable.