Gibson Dove

KT Tunstall performing at the 2005 Glastonbury Festival with a Gibson Dove.

The Dove was Gibson's second square-shouldered dreadnought, after the introduction of the Hummingbird in 1960. First made in 1962 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, it was based on the Martin D-style dreadnought.[1] Both Gibsons have solid spruce tops and engraved pickguards. The Dove has solid maple back and sides instead of the solid mahogany used for the Hummingbird, and a longer scale length (25.5" vs 24.75"). These make it a louder, brighter guitar than the Hummingbird.

The double parallelogram fingerboard inlays, the two doves on the bridge, and the dove on the pickguard are mother-of-pearl. The original Doves had Gibson's metal tune-o-matic bridge, which seemed like a technological improvement at the time but had negative effects on tone and volume. The Dove has factory installed LR Baggs active electronics powered by a 9-volt battery.

In 1968 the internal bracing of the Dove was made heavier.[2] This sturdier guitar was less likely to be returned to Gibson for warranty work, but its volume was reduced and tone negatively affected.[3]

In 1985 Gibson's new owners began to address the quality issues that were affecting the company's products and reputation.[4] By 1992 production of Gibson acoustic guitars was shifted to Bozeman, Montana.

I'll often be playing bass lines instead of just regular guitar chords, and I would find that with any other guitar I was playing, I couldn't get that force of bass and that real richness of the bass tones that I could get on the Dove.

— KT Tunstall about the Gibson Dove[5]

Models include the Dove Performer (with a Fishman Prefix T Pickup), the Dove Quilt (limited to 20 made with a quilted maple back and sides), the Doves in Flight (with extra ornaments), and the Elvis Presley Dove, based on the 1969 custom Dove that Elvis used in the early 1970s.[6]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gibson Dove.

• Official website