Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)

Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)
Vintage

Gibson Byrdland Tony Mottola Special, Natural (1958)

Regular price $0.00
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Weight

7lbs
Nut Width
1 11/16"
Scale Length
25 1/2"
Pickups
PAF

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How often can you celebrate a true '1 of 1' Gibson from 1958?? This custom ordered Byrdland is about as "Special" as it gets!


Where to we even begin?!

When this Gibson Byrdland first arrived in our shop, we were bewildered. It didn't really present as the typical vintage Byrdland we're familiar with. First off, the neck seemed too long and too wide to align with standard specs, not to mention that it had 24 original factory medium jumbo frets. We measured the scale length at a full 25 1/2" and the nut width a approximately 1.675", making it a true long-scale wide-nut Gibson Byrdland. Those factory medium jumbo frets? They pre-date Gibson's formal use of them by at least 5-6 months. This guitar is starting to become anything but typical.

The beautiful carved Spruce top and highly figured Maple back and sides are further highlighted by the rare Natural finish, but even rarer is the body's cutaway style.

This Byrdland featured the Florentine cutaway, a more dramatic, sharper style than that of the Venetian cutaway that was being used on this model (and many others) at the time. Gibson didn't employ the use of the Florentine cutaway on the Byrdland model in a standard production capacity until early 1961 or thereabouts, so this Byrdland might be considered one of the very first Florentine cutaway archtops in existence.

These specs combined were enough to set off some alarms for us. It was then that we were able to obtain some information that led us to the ultimate answer about this strange and amazing beast of guitar.

But it didn't end there...

The more obvious detail was the oversized hexagonal ring that sat beneath the neck PAF. Clearly some sort of modification occurred, but what it was did not present itself until we removed the pickups. Only then did we discover even more unusual details surrounding this unique build.

Removing the neck PAF - a fairly normal narrow-spaced example befitting of a Byrdland from this period - revealed an old yet very professional modification. At one point, seemingly shortly after the guitar was received. it had undergone some surgery in the neck pickup position. Two triangular sections of spruce were cut out and subsequently grafted back into place on either side of the humbucker rout. Flanked on each end of those cutouts were single mounting hole plugs, filled tightly and flush with the top. The shape of the cutouts seemed very much in line with the shape of an older, now-infamous bar pickup affectionately known as the "Charlie Christian" pickup found in ES-150 models of the late 1930s. However, this earlier bar pickup design incorporated large (and long) bar magnets that would extend into the spacing of the bridge PAF pickup - this simply would not work given the close-proximity pickup spacing of the Byrdland.

It was only then that the we determined the other variant of the "CC" pickup found in the EH-150 lap steel guitars was used in this position. The change in construction and mounting screw size/spacing aligned perfectly with the old mod done to the Byrdland. Our curiosity and sleuthing prevailed!

The surprises just don't stop!

Removing the bridge PAF revealed something even more unique and unfamiliar. Soldered to the baseplate is a original GA-90-1C varitone transformer/choke, most commonly used in Varitone circuitry as well as in EB-2/EB-3 basses. The choke lead ties into the harness loom and off to the toggle switch, while the pickup lead runs to the harness. Further inspection of the toggle switch indicates that those connections are original.

The wiring configuration parallels the unique nature of the electronics here, with Rhythm, Treble, and "Treble w/ Choke" settings across the three positions, respectively. While we do miss the traditional pairing of both pickups in the middle position, the addition of the choke circuitry with the bridge pickup yields quite an interesting tone - think of it like a high pass preset that turns the PAF into more of a single-coil. While non-traditional, the circuit modifications proved as intriguing as they were functional, blending innovation with an unmistakably vintage feel.

While the volume and tone pots still retain their dust can covers, we're under the impression that original Centralab pots remain. It's possible (and highly likely) that Gibson was responsible for these unique features in both a factory-fresh and post-build context - Gibson themselves has said as much, and we tend to agree.

The pickguard might otherwise look fairly standard for a professional-grade electric archtop from Gibson, but this Byrdland's guard had a small custom detail that gave it that custom touch. A small cutaway on the inside bottom edge of the guard was done in what appears to be an effort to mimic the rounded edge and thumbwheel of the ABR-1 bridge. It's a minor detail but certainly puts a fine touch on this highly customized guitar. Unfortunately like many celluloid guards from this era, some off-gassing and degradation occurred. Evidence of this off-gassing can be seen on the PAF covers and on a few of the original frets closest to the guard.

Luckily, its original shape remained, and we were able to carefully trace, template, and fashion a proper replacement guard with a new sheet of high quality tortoise material. The original multi-ply binding was carefully removed from the original guard along with the original backing strip and mounting bracket block, and all we used in remaking the pickguard. A huge credit to Glenn Nichols who put his incredible skills to work in doing the original guard justice!

Upon meticulous inspection we determined that this Byrdland left the factory with a gold-plated Bigsby B6 tailpiece installed. Beyond the mounting hole profile on the lower center rim of the guitar, there's light impressions of where the arm hinge base once sat, along with the scooped edge at the top of the base. Unable to source this extremely rare Bigsby tailpiece, we successfully installed an original Byrdland tailpiece in its place. It looks perfect on the guitar! The bridge is an original Gibson no-wire gold plated ABR-1 with original Rosewood base and a replacement set of Area59 milled brass saddles from Crazyparts. The knobs are the original amber bonnet variety and the toggle switch tip is original.

So you've got to be wondering - who conceived such an incredible instrument???

This 'Byrdland N Special' shipped a few days before Thanksgiving 1958 from Kalamazoo to New York, right to the hands of one Tony Mottola, famed jazz guitarist whose work spans across decades with legends like Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra, not to mention countless other musicians and artists. Mottola’s deep ties with the brand, stretching back to the 1940s and his acquisition of Charlie Christian’s L-5P, make it no surprise that this instrument bears hallmarks of personalized artistry. A cropped photo of Mottola with what we believe to be this very guitar on the cover of his 1967 LP, A Latin Love In, provides further evidence of its significance in his career.

No need to wax poetic about this Byrdie's tone when you've got our own hometown guitar great Kevin Barry to show us what this Special is made of!

How often can you celebrate an ultra-rare undiscovered 50s PAF Gibson one-off built for one of the jazz greats of the 20th Century? We don't even need to answer!

Pre-Owned Instruments | Have Questions?
We take great care in accepting only the highest quality pre-owned instruments for resale in our shop, then carefully photograph and describe each instrument to ensure what you see on our site is exactly what you'll receive. Many of these instruments carry subtle signs of handling that can escape even the most discerning eye, so if you have questions about the condition of this instrument, we invite you to call us for an in-hand description. We're always happy to help!

Body

Style
Hollowbody
Body
Carved Spruce top w/ Figured Maple back and sides
Finish
Nitrocellulose
Color
Natural

Hardware

Pickups
Original PAFs w/ M69 rings
Electronics
Original Centralab harness
Controls
Volume (x2) / Tone (x2) / 3-Way Toggle
Bridge
Original No Wire ABR-1 and Rosewood bridge w/ Area 59 brass saddles & Byrdland Tailpiece
Tuners
Original Kluson Sealfast
Pickguard
Custom-made Repro w/ original binding and mounting hardware

Neck

Neck
Figured Maple
Binding
White
Carve
Late 50s | .88" @ 1st fret - .99" @ 9th fret
Fingerboard
Ebony
Inlays
Large Blocks
Frets
(24) Jescar 45100 (refret)
Nut
Original Nylon
Scale Length
25 1/2"

Other

Serial #
A 28542
Weight
7lbs
Case
1960s Gibson HSC

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