The figures shown here are for the period 1955 to 1979 and come from Gibson's published data and 'Gibson Shipment Totals' by Larry Meiner; this model was produced at the legendary Kalamazoo plant (today, home of Heritage guitars) and a small number were completed in the early 1980s, however no specifics are available beyond 1979. After the closure of the Kalamazoo plant in 1984, Gibson was sold to it's current owners with some Byrdland manufacture continuing in Nashville to this day.
The Byrdland body style changed from a Venetian (rounded) cutaway style to a Florentine (pointed) in 1961, changing back in 1968. The majority of instruments shipped in '61 and '68 had the Florentine body style; naturally exceptions exist as these changes were typically phased to avoid wastage.
Of the 2670 Kalamazoo-produced Byrdlands recorded here, the majority (75%) were finished in sunburst, the rest natural. Just over two-thirds (68%) had the rounded Venetian cutaway body style, the rest Florentine. Peak years were 1969 and 1968 with 220 and 218 guitars shipped, respectively.
April 1955 Gibson shipping ledgers list four prototypes of the Byrdland as 'special thin models' of the L-5CES; there was some further tweaking before the design was finalised, and the stats here do not include these examples. The first production model (serial number A 20985) was registered in June 1955, for display at the July 1955 NAMM trade show.
1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | TOTAL | |
Byrdland | 1 | 31 | 78 | 38 | 46 | 71 | 265 |
Byrdland N | 2 | 25 | 52 | 23 | 34 | 39 | 175 |
TOTAL | 3 | 56 | 130 | 61 | 80 | 110 | 440 |
1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | TOTAL | |
Byrdland | 77 | 59 | 102 | 93 | 66 | 45 | 92 | 194 | 728 |
Byrdland N | 20 | 17 | 32 | 15 | 11 | 3 | 7 | 24 | 129 |
TOTAL | 97 | 76 | 134 | 108 | 77 | 48 | 99 | 218 | 857 |
1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | TOTAL | |
Byrdland | 160 | 36 | 65 | 80 | 99 | 85 | 195 | 115 | 56 | 86 | 41 | 1018 |
Byrdland N | 60 | 21 | 27 | 48 | 20 | 6 | 11 | 93 | 42 | 25 | 2 | 355 |
TOTAL | 220 | 57 | 92 | 128 | 119 | 91 | 206 | 208 | 98 | 111 | 43 | 1373 |
$1999
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$8995
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