Gibson Bossa Nova Classical Guitar

[deltasnake]

Hi All,

I recently got ahold of an old Gibson Bossa Nova Classical (says it on
the label inside), but have been having extreme difficulty finding any
references on the web other than a mention on the Gibson vintage site.
Does anyone have any information on this particular late 60s-early 60s
model, or can point me to a site that has info? Any help would be
appreciated,

Al

[Mike O.]

I have it listed in Gruhn's Guide as being manufactured from '71 to
'73. It also shows up in the Blue Book with the same info. Both
claim that shipping records only show 7 being shipped. Neither offer
a price.
The descriptions report spruce top, single round cutaway, rosewood
back and sides, mahogany neck, flat rosewood finger board, ceramic
piezo bridge pickup, nickel tuners with plastic buttons and slotted
peg head with "wriggle-edge" top.
That's all I can find. It sounds pretty rare but value seems to be
anyone's guess.

Mike O.

[deltasnake]

I appreciate the info, it does help...it's not always totally fun to
have a mystery guitar, rare or not :-)

The only other thing I can add, from the vintage blog site, is that it
was part of a group of accoustics that used Brazilian rosewood, in
this case, laminated (probably due to it being an acoustic'/electric
among other things).

It's a shape I see now in lots of nylon cutaway modern guitar, that
sort of soft curved type. I paid 800.00 for it, but was told that had
it not been refinished, had some "Willie Nelson" on it, and not had
Schallers installed (which was fine with me), it might have been up in
the 2000.00 range, or at least that's what they would have charged for
it.

It has binding, but all in all, its not an ornate guitar, although the
rosewood grain is very cool looking, has a standard wide classical
neck and a ebony fretboard (seems like it, but I could be wrong) that
has been scooped, with lower round very polished frets. It has a
deeper tone, being dreadnaught size, and it's a very good player. It's
a strong basic nylon, with the neck still being almost dead straight
even after all these years.

I guess it's worth what I paid for it :-) and it's a keeper anyway,
so I'm not worried about it's value. Hard to believe only 7 were
shipped, as it is a very nice guitar.

Thanks for the info Mike,

On Feb 26, 6:27 pm, Mike O. <m...@anywhere.net> wrote:
> On Tue, 26 Feb 2008 12:22:05 -0800 (PST), deltasnake
>

[Peter Huggins]

In the new issue of Vintage Guitar magazine, Gruhn`s 'Q&A' column, he
answers a question about a Bossa Nova guitar. Was that you?

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[deltasnake]

No it wasn't actually, other than what I've read here, and of course
have seen with my own eyes with the guitar itself, I know little else
about it. Does he say anything interesting about the Bossa Nova?

Al

[Peter Huggins]

<<< No it wasn't actually, other than what I've read here, and of course
have seen with my own eyes with the guitar itself, I know little else
about it. Does he say anything interesting about the Bossa Nova?
Al >>>

VG April 2008, page 78:

"Gibson's Bossa Nova is quite rare, and deservedly so. Even at the
height of the bossa nova craze (1958 - '63), it`s hard to imagine a
demand for a piezo-equipped classical guitar with a dreadnought-size
cutaway body. The actual market for these models was apparently seven
people, as that`s what Gibson shipping totals show; six in 1971 and one
in 1973.

Baldwin was marketing an electric classical in the late 1960s that
country / pop star Jerry Reed played. Gibson probably rushed something
into production, as did Ovation, after Glen Cambell borrowed Reed`s
Baldwin for an appearance on "The Tonight Show" in 1970.

I`m not aware of any preamp system in the Bossa Nova. And while rare /
odball guitars have some appeal to certain collectors, the Bossa Nova
has never been sought by players."

[wee...@gmail.com]

I do have a Gibson Bossa Nova guitar
I bought it at Hewgley's of Nashville in 1993. and took it with me to
the Netherlands
The back is Laminated brazillian. The shape is un usually big, like a
dreadnought. The sound is extremely good for Bossa music. The ebony
fingerboard and the wide classical shape is perfect for the finger
style. These guitars were made for the Nashiville Namm music show. The
were also called the Zebra. This is because you can see the bracing
throught the top of the guitar. Gibson had used Probebly the
wrong glew. Willie Nelson used these pickups, for that reason most of
these guitars are the original pickups missing.
Today's pickups like the emg-fishman-Schadow-LR bags are mutch better.
This make the guitar even better. I do have the Ramirez 1a Paulino
Bernabe- Dieter Hopft so all the best in there field ,never the less
this instrument is uniek in sound and a winner for the Bossa nova
style. I still use it as on of the best for this style.
Unfortunately it is the most ugely guitar to see, but this makes it
charming.
adrian schackmann - Netherlands

[krya...@aol.com]

Hi. I also just found a Bossa Nova. I think with another gent that called me we have at least four of the original 7. Please send me a picture and I will post all the guitars. It would be cool to find all of them! Kevin

[john.s...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, June 22, 2014 at 11:47:25 AM UTC-4, krya...@aol.com wrote:
> Hi. I also just found a Bossa Nova. I think with another gent that called me we have at least four of the original 7. Please send me a picture and I will post all the guitars. It would be cool to find all of them! Kevin

5. I have one.

[eric...@me.com]

I own one of these original guitars. If you want to check out to see if yours is one of the Original ones, check the label inside. It should be “hand written” and should say, “Bosa Nova” with just one s and NOT two. It also should have a handwritten number inside. If you don’t have that, then it’s NOT original. It has ceramic pickups.

[john.s...@gmail.com]

Hi everyone. And I have one, serial 911606. I bought in 1976 from the Amherst Music House - how they got it I have no idea. The label does indeed read "Bosa Nova" - a wonderful, typical Gibson oddity.

The individual ceramic pickups moved every time you changed the strings, making intonation challenging. The original ebony bridge was pulling up, so I took it to a luthier who replaced it, as you can see, but was smart enough to give me back the original, which I have been lucky enough to not lose for 45 years. He also, somehow, got his hands on an extra saddle set up. He installed a Barcus Berry "Hot Dot" in the bridge, state of the art back then.

A few years ago I installed a MiniFlex Model 1, a mic system that works pretty well, as long as you are careful where you sit vis a vis the PA system. The Barcus is still installed, so if I want to get really fancy I can put them both into the mix, the MiniFLex for acoustic sound and a little of the Barcus for that piezo hong.

I've see one other in my life, a long time ago, in a music store in New Hampshire.

I've see two offered on Reverb, one from the Tommy Emmanuel store.
(https://reverb.com/item/3326839-gibson-bossa-nova-1-of-5-worldwide-owned-by-tommy-emmanuel). I would have loved to hear him playing one.

It's a dog's breakfast of a guitar - dreadnought body, classical neck. But no other guitar I have owned is mine the way the Bosa is. I love it. It's my most prosed physical possession.

Pics here. https://ln2.sync.com/dl/c54ba9ae0/yic39zwx-8s6fh88j-u93c25kq-c8abqj8y

There are only seven of them. What an idea for a book.. the story of the seven Bosa's and what happened to each one.

[Ian Simpson]

One made it to Australia in the 1970's and is still functional.