Gibson Firebird
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Gibson Firebird | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Gibson |
| Period | 1963 — present |
| Construction | |
| Body type | Solid |
| Neck joint | Through-body; some models have set necks |
| Scale | 24.75" |
| Woods | |
| Body | Mahogany |
| Neck | Mahogany and Walnut |
| Fretboard | Rosewood or Ebony with trapezoid, block, or dot mother of pearl inlays |
| Hardware | |
| Bridge | Tune-o-matic |
| Pickup(s) | 1, 2 or 3 Mini-Humbuckers, Full Size Humbuckers, or P-90s |
| Colors available | |
| Olympic White, Ebony, Pelham Blue, Heritage Cherry, Cherry, Heritage Sunburst, Antique Brown, Natural | |
The Gibson Firebird is a solid-body electric guitar manufactured by Gibson from 1963 to the present.
Contents |
[edit] History
The Gibson Guitar Corporation released several new styles of guitars during the 1950s to combat Fender's successful and modern guitars, such as the Stratocaster and the Jazzmaster. Fender's range of colors, shapes and multiple pickups were endorsed by many notable guitarists of the 1960s. Gibson guitars seemed old-fashioned by comparison, and this impression among guitar buyers (coupled with Gibson's generally higher price tags) contributed to a decline in Gibson's sales.
Gibson had success with the Les Paul in the 1950s, but their initial forays into radical body shapes (the Flying V and Explorer) were marketplace failures. The president of Gibson at the time, Ted McCarty, hired car designer Ray Dietrich to design a guitar that would have popular appeal.
Under Dietrich, the Firebird took shape around the lines of mid-50s car tailfins. Dietrich basically took the Explorer design and rounded the edges. The most unusual aspect of the design is that the guitar is somewhat "backward" in that the right-hand (treble) horn of the body is longer than the other. Thus, the original Firebirds were unofficially referred to as "reverse".
The Firebird was the first Gibson solid-body to use neck-through construction, wherein the neck extended to the tail end of the body. The neck itself is made up of five plies of mahogany interspersed with four narrow strips of walnut for added strength. Other notable features of the Firebird were its reverse headstock (with the tuners on the treble side) and "banjo" tuning keys, as well as the unique mini-humbucking pickups. These were not identical to Epiphone mini-humbuckers, having an alnico bar magnet polepiece in each coil. In contrast, the Epiphone design is essentially a mini-PAF, with a single alnico bar magnet at the pickup's base and six iron polepieces per coil. Some Firebirds from 1965 featured Gibson's single-coil P-90 pickup.
The Firebird hit music stores in mid-1963. From 1965 to 1969, Gibson introduced "non-reverse" models after failing to achieve marketing success with the more unusual reverse-body design. Gibson had also receiving complaints from Fender that the Firebird headstock simply mirrored that of the Stratocaster and that the body violated Fender's design patents, with Fender threatening a lawsuit. The "non-reverse" body is a more standard double-cutaway design, with the bass horn being longer than the treble horn and the headstock having the tuners mounted on the bass side. It also had a standard glued-in ("set") neck rather than neck-through construction, as well as other, less noticeable changes in design and build. Pickup and tailpiece configuration for the V and VII were the same as the earlier "reverse" models, although the I- and III-models were now shipped with two or three P-90 pickups. After a few years of disappointing sales, the "non-reverse" line was dropped. "Reverse" body Firebirds were first reissued from 1972-1979, with a commemorative "Bicentennial" model released in 1976.
The original Firebird line of guitars had four guitar models. Unlike the Les Paul and SG line, which used the terms "Junior", "Special", "Standard" and "Custom" to mark the range, the Firebird line used the Roman numeral designations "I", "III", "V" and "VII". Gibson's line of Thunderbird basses is rooted in the design of the Firebird, and uses even Roman numerals to distinguish its models.
[edit] Reissues
The "reissue" Firebirds are usually based on the original reverse body design; however Gibson reintroduced the non-reverse Firebird in 2002 as a Custom Shop guitar. While prices for just about all vintage guitars have skyrocketed, the reverse body Firebirds are the more-popular design, and command much more money than their non-reverse siblings. Many model types have been released of the Firebird. Epiphone, which is owned by Gibson, have also issued Firebird models.
[edit] Notable Firebird players
[edit] Configurations
- Firebird I - One pickup. Combination stud bridge/tailpiece. Chrome hardware.
- Firebird II Artist CMT - A limited production instrument from the early 1980s; features a maple top, mahogany body, set mahogany neck, two standard-sized humbuckers, and toggle switches to control active Moog electronic tone controls.
- Firebird III - Two pickups, Tune-o-matic bridge and Gibson Vibrola. Chrome hardware.
- Firebird V - Two pickups, Tune-o-matic bridge with Maestro "Lyre" Vibrola; reissues feature a stop-bar tailpiece. Chrome hardware.
- Firebird VII - Three pickups, Tune-o-matic bridge and Maestro "Lyre" Vibrola tailpiece. Gold hardware.
- Firebird Studio - Two standard-sized Alnico humbuckers, Tune-o-matic bridge with stop-bar tailpiece. Chrome or gold hardware. Set neck.
- Firebird XII - Two pickups, twelve string non-reversed version on the Firebird.
- Non-Reverse Firebird - Collectors' term for a Firebird I, III, V or VII featuring a headstock with the tuners on the bass side, and a body having the bass side horn slightly longer than the treble side horn.
