Gibson Firebird

Ages ago, an automotive advice column got some feedback from a reader.  “You told that man having problems with his Firebird that he should contact General Motors.  You should have told him to contact Ford.”  Apparently the reader was confusing the Pontiac Firebird (made by GM) with the Ford Thunderbird (made by Ford).  However, the guitar world has the Gibson Firebird and the bass equivalent, the Thunderbird, also made by Gibson.  And Fender makes both the Jaguar and Mustang, models considerably less popular than the Stratocaster or Telecaster, although Kurt Cobain liked the Mustang – and much less popular as guitars than the auto equivalents are, of course.  Confused yet?  Good, because it gets better.

In 1963, following up its replacement of the Les Paul with new models – the SG, the Explorer, and the Flying V – Gibson watered down the Explorer into the Firebird, designed by Ray Dietrich, who normally designed cars: Packard and Lincoln.   These models were the so-called “reverse” models.  The body looks like an Explorer radically toned down with a reverse headstock and chrome mini-humbuckers.  Rare among Gibsons – indeed, among guitars – the Firebird has “neck through body” construction, meaning the neck and middle of the body are all one piece.  Fenders have bolt-on necks (removable and replaceable) while most Gibsons (e.g. SGs and Les Pauls) have glued in necks.  The tuners were originally banjo tuners which went straight through the headstock and turned from behind, rather than from the side like regular tuners. 

Nonreverse.   Soon after the reverse model came out, Fender bitched and hollered, so Gibson changed to the “nonreverse” model, which to my eyes looks even MORE like a Fender than the reverse style - especially since they went from a reverse headstock (generally unique to the Firebird) with a regular 6-in-line headstock very similar to Fenders; some of the last reverse body Firebirds from 1965 (the transition year) actually have nonreverse headstocks.  Go figure.   The standard pickup on the nonreverse seems to be the single-coil P90s, sometimes with minihumbuckers (e.g. the Firebird X, see below). 

Since the sixties, Gibson has reissued the nonreverse model a few times, but reissued the reverse model far more often, so that the latter is effectively the standard Firebird model.   Gibson used Roman numerals to designate the individual reverse Firebird models, I = one pickup and dot inlays, III = two pickups, no vibrato, trapezoid inlays, V = two pickups, vibrato, trapezoid inlays, VII = three pickups, vibrato, and block inlays (i.e. a Firebird “Custom”).  As reissued the V wound up as the standard, without a vibrato.   There’s also the Firebird X, a modern nonreverse version with a 3x3 headstock, and the Firebird Studio, which uses regular humbuckers.  

For 2014, Gibson is still selling reverse Firebirds, although now only in cherry, classic white, and tobacco sunburst.  There are two signature models, the Eliot Easton (guitarist for the Cars) signature model in Gold Mist with humbuckers and a Bigsby vibrato, and just now the Jeff “Skunk” Baxter (Steely Dan) signature model in copper.   Funny, Easton more often plays SGs, and I’ve never seen Baxter play a Firebird.  That’s like an Angus Young signature Strat.

Pickups.  In addition to its neck-through-body construction and reverse headstock, another unique feature of the Firebird is the pickups.  While they look similar in shape and size to the minihumbuckers Gibson started putting in late 60s Les Paul Deluxes - themselves a stockpile of Epiphone pickups the company inherited when it bought Epiphone - they are a different design and sound different from minihumbuckers.  While PAFs, P90s, and other Gibson pickups appear on multiple models, the Firebird is the only Gibson with a pickup specific to the model. 

Mini Humbucker Versus Firebird Guitar Pickups: What’s the Difference? – Humbucker Soup 

The Firebird pickups give the guitar a sound which is closer to a single-coil sound, but not quite – I’m actually not personally familiar with P90s to compare.  In 2010 the banjo tuners were replaced by Steinberger models. From what I can tell among the Firebird owners on Facebook, as of 2020 the Steinberger tuners are the most popular, even more so than the original banjo models, which seem to be preferred only for pure nostalgia and not playability.  https://guitarchitecture.org/2010/10/13/steinberger-gearless-tuners-review/

Famous Players:  Johnny Winter, Paul Stanley (KISS), and Allen Collins (Lynyrd Skynyrd) are the most commonly associated with the reverse model.  I’ve seen Eric Clapton, James Hetfield and Gary Moore playing them, albeit rarely.  For a short time, Dave Grohl was playing Firebirds in Pelham Blue while in the Foo Fighters.  Stanley has a Washburn signature model which copies the Firebird.  Brian Jones was playing a reverse model briefly, and Keith Richards played a nonreverse. 

My Own.  In 2014 I had a surplus of time and money, and at yet another visit to Chuck Levin’s in Wheaton, Maryland, saw an ebony Firebird V (brand new 2013 model) and fell in love immediately.  As a V model, it has the trapezoid inlays, two Firebird pickups, and as a 2013, the Steinberger tuners.  More recently I replaced the pickguard with an ebony model, still with the Firebird symbol.  It’s definitely a fun guitar to play, and if anyone wants another unique Gibson to add to their collection, by all means, choose this one – though I’d recommend getting a model with the Firebird pickups and Steinberger tuners.

Blues vs. Rock

Sorry, I ran out of Christmassy things to ramble on about.  I was going to do a blog on blues guitarists, but it occurred to me, after listening without much emotion and reaction to the undeniably excellent Stevie Ray Vaughan – while still being impressed, after all these years, with AC/DC or Mick Taylor (much as I rant that Exile on Main Street is highly overrated) – that there are two classes of blues guitarists.

 The first are the blues purists.  For these guitarists, blues is not a means, but an ends in itself.  They devote themselves to 12 bar blues, which is nice, but wears dull after the 10^th song.  It’s a real challenge to make it interesting when you won’t step outside the box. 

 Prime examples: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny Winter, Peter Green, and Frank Marino [notice all of these are popularly known by their own names rather than associated with bands, except for Green, with pre-Rumours Fleetwood Mac].   I read Steve Miller bust on Joe Bonamassa, describing him as “making perfect copies of Picassos”, faithfully recreating past blues guitarists works, yet contributing nothing new or original of his own.  Of these, I’ve seen Frank Marino in concert twice, and his shows are very good, but be ready for 2-3 hours of practically nonstop jamming.  I have albums by all these blues guitarists and listen to them, I just prefer rock guitarists – as described below.

 The second type of blues guitarists are rock guitarists who have obvious blues backgrounds, influences, and sounds, but whom are primarily focused on making rock music.  Blues are not an ends in themselves but merely the means by which they produce their songs and music; some, like Ritchie Blackmore, will add considerable classical influences to their mix – it’s ironic that Yngwie Malmsteen should mimic Blackmore so much, because I haven’t heard Malmsteen competently execute any blues solos; he’s a classical guitarist who plays classical scales at 100 mph.  Notice these guitarists are associated with particular bands and not as solo artists.

 Prime examples: Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Jeff Beck (solo), Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath), Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple). Angus Young (AC/DC), David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), Robbie Krieger (Doors), Duane Allman (Allman Brothers), Mick Taylor (Rolling Stones), Billy Gibbons (ZZTop), Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits), Dave Murray (Iron Maiden), Glenn Tipton (Judas Priest), even Frank Hannon (Tesla), Slash (Guns’n Roses, Velvet Revolver) and Tom Keifer (Cinderella)

 Outside this dichotomy I put two guitarists: Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix.   To call Hendrix a blues guitarist is like calling Oprah a “talk show host” or Hitler a “political figure”.  He was so much more than that.  It’s remarkable that he only had THREE studio albums.  Clapton started off as a blues purist, but then went commercial.  Although he still considers himself a blues guitarist – and certainly consistently markets himself as such – his career has been a constant effort to put the blues into a commercially viable and popular context.