Gibson Firebird
Gibson Firebird is a solid-body electric guitar with an instantly recognisable iconic design. Manufactured by Gibson, this piece of rock history began life way back in 1963.
The Gibson Firebird’s unique body design actually comes as part of a collaboration between then president of Gibson, Ted McCarty and car designer Ray Dietrich. The Gibson Firebird ended up being a take on the look of tailfins found on cars in the mid-1950s.
GIBSON FIREBIRD AS A TRAILBLAZER
The Gibson Firebird was also a trailblazer in that it was the first Gibson solid-body guitar to feature a neck-through construction with the neck of the Gibson Firebird extending all the way to the tail end of the body.
TYPICAL FIREBIRD CONSTRUCTION
Commonly, the Gibson Firebird is kitted out with two humbucker pickups but it has been known to utilise anything from one to three mini-humbuckers and even P-90 pickups.
A VARIETY OF GIBSON FIREBIRD MODELS
Unlike the Gibson Les Paul and Gibson SG guitars which use terms such as “Junior”, “Special”, “Standard” and “Custom” to differentiate their models, the Firebird uses Roman numerals. The Gibson Firebird guitar’s unique design even inspired the look of the Gibson Thunderbird bass guitar design which also follows along with the Roman numeral designations to differentiate models.
WHICH FAMOUS GUITAR PLAYERS OPTED FOR A GIBSON FIREBIRD?
A list of famous Gibson Firebird players would include Eric Clapton, Steve Clark of Def Leppard, Allen Collins of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dave Grohl, Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, Johnny Winter and Joe Perry of Aerosmith.