Fender had also threatening a lawsuit claiming the Firebird headstock mirrored the Stratocaster and that the body violated Fender’s design patents. The Firebird only had limited success with the unusual reverse-body design. Firebird VII – Three pickups, Tune-o-matic bridge and Maestro “Lyre” Vibrola tailpiece.Firebird V – Two pickups, Tune-o-matic bridge with Maestro “Lyre” Vibrola reissues feature a stop-bar tailpiece.Firebird III – Two pickups, stud bridge/tailpiece and Gibson Vibrola (player could choose to use the stud or Vibrola).The banjo-style tuners gave the guitar a sleeker appearance as you do now see the tuner buttons when seen from the front.Ĭlarence “Gatemouth” Brown with “non-reverse” Gibson FirebirdThe Firebird was introduced in 1963 with four models distinguished by pickup and tailpiece configurations. It features banjo-style tuners and has reverse cutaway. Thus, the original Firebirds were unofficially referred to as “reverse”. The most unusual aspect is that the guitar is “backward” in that the right-hand (treble) horn of the body is longer than the other. Dietrich took the Explorer design and rounded the edges out. Under Dietrich, the Firebird took on the lines of mid-50s car tailfins. Gibson actually hired car designer Ray Dietrich to come up with the unusual look for this guitar they hoped would have popular appeal. The Gibson Firebird has a very unusual history. So they were looking to design a guitar that would make a statement. Gibson wanted to compete better with upstart Fender in those years.

These guitars along with a their higher prices only made them a limited initial success in the marketplace. Gibson, in an effort to shred a persona of an “old fashioned” guitar maker from the old world had made several attempts to build guitars with radical body shapes – the Flying V and Explorer in the 1950s as examples. The wood and finish on this 2004 is awesome. Gibson stated that they will no longer be creating banjo tuners.

Gibson used Steinberger gearless tuners the tuning key on the back and locking mechanism on top of the headstock. Some of the Firebird Reissues from 2010 do not feature the classic “banjo style” tuners. This Firebird is much nicer than what Gibson produced in the last few years including the Custom Shop models in my opinion. Features the nice bridge before Gibson changed these in later years.

Gibson firebird guitar