Given that the Gibson Firebird line was developed with the help of car designer Ray Dietrich,
it’s no wonder it looks so good next to this 1950 Chevrolet Deluxe 5 pickup.
In the early 1960s, Fender’s
increasingly popular solidbodies
compelled Gibson to
develop new strategies to reach
young guitarists. While the SG
series helped Gibson’s sales,
company managers knew they
needed even bolder guitars in
their catalog if they wanted to
reach an emerging generation
of rockers. In an effort to go
head-to-head against Fender’s
Jazzmaster, Gibson turned to
Ray Dietrich, a famous Detroit
automobile designer, to help
create an entirely new line.
Introduced in the spring
of 1963, the new Firebird
series consisted of four guitars
(the Firebird I, Firebird
III, Firebird IV, and Firebird
VII) and two Thunderbird
basses (the Thunderbird II
and Thunderbird IV). The
Firebirds had a unique, asymmetrical
body shape consisting
of two mahogany “wings”
attached on either side of a
long mahogany neck that ran
all the way to the bottom strap
button. Seth Lover designed
the Firebird’s mini-humbucker
pickups, and in a departure
from Gibson’s traditional
three-on-a-side array, six banjo-style
tuners were positioned
in a row along the right side
of the headstock (the opposite
side of Fender’s iconic arrangement).
The standard finish for
these guitars was a dark tobacco
sunburst, but you could also
order 10 custom colors that
imitated Fender’s palette, only
with different names.
This ’64 Firebird I sports a Seth Lover bridge-position mini-humbucker, Volume and Tone controls, a compensated
bar bridge, a Vibrola tailpiece, and an engraved Firebird logo on the pickguard. Vintage Firebirds have a distinctive
neck-through-body design consisting of two mahogany “wings” attached to an extended, multi-ply mahogany
neck that runs from the headstock to the tail end of the lower bout.
This Firebird has nickel banjo-style tuners mounted on the right side of the headstock.
The Firebird I pictured
this month—serial number
191966—has features
common to the entry-level
Firebirds made in 1964. These
include a mini-humbucker in
the bridge position, a 24 3/4"
scale, an unbound rosewood
fretboard with dot inlays, a
compensated bar bridge, and
a short Vibrola tremolo. This
guitar is finished in a vibrant
cardinal red.
To learn more about Firebirds
and other Gibsons of the ’50s
and ’60s, check out
Gibson
Electrics - The Classic Years by
A.R. Duchossoir.
Dave ’s Guitar Shop
Dave Rogers’ collection is tended
by Laun Braithwaite and Tim Mullally
and is on display at:
Dave’s Guitar Shop
1227 Third Street South
La Crosse, WI 54601
davesguitar.com
Photos by Mullally and text
by Braithwaite.