In the early 1960s, Gibson was steadily losing ground to archrival Fender. The SoCal company offered radical colors, various pickup configurations, and several of their models—especially the Stratocaster and
In the early 1960s, Gibson was steadily losing ground to archrival Fender. The SoCal company offered radical colors, various pickup configurations, and several of their models—especially the Stratocaster and Jazzmasters—quickly became a part of surf culture thanks to the Beach Boys and Dick Dale, among other legendary players. The continued growth and pop culture immersion from Fender forced Gibson to roll up their sleeves and come out with a new batch of guitars that weren’t considered old-fashioned or overpriced.
Gibson dipped its toe in the futuristic guitar design frontier in 1958 with the release of the Explorer, Flying V, and supposedly the Moderne (which never made it into production). Unfortunately, these newfangled axes were just a bit too unconventional for most guitarists. (Obviously, today’s vintage market and the numerous reissue runs show guitarists’ admiration for the ’58 trio.) But in 1963, Gibson’s CEO Ted McCarty took a page out of Fender’s playbook and sought to have a new model that was reminiscent of mid-’50s car tailfins. They enlisted car designer Ray Dietrich—who helped create the 1931 Reo Royale Eight and the early Checker Motors Marathon models—to come up with a new guitar design.
The first Firebird I produced in 1963 had several firsts for Gibson—a peculiarly reversed body shape that had its lower horn longer than the upper, a neck-through design, and a Fender-ish reverse headstock that had banjo tuners on its right side. It features a standard Gibson scale length of 24.75", mahogany body, mahogany neck, Brazilian rosewood fretboard, and a wrapover stop tailpiece. The first models came loaded with mini humbuckers, but eventually were upgraded to standard humbuckers with the Firebird III. The reverse body style was the Firebird norm until 1965 when Gibson unveiled the non-reverse design featuring a substantial upper bass-side horn.
In 1966, Gibson went a step further and offered the non-reverse Firebird in a 12-string—the model shown here was recently purchased by Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer. The V-12 features an asymmetrical mahogany body, mahogany set-neck, Brazilian rosewood fretboard, blackface LP-style headstock with pearl split diamond inlay and six tuners on each side, and a Tune-o-matic bridge. The original Firebird models came stock with P-90 pickups, but this particular model has mini humbuckers. Anomalies on this guitar lead Klinghoffer’s tech, Ian Sheppard, to believe that this was either a “factory second or a halfassed prototype.” The headstock’s diamond inlay is off-centered, and this V-12 has two on/off pickup switches whereas the standard model has a 3-way toggle. Additionally, the pickguard is a different shape and has 11 screws while the standard version has only 10.
This is an endangered bird: Only an estimated 272 were produced from 1966– 67. This doesn’t stop Klinghoffer from enjoying his recent purchase. Sheppard claims that, “so far he hasn’t used it on any songs, but when he feels particularly excited he’ll tell me before the show that he’ll want me to bring this up to him during a four-bar rest within the encore jam. He uses it when he wants to get a bit out there [laughs].”
Jack White's 2025 No Name Tour features live tracks from his album No Name, with shows across North America, Europe, the UK, and Japan.
The EP is a 5-song collection of live tracks taken from White’s 2024 edition of the tour, which was characterized by surprise shows in historic clubs around the world to support the 2024 album No Name.
No Name is available now via Third Man Records. The acclaimed collection was recently honored with a 2025 GRAMMY® Award nomination for “Best Rock Album” – White’s 34th solo career nomination and 46th overall along with 16 total GRAMMY® Award wins. The No Name Tour began, February 6, with a sold-out show at Toronto, ON’s HISTORY and then travels North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, and Japan through late May. For complete details and remaining ticket availability, please visit jackwhiteiii.com/tour-dates.
White’s sixth studio album, No Name officially arrived on Friday, August 2 following its clandestine white-label appearance at Third Man Records locations that saw customers slipped, guerilla-style, free unmarked vinyl copies in their shopping bags. True to his DIY roots, the record was recorded at White’s Third Man Studio throughout 2023 and 2024, pressed to vinyl at Third Man Pressing, and released by Third Man Records.
For more information, please visit jackwhiteiii.com.
JACK WHITE - NO NAME TOUR 2025
FEBRUARY
11 – Brooklyn, NY – Kings Theatre
12 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Paramount
17 – Boston, MA – Roadrunner
18 – Boston, MA – Roadrunner
21 – Paris, France – La Cigale
22 – Paris, France – La Trianon
23 – Paris, France – La Trianon
25 – Utrecht, Netherlands – TivoliVredenburg (Ronda)
26 – Utrecht, Netherlands – TivoliVredenburg (Ronda)
28 – London, UK – Troxy
MARCH
1 – London, UK – Troxy
2 – Birmingham, UK – O2 Academy Birmingham
3 – Glasgow, UK – Barrowland Ballroom
10 – Hiroshima, Japan – Blue Live Hiroshima
12 – Osaka, Japan – Gorilla Hall
13 – Nagoya, Japan – Diamond Hall
15 – Tokyo, Japan – Toyosu PIT
17 – Tokyo, Japan – Toyosu PIT
APRIL
3 – St. Louis, MO – The Factory
4 – Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theater
5 – Omaha, NE – Steelhouse Omaha
7 – Saint Paul, MN – Palace Theatre
8 – Saint Paul, MN – Palace Theatre
10 – Chicago, IL – The Salt Shed (Indoors)
11 – Chicago, IL – The Salt Shed (Indoors)
12 – Detroit, MI – Masonic Temple Theatre
13 – Detroit, MI – Masonic Temple Theatre
15 – Grand Rapids, MI – GLC Live at 20 Monroe
16 – Cleveland, OH – Agora Theatre
18 – Nashville, TN – The Pinnacle
19 – Nashville, TN – The Pinnacle
MAY
4 – Austin, TX – ACL Live at the Moody Theater
5 – Austin, TX – ACL Live at the Moody Theater
6 – Dallas, TX – South Side Ballroom
8 – Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom
9 – Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom
10 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Union Event Center
12 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
13 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
15 – Santa Barbara, CA – Santa Barbara Bowl
16 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
17 – San Francisco, CA – The Masonic
19 – Seattle, WA – The Paramount Theatre
20 – Seattle, WA – The Paramount Theatre
22 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
23 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
24 – Troutdale, OR – Edgefield Concerts on the Lawn
A dose of magic gain potion.
Works like a little vial of magic gain potion. Fattens without obscuring individual frequency bands.
None.
$129
Solodallas SVDS Boost
solodallas.com
The Schaeffer-Vega Diversity System—an early and very successful wireless system—excelled at the tasks it was designed for. But there was more magic than met the eye. Though designed to sound as transparent as possible, it nonetheless colored the signal in a way that people like Angus Young and Eddie Van Halen found essential.
SoloDallas explored the possibilities of this circuit before in pedals like theSchaeffer Replica, but the new SVDS Boost strips the formula to essentials. Minimalist controls—one knob, that’s it—make this boost no less delicious. I’m not surprised Angus Young was smitten with the original SVDS. An SG and Marshall 18-watt amp sound fantastic naked, but the SVDS Boost has the rare talent for fattening everything without seeming to favor or obscure any frequency band too much. And as zest to the PAF/Marshall style formula, it makes the kind of rowdy, organic, airy, large, and punch-packing Marshall sound you would dream of getting in a studio or hearing on the radio. There are many shades of this basic awesome color in spite of the single knob. Unity gain lives in the earliest third of its range. From there you certainly get more volume, but mostly you bathe in various hues of compressed, saturated, thick, and dynamite growl. You don’t need a Gibson and a Marshall to use it to devastating effect, either. A Telecaster and Vibrolux snap with attitude and whip-crack energy with the SVDS in the line. And with both guitar/amp combos, the SVDS’ wide dynamic responsiveness to volume and tone attenuation assures that things stay cracking when you need more control.
Learn about this iconic guitar's journey, its mods done by Frank, and hear how it sounds in the hands of his son Dweezil.
Neil Young’s ’70s hits are some of the most recognizable radio rock jams of all time. But Neil’s guitar playing continued to grow over the ensuing decades, as he traversed styles from blues to country to electronic to rockabilly and beyond, eventually developing one of the most tonally decadent, fully formed improvisational voices in the entire guitar universe.
Neil Young’s ’70s hits are some of the most recognizable radio rock jams of all time. But Neil’s guitar playing continued to grow over the ensuing decades, as he traversed styles from blues to country to electronic to rockabilly and beyond, eventually developing one of the most tonally decadent, fully formed improvisational voices in the entire guitar universe.
Like any discography that’s been growing over the course of more than half a century, it can be hard to decode Young’s work. And with such an adventurous spirit, it could be easy to make some missteps and miss out on his best guitar works. In this episode, Nick guides Jason through some of his hero’s finest moments.
More news from Neil always seems to be on the horizon, so here’s your chance to catch up.