Gibson Firebird?

[frigid midget]

I'm not buying anything sight unseen, and I definatelly prefer buyin used...
But a bit of guidance would be welcome here. Seems like there's been a whole bunch of different versions over the last decade or so...
Trying to figure out what my best bang for the buck would be, and what I should look for or avoid in terms of specs...

Epi vs Gibson, set neck vs neck through, P90s vs mini hums, tuners, mahogany vs maple, reverse vs non reverse...What'd be your choice, outside of the $$$ models?

Mainly compairing the 2018 studio with the now disontinued '70s tribute. Seems like they don't have much in common aside from the awesome aesthetics/body shape...

[MechaGodzilla]

Can't stand the dude but the epi Bonamassa firebird 1 in burst is shame the gougers bought them up and are way overvaluing them

[frigid midget]

Can't stand the dude but the epi Bonamassa firebird 1 in burst is shame the gougers bought them up and are way overvaluing them

How did that one managed to stay under my radar?
Prolly cause I tend to avoid anything that references to Bonamassa

Guitars with just a bridge pickup have twice the mojo.

But for some reason gibsons with those wraparound bridges look like they're missing a part. Might sound/play better for all I know, but it just looks odd to me

But yeah, it seems like they're going for the same, and even more, than the original rertail price

[kosta]

I had one of those 70's Tributes. That thing was an absolute JOY to play. Those mini-hums ripped. That thing was real snappy.

[frigid midget]

There's 3 different versions now that caught my eye...

Studio T 2017 in Pelham Blue (buckers, mahogany body & neck,...). Hard to say no to anything in pelham blue, but than again...Note sure if I could pull it off, don't think I've got enough mojo to get away with an instrument that looks THAT cool

And then the ones I mensioned before...

'70s tribute (black): I read mixed reviews about those mini hums, and judging by the specs it may be more of a 'budget' version of a 'real' f-bird. Otoh, the main differences (maple neck, baked maple fretboard,...) might just benefit the weight and price tag

2018 Studio (sunburst):P90s

So yeah, it's basically between either the slick lookin' blue one with the humbuckers that my current arsenal lacks so bad...Or the more vintage flavored suburst one with the P90's. The tribute doesn't have the slim taper neck, and I tend to play slower with bulky neck profiles.

Looks like I've got a bussy week of test driving ahead

[frigid midget]

I had one of those 70's Tributes. That thing was an absolute JOY to play. Those mini-hums ripped. That thing was real snappy.

Damn, no shit? How'd you like the not-so-slim neck profile? Big hands, small, medium,...? I figured if the mini hums don't work out for me, it'd be easy and affordable enough to replace 'em with a pair of P90s. Any particular reason you ddin't keep yours?

Looks great in black, and since I'm no firebird purist who obsesses about specs...The slightly lower price does make it tempting...

[repoman]

You can get Gibson V regular reverse for 1000 pretty easy, Stratosphere has bodies you can built up for around 700. I just bought a 80s Burny Non-Reverse, but it hasn't arrived yet.
I had a 2011-ish Gibson V about 7 years ago, it was pretty rad, the neck and frets were amazing, the mini-humbuckers sucked though...I remember them being really flat/dead and ice pickish. Pretty slim neck. Very big guitar, but they are light and very comfortable. Banjo tuners are awesome. I dig the Non-Reverse because they are a little smaller.

A lot of the Studio FBs with P90s aren't actually P90s, they are "P100s" which are humbuckers that are made to look like P90s, they have coil splitting. They sound ok but not very P90ish, more like traditional single coils even when not tapped actually.

Most of the Bonermaster Firebird 1s are speculated to shitbag prices but there was a mint one listed on Reverb today for 600, dunno if its gone though.

The Cardinal Red FBs look really nice along with the Sunburst.

They tend to generally have really retarded pricing, the vintage ones are of course crazy money ($3-15k), but they also suffer worse than other Gibsons in terms of the "name tax" for any of them that are not the Vs or studios for recent production models, despite not being any different in construction. Gibson was tacking on another $4-6k just for an extra pickup and Vibrola between the V and VII models for example. Or they would tack on another $4-5k just to delete a pickup for the I model.

None of the Firebirds I've played gave me a "Gibson" sound or feel, both mini humbucker and P90 versions sound like pissed off telecasters. They don't have the thick sounds you get from a LP or SG.

[dubkitty]

well, that's the whole point.

personally, i would go for the Epiphone with the Vibrola and likely swap the pickups for Duncans. the Epi woodwork etc. is of quite acceptable quality. the one asspain with modern guitars with Vibrolas is that modern Tunomatics are wrong...the old-school Vibrola guitars had domed thumbwheel adjusters which allow the bridge to "rock" a la the Gretsch bar bridge, and without that bridge travel new ones go out of tune when you hit the bar. you also need an ABR-1 bridge and bridge post adapters to swap out the Asian 6mm posts with 8mm stud mounts for an 8mm base with standard Gibson 4mm posts. i've got a source online.

[frigid midget]

It's kinda weird how there's so few epi's on my local-ish used market, and how they end up costing nearly as much as gibbo's

I'm not in a hurry though, and I can't afford to not be patient and picky, what with the current state of my bank account and all...

Lots of valuebale info here though, cheers. Plowing my way through gibson's constantly changing catalog, trying to make sense of how the different specs/features relate to the relative price differences...In usual Gibson fashion, the pricing often looks like the people in charge are greedy as fuck, and not ashamed to show it

[frigid midget]

Update: Just found a deal for an old epi, though not a great one. It's about an hour from where I live, the price is a little too high, and the guitar's got some wear marks here and there.

Also...did those epi firebirds ever come with grover tuners instead of those gearless steinberger ones? I'm new to those steinbergers tuners, I wouldn't mind the grovers at all, but I can imgine the steinberger equiped version would cost a little more, no? The seller claims they're the stock tuners

[kosta]

I had one of those 70's Tributes. That thing was an absolute JOY to play. Those mini-hums ripped. That thing was real snappy.

Damn, no shit? How'd you like the not-so-slim neck profile? Big hands, small, medium,...? I figured if the mini hums don't work out for me, it'd be easy and affordable enough to replace 'em with a pair of P90s. Any particular reason you ddin't keep yours?

Looks great in black, and since I'm no firebird purist who obsesses about specs...The slightly lower price does make it tempting...

I found the neck to be pretty comfortable, but I have medium big hands (I think?) and I play pretty slow, simple stuff by shredder standards. (Garage-y sorta stuff really.) The description above of Firebirds sounding like pissed off Telecasters really fit that one that I had. It had a lotta bite, and with the individual volume and tone for each pickup, you could really dial in a ton of sounds. I ended up trading it away toward a Dunable Yarnhawk in the end. I sold the Yarnhawk on a few years later. Still think about that Firebird though. I only ever played two of those 70’s Tributes, but they were both good. I’d be tempted to buy another if I ran across one somewhere.

[repoman]

[frigid midget]

Don't. Care. What. It. Costs.

The green one will be mine

[MechaGodzilla]

Are these current models?? Coz I'm I N T O 'em

[frigid midget]

Yeah, you're killing me here...Google wasn't of any help, so I'm guessing they're rare limited quantity custom shop beaties or something

Too bad the green one doesn't have the neck binding. Still would though.

That pic actually makes me wanna get one of those ugly tan colored Epi Bonamassa Firebirds and have someone refinish it in green

Edit: Just pulled the trigger, I'm gonna meet up with the guy who's selling the Epi studio I mensioned before.

No mini hums or anything, but apart from looking nicer, I'm okay with full sized humbuckers. I'm not chasing THE firebird tone or anything, I could actually use any Gibson style guitar in my arsenal, so I makes sense to go with the coolest looking one.

Should keep me bussy untill I found something like that secksy green one