Everything looks better with an unveiling like that, am I right? But this beautiful ‘Bird deserves it. This 1965 Gibson Firebird is not your average player-grade guitar. It’s been brilliantly refinished in period-correct Inverness Green and wired with ‘70s, patent-number pickups for extra char, but Tristan keeps the fire low and warm for us with a 1960 Fender Vibrolux 1X10 combo.
The Gibson Guitar Corporation released several new styles during the 1950s to compete with Fender's solid-body instruments, such as the Telecaster and Stratocaster. After success with the Les Paul in the 1950s, Gibson's popularity began to wane in the 1960s. Fender's colors, shapes and multiple pickups were endorsed by notable guitarists. Gibson's guitars, most of which were hollow or semi-hollow designs, seemed old-fashioned. Coupled with higher prices, this contributed to a decline in sales.
Gibson had made forays into radical body shapes – the Flying V and Explorer in the 1950s – which met limited initial success. The president of Gibson, Ted McCarty, hired car designer Ray Dietrich to design a guitar that would have popular appeal. Under Dietrich, the Firebird took on the lines of mid-50s car tail fins. Dietrich took the Explorer design and rounded the edges. 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. Thus, the original Firebirds were unofficially referred to as "reverse".
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More Vintage Demos!
1960 Sunburst Fender Telecaster Custom: https://youtu.be/huCF1rJJWG0
1964 Gretsch Country Gentleman: https://youtu.be/NhVBZGcaxhE
1959 Sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard: https://youtu.be/UwBK4yhjwz0
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