Gear: Firebird with Maple Wings, Gibson guitar of the Week Number 24.
Written by: David Harrison
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and in my opinion the Gibson Firebird IV with maple wings is sex on legs being only one of 400 made very desirable. The body being unfinished the neck through is obvious and the lighter wood of the maple wings added to the side harks back to the very first original Les Paul that was made out of a railway sleeper. For such a rock guitar it is sooo pretty.
Picking it up it plays fast, through the Musicman amp it is heavy in sound, although I would of expected the maple to play it light. It has since become the Nucleardeathmonger amongst the other people in the studio. Don’t know what is behind the double humbuckers but definately suits the hard rock and metal riff love I have been putting it through. It is a delight to play low and fast and mean. Looks like a butterfly stings like a sledgehammer.
Not sure if the maple wings are not helping here but it doesn’t seem stay up right, very headstock heavy needs a big leather strap to keep it up correct. Never played a Firebird before I am not sure if this common occurance, but to a strat boy it feels weird and cumbersome, it sure is long, as long as a bass.
Also being a Fender lad the Tune-O-Matic bridge is a new thing. Changing the weight of the strings suddenly became a bit of a problem it needed more then a few tweeks and a visit to the guitar doctor to get it back on track. Another downside is that no matter how nice the finish is it gets grotty quite quickly. The top side now has line of grime that needs to been cleaned occasionally.
Sounds like a terrible cliche (as if the sting like a butterfly comment wasn’t enough) but it is like a high maintenence lady. Curves in the right places, immaculately dressed, one in a million, but like a high maintenence lady really difficult to take on the bus, any problems she needs to see a specialist, and needs lots of care and attention to make sure she plays right. In short I love this Guitar and nobody else can have it.
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