FireBirds

[Tonray's Ghost]

Soliciting opinions on how comfortable Firebirds are to play, primarily sitting down is what I'm interested in.

There is a stunning Tokai FB65 Firebird clone available here for about $500 that looks and sounds amazing in demos, but I have not yet had the chance to handle it personally. Anyone play currently or previously play a Firebird ? Would be interested in opnions . Thanks


I reference my own thread from 2 years ago here:

viewtopic.php?t=1915

[BatUtilityBelt]

I don't play my Firebird very much, but it's a lower end one, a tribute. It plays well, sounds decent, and is pretty light. I often play sitting down too, and it's not a problem. Based only on the Japanese Tokais I already have (LP and tele), I would happily trade my Firebird straight up for a MIJ Tokai Firebird. The reason I don't play it much is that its voice has a pretty specific character (bright, but not the same as a tele). It handles gain better than some of my teles though. The reason I would trade it for a MIJ Tokai is that mine is pretty basic.

[Tonray's Ghost]

I don't play my Firebird very much, but it's a lower end one, a tribute. It plays well, sounds decent, and is pretty light. I often play sitting down too, and it's not a problem. Based only on the Japanese Tokais I already have (LP and tele), I would happily trade my Firebird straight up for a MIJ Tokai Firebird. The reason I don't play it much is that its voice has a pretty specific character (bright, but not the same as a tele). It handles gain better than some of my teles though. The reason I would trade it for a MIJ Tokai is that mine is pretty basic.
FirebirdInCase.jpg

Yeah the MIJ Tokai stuff is insanely good quality..but quite pricey too. The nice thing about Tokai is their Chinese made stuff has many of the same parts but just assembled and QC in China. I am also looking at their 335 style. The MIJ variants are just stunningly high quality.

[toomanycats]

Playing a Firebird sitting down is no problem for me. However, being not particularly tall at 5' 8", I find some slight ergonomic issues playing the guitar standing up. I encounter some of these same troubles with a Jazzmaster, though to a lesser extent.

The neck of the Firebird somehow feels longer than that of a Gibson Les Paul, even though both guitars are the same 24.75" scale length. When I play the Firebird standing up onstage I find myself orienting the neck at 45 degrees rather than parallel with the floor. I've noticed that many Firebird players do the same, as it brings the nut closer when you're playing open chords. Look at pictures of Brian Jones playing his Firebird onstage with The Rolling Stones. He was a shorter guy like me and he does the same thing.

Brian Jones playing his Firebird standing up.

There's also another thing a Firebird does while playing standing up that has to do with where the upper strap button is located and the general balance of the instrument, and that is the guitar wanting to flop forward away from your body.


My Firebird is a joy to play sitting down. I'm playing Joe Bonomassa's solo on his cover of "Give Me Just One More Reason."



Standing up . . . not as comfortable. The upside is that it looks cool as hell. Many more people compliment me when I play the Firebird than they when I play my Les Pauls. It is an awesome stage guitar, from a visual point of view.

Clapton playing a Firebird live. I believe that Eric is significantly taller than me, yet note how he wears the Firebird higher up on his body than he would a Les Paul or Strat. Unlike Brian Jones, Eric is an aggressive lead player and is likely wearing the Bird so high to compensate for the aforementioned ergonomic issues.

[tonebender]

I have never owned one but when I was not happy with the Slug P90 pups in my anniversary Melody Maker and bought a set of OEM Firebird mini hums and installed them. I am not 100% happy with them. I am considering another set of P90's with A5 magnets to replace the mini hums. I will probably go with Buddha as usual but I have been looking around to see what is out there in the noiseless P90's or soapbar style that are actually hums.

[toomanycats]

I have never owned one but when I was not happy with the Slug P90 pups in my anniversary Melody Maker and bought a set of OEM Firebird mini hums and installed them. I am not 100% happy with them. I am considering another set of P90's with A5 magnets to replace the mini hums. I will probably go with Buddha as usual but I have been looking around to see what is out there in the noiseless P90's or soapbar style that are actually hums.

I believe that the stock pickups in the current Gibson Firebirds are ceramic. My Firebird is a 2013 and that's what they were. This was puzzling to me until I realized that one of the most prominent Firebird users today is Dave Grohl. If you play Foo Fighters type of music then you need a pickup with some aggression and tightness. That isn't my thing, so I had @andrewsrea wind me a set of Johnny Winter style pickups, which are the tits. I'm sure @Buddha Pickups could do something similar. I've had both of these guys make pickups for me, and they don't disappoint.

[andrewsrea]

Pictured below is 'Marylin,' my 2016 Gibson FB 5 (named after Marylin Monroe, due to the small beauty mark knothole on the upper bout, approximately 1.5" from where the wing meets the center piece). As @toomanycats mentioned, I replaced the overly muscular stock pickups with AMI "JW' firebird pickups.

@Tonray's Ghost asked about playing sitting down and to me, it feels most at home sitting down. Standing up, the neck feels long (like you are reaching a bit more to hit the lower frets) and it does not have a belly carve, so it wants to face the floor a bit. The biggest adjustment I personally have to make when playing this, is the neck width and depth. The nut is a bit wider and the depth a bit skinnier than I prefer. So thin, that neck bends are sometimes accidental, and one has to be careful when tuning, not to assert too much force on the headstock when tuning. I absolutely love the Steinberger tuners, both aesthetically and functionally!

[golem]

I literally feel the same way @andrewsrea does. That's why I got rid of mine.

[glasshand]

I've got an Epi Firebird, and I find it plenty comfortable to play sitting down. The very thin body actually helps in this regard, IMO. I am also 5'8", and I agree that the FB somehow "feels bigger than it is", but nothing unmanageable. (Try playing a Thunderbird for comparison!)

Interestingly enough, I'm pretty sure that the pickups in mine are not ceramic, but are the "Epiphone ProBucker™ FB720" model, which I think is alnico.

[Rollin Hand]

I always wanted one of the Robbin Crosby-style Firebirds. Being a gentleman of proportion, it wouldn't look too big on me.

[idiotsdelight]

Owning a VII copy and the Epi FB I they feel like any other guitar while sitting. I've said numerous times, they are the Cadillacs of guitars. The neck join + body length puts even a 24.75 scale waaay out there. Gotta have the strap button at the heel for balance. FWIW I'm 6'2" and got long knuckle dragging arms so it feels good to me.

Crosby's FB's were a smaller body. There had been one of his FB's on ebay for a long time about 10yrs ago. Prob never sold.

I had an epic FB thread on the AGF forum. I made it a point to keep it alive.

Yes, FB should have low wind specific FB built pickups or P90's. Anything else is blasphemy.

Can you play the Tokai? Consider that a favor if you can. They're not for everyone.

Pro tip... FB pickup in the tele neck position.

[Tonray's Ghost]

Owning a VII copy and the Epi FB I they feel like any other guitar while sitting. I've said numerous times, they are the Cadillacs of guitars. The neck join + body length puts even a 24.75 scale waaay out there. Gotta have the strap button at the heel for balance. FWIW I'm 6'2" and got long knuckle dragging arms so it feels good to me.

Crosby's FB's were a smaller body. There had been one of his FB's on ebay for a long time about 10yrs ago. Prob never sold.

I had an epic FB thread on the AGF forum. I made it a point to keep it alive.

Yes, FB should have low wind specific FB built pickups or P90's. Anything else is blasphemy.

Can you play the Tokai? Consider that a favor if you can. They're not for everyone.

Pro tip... FB pickup in the tele neck position.

Good input..the problem with Cadillacs is they are difficult to park in tight spaces. Unfortunately I already hit the wall in my little living room alcove when swinging the Strat around and I'm afraid I might nick the wall paint and break the FB neck too easily

[uwmcscott]

I don't have one but agree that they definitely have a cool vibe in a non-mainstream way, kind of like these guys... Their guitarist Tim Sult has a pretty extensive Gibson collection and several firebirds coincidentally.