My GAS is in remission! NGD!

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).
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Lost In Autumn
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My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by Lost In Autumn » Thu Jun 03, 2021 2:12 am

I just got my first brand new guitar in about 18 years, earlier this week, a 2020 Inspired by Gibson Epiphone Firebird. I'd been mildly obsessed by them since seeing Temples play in Philadelphia before the pandemic hit and in the passing year, it's only gotten worse. I thought I could assuage it with other guitars- I picked up a used and abused DiPinto Belvedere for next to nothing- it has firebird style pickups, however, it only made my obsession worse.
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I frequently searched eBay, Reverb and Facebook Marketplace, hoping to find a used model at a good price, because I'm a cheap bastard. I kept coming up empty with my searches- I found a few clones from Purescan and Dillion and contemplated building a kit, but everything just seemed a bit off. My search did turn up an Eastwood Stormbird for $400. Eastwood does a reasonable facsimile of Gibson's non-reverse Firebird and the price was right, so I grabbed it.
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Stock, it was a fine guitar, but there was room for improvement, so I raided my parts bin: a Graphtech nut, Bigsby B50 with a Reverend soft vibrato spring & a pair of Lindy Fralin AlNiCo pole, Hum-Cancelling Soap Bars did the trick- Nice and bright, with the requisite shimmy and sparkle, yet my GAS persisted.

My search for a used Firebird at a decent price (less than new, delivered, at the very least) continued to come up empty. Pandemic related supply chain issues have pushed used guitar prices into new territory and beyond, driving prices into quasi-stratospheric heights. On a lark, wile searching Reverb one day, I hit "watch" on a new Epiphone Firebird that was for sale from Zzounds, in NJ. I wasn't about to pay full price for a new guitar (remember, I'm a cheap son of a bitch), but I figured, if I ever got little windfall, I'd consider new. A week passes and the seller sends me an offer: $530 and free shipping. I thought about it for a minute, transferred some cash into checking and a week later, I had a package waiting for me at my office.
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The packing was minimal, a box in a box, with the neck nestled in a cardboard cradle, but astonishingly enough, FedEx didn't maim or destroy it.
First impressions in the parking lot: this thing is light! The internets say about 7.7 pounds- it's a huge guitar, yet it's lighter than most of the guitars I own! Out of the box, the intonation was spot on, but the neck had a slight up-bow, however, the fit and finish was quite good- there was no fret sprout and the edges seemed reasonably smooth. The increased sustain from the 9-piece, neck through body was noticeable, even unplugged. consider me stoked!
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It would be another 24 hours before I had a chance to get it home and plug it in to my Fender Deluxe Reverb, but doing so did not disappoint. I’ve never had a guitar where I didn’t think “if I change the pickups, electronics, tuners and knobs, this would be great.” I’m putting on a Les Trem and that’s it. The pickups on this jawn are incredible, better than a $600 guitar has the right to be. A-B with my DiPinto Belvedere, which also has Firebird style pickups, is night and day. These Gibson ProBuckers sound like boutique pickups! may take it to my neighborhood guitar shop, DiPinto Guitars, in a couple months for a fret level, but honestly, this is the first guitar, at any price, let alone under $600, that I haven’t felt an urge to do extensive mods. I plan on installing a Deusenberg Les Trem that I have on order from forum member WhatIsDust, and that's it.
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If there was ever a perfect guitar for me, this might be it. It has all the jangle & chime, but it snarls, too. This guitar is incredible. The bird is the word!

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Re: My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by wproffitt » Thu Jun 03, 2021 4:45 am

Congratulations! That is very exciting! I’m currently struggling with my own GAS for a Firebird. I love the way they sound and look but am curious about:
1) how well they balance on a strap. I ask because the couple that I’ve tried out in shops (years ago) seemed kind of neck heavy on a strap.
2) neck profile. Is this slim taper or something a little beefier?

Inquiring minds want to know! Congratulations again and enjoy!

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Larry Mal
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Re: My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by Larry Mal » Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:02 am

Good show- so, I looked up the pickups you have there:

"Epiphone's ProBucker™ humbucker has quietly become one of the most talked about pickups in the industry. It has fooled experts, vintage purists, and even luthiers who have worked with the best vintage examples from the late 50s and early 60s. Epiphone ProBucker™ humbuckers are the real deal--made with 18% Nickel Silver unit bases and covers, the same alloy used by Gibson at the Kalamazoo factory when the humbucker was first invented. The use of Nickel Silver reduces the occurrence of eddy currents due to low conductivity and provides a more transparent and crisp output. The size and shape of the bobbins also has a great impact on tonal response. And the bobbins used on ProBucker™ pickups duplicate the size and shape of the gold standard in the industry, Gibson humbuckers. Epiphone ProBucker™ pickups also feature sand cast Alnico II magnets, high quality 4 conductor lead wire, and are vacuum wax potted to eliminate microphonics."

So I think that these are the same pickups that they put out there in the Joe Bonamassa model (sorry in advance for any thread derailment) and those pickups were much, much better than the ceramic things that Gibson was using. Epiphone put a lot of thought into these pickups and it's clear that making a great pickup was the only goal here- I don't really know what you would buy that could be considered "better", really.

The fact is, Epiphone is making a Firebird that is (finally) dead on accurate in terms of construction, they used to not be neck-through, for instance. And the pickups are great.

I guess what I'm saying is your feeling that this guitar is great right out of the box will probably last, they really nailed it with this one.
Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

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Re: My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by Larry Mal » Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:16 am

Oh, and incidentally, and I say this here all the time:

Firebirds are actually the best guitars.
Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

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Re: My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by Maggieo » Thu Jun 03, 2021 9:01 am

IIRC (and I may not be), the Epi 'Birds are set-neck.

Either way, that's a fantastic guitar!!! :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
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Re: My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by Larry Mal » Thu Jun 03, 2021 9:13 am

Maggieo wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 9:01 am
IIRC (and I may not be), the Epi 'Birds are set-neck.

Either way, that's a fantastic guitar!!! :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
No, they used to be, now they are the same nine-ply neck through that the Gibsons are. You can actually see the plies in the picture there.

They've really stepped it up.
Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

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Re: My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by Maggieo » Thu Jun 03, 2021 10:08 am

Larry Mal wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 9:13 am
Maggieo wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 9:01 am
IIRC (and I may not be), the Epi 'Birds are set-neck.

Either way, that's a fantastic guitar!!! :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
No, they used to be, now they are the same nine-ply neck through that the Gibsons are. You can actually see the plies in the picture there.

They've really stepped it up.
GAS...building...
“Now I am quietly waiting for/ the catastrophe of my personality/ to seem beautiful again.”- Frank O'Hara
I am not an attorney and this post is for entertainment purposes only. Please consult a licensed attorney in your state for legal advice.

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Re: My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by shoule79 » Thu Jun 03, 2021 10:29 am

Good score, I was curious about the new Epi pickups, on paper they seemed better than the garbage on the actual Gibsons. I sold my firebird because I didn't like the ceramic pickups at all, and didn't like it enough overall to blindly try out expensive boutique/reproductions.

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Re: My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by krossfader » Thu Jun 03, 2021 10:38 am

That looks as nice as the Gibson Firebirds I've played, or better. How's the neck dive when playing while seated?

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Re: My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by mediocreplayer » Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:06 am

Congrats. The pickups in these new Epis (I bought a Casino a few months ago) are really good. I thought a bit about the firebird, but I just find that the neck is so far out that I am not sure I will enjoy playing it as I do my other guitars.

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Re: My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by Larry Mal » Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:08 am

shoule79 wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 10:29 am
Good score, I was curious about the new Epi pickups, on paper they seemed better than the garbage on the actual Gibsons. I sold my firebird because I didn't like the ceramic pickups at all, and didn't like it enough overall to blindly try out expensive boutique/reproductions.
Gibson stopped using the ceramic ones about a year ago also, now they have some Alnico 5 ones. Not sure exactly when they started doing that, though.
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Re: My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by Lost In Autumn » Thu Jun 03, 2021 4:42 pm

wproffitt wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 4:45 am
Congratulations! That is very exciting! I’m currently struggling with my own GAS for a Firebird. I love the way they sound and look but am curious about:
1) how well they balance on a strap. I ask because the couple that I’ve tried out in shops (years ago) seemed kind of neck heavy on a strap.
2) neck profile. Is this slim taper or something a little beefier?

Inquiring minds want to know! Congratulations again and enjoy!
They moved the strap button to behind the neck. Dive is non existent.

I’d put the neck between standard Gibson and Fender. It’s less chunky than I’d like, but relatively vintage accurate.

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Re: My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by Lost In Autumn » Thu Jun 03, 2021 4:46 pm

krossfader wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 10:38 am
That looks as nice as the Gibson Firebirds I've played, or better. How's the neck dive when playing while seated?
None at all. The only odd thing to me about playing this, is where my picking hand falls. I ordinarily play between the neck and neck pickup; on this one , my hand falls near the bridge. This makes the tone noticeably brighter and oddly, I don’t hate it. Because it’s so long, it feels like playing my baritone.

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Re: My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by wproffitt » Thu Jun 03, 2021 7:26 pm

Lost In Autumn wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 4:42 pm
wproffitt wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 4:45 am
Congratulations! That is very exciting! I’m currently struggling with my own GAS for a Firebird. I love the way they sound and look but am curious about:
1) how well they balance on a strap. I ask because the couple that I’ve tried out in shops (years ago) seemed kind of neck heavy on a strap.
2) neck profile. Is this slim taper or something a little beefier?

Inquiring minds want to know! Congratulations again and enjoy!
They moved the strap button to behind the neck. Dive is non existent.

I’d put the neck between standard Gibson and Fender. It’s less chunky than I’d like, but relatively vintage accurate.
Thanks for the information! It looks like if you want a neck with a profile like this (something with a bit more heft) it’s either the Epiphone or a custom shop Firebird. That decision seems pretty easy. ;D

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Re: My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by Embenny » Thu Jun 03, 2021 7:55 pm

Lost In Autumn wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 4:46 pm
None at all. The only odd thing to me about playing this, is where my picking hand falls. I ordinarily play between the neck and neck pickup; on this one , my hand falls near the bridge. This makes the tone noticeably brighter and oddly, I don’t hate it. Because it’s so long, it feels like playing my baritone.
Congrats, those new Epiphone firebirds look amazing. I just got a Firebird recently, myself, and discovered the exact same thing as you - my hand naturally falls much closer to the bridge because of the different ergonomics.

I actually love that about it. It feels different, or more specifically, I feel different playing it compared to my Fenders, which is basically the whole point of owning different guitars in my eyes. It makes me do a bunch of small things differently, which shakes things up and helps keep me feeling interested and creative.

Mine still needs some mods (it's a Gibson, so it has the overwound ceramic pickups and a severe lack of shielding), but I can see why Larry would say firebirds are the best. Proper firebird pickups are probably the most versatile of any vintage pickup design, being bright and dynamic enough to play anything you'd want to play on a single coil, but thick enough to play anything you'd want to play on a humbucker with the tone rolled back a bit, and noiseless. The guitar itself is unique among 60's designs in its ergonomics, construction method and looks. It's big but surprisingly light weight, funky looking but surprisingly balanced on a strap.

I admired them from afar for years but a trade offer finally brought one my way, and I was quite surprised at just how much I instantly bonded with the model.

Sounds like you're getting on nicely with yours. At that price, thats really a whole of of guitar you got, especially with the properly-specced pickups.
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