ISO an MIJ Firebird copy: what do?

[Mechanical Birds]

I’m interested in going for it on one of these things but have no idea what I should be looking for outside of “MIJ Firebird copy” which isn’t bearing a lot of fruit on the google tree. I found a Fernandes one and know that there are some Grecos but otherwise I got nothin.

I know there are Korean ones and Chinese Epiphones and stuff but my basement ‘tier’ is Japanese.

Thanks in advance!

[GreenKnee]

Ibanez made Firebirds in the 70s, lawsuit era. I've no idea how much they go for now (Reverb has sold listings at about £1300-£1500)

ESP has made them too as well as Greco, Tokai, etc. all the usual culprits.

I just did a brief search and couldn't find anything obvious, I guess there's not that many around. Good luck!

[muffonrat]

I have seen also Burny firebirds, would look into used japanese market also by using a service such as Zenmarket.
This way I got my Greco ric copy for almost half the price of the listings on Reverb.
Good luck in your search!

[Chippertheripper]

I don’t know how important it is to you, but most of the Japanese firebirds I’ve seen have set necks, so proceed with that in mind.
Otherwise, they’re all pretty cool.
Black seems to be the most produced color, going by my casual observations.

[Pacafeliz]

Yep my two 70s Ibanez ones are bolt-on necks. Still cool

There was also a non reverse model, but it's über rare and doesn't quite "accurate".
There were better looking Burny ones. Still kicking myself that i didn't pull the trigger in this one:
https://www.ebay.de/itm/186254018003?mk ... media=COPY

(Dunno why it's still online)

[Larry Mal]

Gibson licensed their designs in Japan under the "Orville" label;

Kind of rare and I have no idea why anybody would buy that instead of the more easily found Gibson ones, but anyway they look to be of high quality.

[Ceylon]

While not as cool as a vintage MIJ I'm almost sure the current Epiphone Inspired by Gibson Firebirds are of a more correct construction and probably equal to a lot of MIJs in build and quality.

[Larry Mal]

While not as cool as a vintage MIJ I'm almost sure the current Epiphone Inspired by Gibson Firebirds are of a more correct cobstruction and probably equal to a lot of MIJs in build and quality.

They are dead on Firebirds and personally I would absolutely buy one instead of any of the stuff I've seen mentioned here.

[Mechanical Birds]

I didn’t know any of this stuff so thanks everyone. Not hyped on a set neck

[Larry Mal]

I didn’t know any of this stuff so thanks everyone. Not hyped on a set neck

There's nothing wrong with a set neck of course, or a bolt on, but if you consider the reverse body Firebird to be a holistic design then the neck through construction would be part of it. It's cool, actually, it's not just a log but a nine-ply neck and center plank which is done that way to resist twisting and warping since that would be catastrophic.

These are expensive but other than the name on the headstock, the nation of origin and the laurel fingerboard they are made the same as how Gibson makes them. Better than how Gibson makes them sometimes.

[andy_tchp]

While not as cool as a vintage MIJ I'm almost sure the current Epiphone Inspired by Gibson Firebirds are of a more correct cobstruction and probably equal to a lot of MIJs in build and quality.

They are dead on Firebirds and personally I would absolutely buy one instead of any of the stuff I've seen mentioned here.

Fully agree with this.

[Mechanical Birds]

This was an example of my impulsivity and ignorance. I had this wack 80s Epiphone Firebird years ago that was butchered and traded it for a Squier Jag. I’ve always loved the look of them and the fact that it was the first Gibson that really kind of went for it and tried to innovate/deviate from the boring two PAFs with a TOM stop tail so I started looking for one I could feel good about buying and quickly realized that wasn’t gonna happen. Makes sense I guess - a Firebird VII is full of bells and whistles so finding an affordable one is gonna be hard. I figured like the Les Paul, there maybe was a big pool of equivalent Japanese copies floating around out there.

Guess I’ll keep an eye out for a used Epiphone of some sort. Thanks cool dudes