GIBSON CUSTOM ’63 FIREBIRD V & ’65 NON-REVERSE FIREBIRD V
As detailed expertly by Tony Bacon on page 86 of this issue, the Gibson Firebird is one of several examples of an electric guitar design that was somewhat ahead of its time and only became truly iconic years after it had stopped rolling off the production line. It’s in good company, of course – the sunburst Les Paul Standard, Explorer and Flying V being three other McCarty-era creations that weren’t exactly runaway successes on launch – but whereas Fender’s misunderstood and long-unfashionable Jazzmaster eventually became a mainstream proposition, in the wild, the Firebird is still a rarer creature to behold.
That’s not to say that it hasn’t made its mark over the years. Firebirds helped write history in the hands of Gatemouth Brown, Johnny Winter, Allen Collins and, briefly, Eric Clapton – and who can forget Phil Manzanera’s Cardinal Red 1964 Firebird VII? Our own Firebird fascination came courtesy of seeing Noel sessions, not to mention grainy photographs of Keith Richards and Brian Jones with a magnificent Firebird VII. Paul McCartney is even thought to have recorded the guitar solo using the left-handed Non-Reverse Firebird he played extensively during his early solo career.
