MichaelW
Well-known member
So there was some idiot on the forum prattling on about how he's currently unemployed and taking a sabbatical and on a fixed income and how he was slowing down his gear acquisition because he can't really afford to be blowing through his savings.....I dunno what happened to him but I get the feeling he's totally full of sh*t....... 
I've been looking at Firebirds and chasing that Firebird tone for many years. With my "VelaBird" and more recently with my Chibson with the mini-hum/bird pickups.
I could never bring myself to drop the $$'s for a real Gibson, and they're relatively scarce to begin with without going Custom Shop.
When Epiphone released their series of "Inspired by Gibson" guitars, I was really glad to see they included the Firebird, Korina Explorer and Korina Flying V.
Some of the "Inspired by Gibson" range are a bit on the pricey side (Like the Explorer and V) but others are still very affordable.
The Epiphone Firebird is really the only game in town for a "traditionally appointed" Firebird at a budget price.
I'm not a big fan of the Epiphone sunburst finishes as they generally show the less than stellar woods that are typically used in Epiphones.
Then I saw this!!!
It looks like these Olive Drab colored Epi's are a limited edition for ZZounds/Americal Musical Supply.
My first reaction to this color scheme was....."Ewwwwww............!"
But then they started to grow on me, to the point where I started gassing for one, heh.
Enter Reverb and ZZounds. I put one in my Watchlist and like clockwork they sent me a pretty decent offer. I wound up paying $585.
I have to say, the value of these Epiphones are really amazing. Like my Epiphone Les Paul Special, the build quality is really very good. In some ways even better than the original Gibson that "inspired" them.
This is my first Firebird that I've ever owned. Man, it's a pretty massive guitar! Yet it's amazing how well balanced it is and how sitting down and playing it put the neck up high and gives me full access to whole neck without having to play right at my belly button......
One of the big reasons that I pulled the trigger now of all times, is because I had that extra set of Firebird pickups from Onamac Windery that needed a home.
I was originally thinking about putting them in another Tele build. But I've got so many Tele's right now.
It's not the first time I've bought or built a guitar around a set of pickups I had, and probably won't be the last. There IS a little "twist" to this story about the pickups but I'll get to that in a bit.
The guitar arrived in record time. Like two days after I placed the order. ZZounds is always super fast getting stuff shipped out in my experience.
The build quality, as expected was very good. Neck was straight, frets were level, intonation was spot on and action was acceptable out of the box.
So first up, checking the wiring, part of the selling point on these "Inspired by Gibson" series is the upgraded electronics. CTS pots, Orange Drop caps.
BUT.....these are all useless for me. They used 4 B500k pots. I don't understand why they don't use Log taper pots, especially for the volume controls.
Also, they spring for CTS pots and orange drops but still use a cheap toggle switch and jack, which are the more likely to cause problems. I guess it's all about marketing. Needless to say, I gutted it and installed my own wiring.
The pickups that came with them are part of their "ProBucker" series and I have to say I am very impressed with them. They actually sound very good and are definitely geared towards the vintage tonality. I may wind up using these in another guitar......(maybe another Tele build......hahahaha)
You can tell through the couple of small witness holes that they used real maple spacers. But I can't tell without opening them up whether they used the steel reflector plates or not. It SOUNDS like it. The reflector plate functions in the same way a steel baseplate on a Tele bridge pickup or a steel plate add on for a Start pickup does. It intensifies the magnetic field and gives the pickups a bit more punch. The Firebird is aptly referred to as a "Tele on Steroids".
Cheap toggle, I have a Switchcraft coming tomorrow that will be replacing this one.
This one rattles and has some sympathetic vibrations with some notes.
Epiphone branded jack but it's a cheap crappy one. I replaced it with a Switchcraft jack.
One of the hallmarks of the Firebird construction is the multi-laminated neck through construction. I'm really glad to see that Epiphone did not skimp on this and make it a set neck. You can see the alternating mahogany and walnut sandwich under the pickup cavity sticker. You can also see some faint witness lines in the finish as well but I could not pick it up on camera. Point being, even with the opaque finish, it's a true neck through.
The fingerboard is Indian Laurel. I've said before that I really like Indian Laurel, as it's much closer in feel and look to real Indian Rosewood compared to the alternatives like Pau Ferro.
There also seems to be a wide range of colors. I have 3 guitars with Indian Laurel fingerboards are all they look different. On my Gretsch it's redder with wavy grain lines. On my Epi Les Paul Special it's dark and looks identical to Indian rosewood. This one has straighter grain but nice color shifts to it. It's very pretty.
But having said that, I wanted to experiment with trying to darken an Indian Laurel board. My usual process on a new rosewood fingerboard is to put a couple of coats of Danish Oil on it. Flood it, let it soak in, wipe it off, repeat a couple of times. Danish Oil is a type of varnish and when cured it has a nice hard finish that reduces the need to oil the fingerboard (at least here in Florida).
I mixed some different brown tone alcohol dyes into the natural colored Danish oil and tried that. You can see the color over the inlays.
I'm not sure it made a ton of difference once I wiped it off. But it was an interesting experiment. Might have more of an effect on a Pau Ferro board or a lighter colored laurel board.
I love the aesthetic of the Olive Drab on this guitar. The SG version looks pretty cool too. Still debating if I want to swap the control knobs to a gold or amber with a reflector plate.
Continued in next post.....
I've been looking at Firebirds and chasing that Firebird tone for many years. With my "VelaBird" and more recently with my Chibson with the mini-hum/bird pickups.
I could never bring myself to drop the $$'s for a real Gibson, and they're relatively scarce to begin with without going Custom Shop.
When Epiphone released their series of "Inspired by Gibson" guitars, I was really glad to see they included the Firebird, Korina Explorer and Korina Flying V.
Some of the "Inspired by Gibson" range are a bit on the pricey side (Like the Explorer and V) but others are still very affordable.
The Epiphone Firebird is really the only game in town for a "traditionally appointed" Firebird at a budget price.
I'm not a big fan of the Epiphone sunburst finishes as they generally show the less than stellar woods that are typically used in Epiphones.
Then I saw this!!!
It looks like these Olive Drab colored Epi's are a limited edition for ZZounds/Americal Musical Supply.
My first reaction to this color scheme was....."Ewwwwww............!"
But then they started to grow on me, to the point where I started gassing for one, heh.
Enter Reverb and ZZounds. I put one in my Watchlist and like clockwork they sent me a pretty decent offer. I wound up paying $585.
I have to say, the value of these Epiphones are really amazing. Like my Epiphone Les Paul Special, the build quality is really very good. In some ways even better than the original Gibson that "inspired" them.
This is my first Firebird that I've ever owned. Man, it's a pretty massive guitar! Yet it's amazing how well balanced it is and how sitting down and playing it put the neck up high and gives me full access to whole neck without having to play right at my belly button.....
.One of the big reasons that I pulled the trigger now of all times, is because I had that extra set of Firebird pickups from Onamac Windery that needed a home.
I was originally thinking about putting them in another Tele build. But I've got so many Tele's right now.
It's not the first time I've bought or built a guitar around a set of pickups I had, and probably won't be the last. There IS a little "twist" to this story about the pickups but I'll get to that in a bit.
The guitar arrived in record time. Like two days after I placed the order. ZZounds is always super fast getting stuff shipped out in my experience.
The build quality, as expected was very good. Neck was straight, frets were level, intonation was spot on and action was acceptable out of the box.
So first up, checking the wiring, part of the selling point on these "Inspired by Gibson" series is the upgraded electronics. CTS pots, Orange Drop caps.
BUT.....these are all useless for me. They used 4 B500k pots. I don't understand why they don't use Log taper pots, especially for the volume controls.
Also, they spring for CTS pots and orange drops but still use a cheap toggle switch and jack, which are the more likely to cause problems. I guess it's all about marketing. Needless to say, I gutted it and installed my own wiring.
The pickups that came with them are part of their "ProBucker" series and I have to say I am very impressed with them. They actually sound very good and are definitely geared towards the vintage tonality. I may wind up using these in another guitar......(maybe another Tele build......hahahaha)
You can tell through the couple of small witness holes that they used real maple spacers. But I can't tell without opening them up whether they used the steel reflector plates or not. It SOUNDS like it. The reflector plate functions in the same way a steel baseplate on a Tele bridge pickup or a steel plate add on for a Start pickup does. It intensifies the magnetic field and gives the pickups a bit more punch. The Firebird is aptly referred to as a "Tele on Steroids".
Cheap toggle, I have a Switchcraft coming tomorrow that will be replacing this one.
This one rattles and has some sympathetic vibrations with some notes.
Epiphone branded jack but it's a cheap crappy one. I replaced it with a Switchcraft jack.
One of the hallmarks of the Firebird construction is the multi-laminated neck through construction. I'm really glad to see that Epiphone did not skimp on this and make it a set neck. You can see the alternating mahogany and walnut sandwich under the pickup cavity sticker. You can also see some faint witness lines in the finish as well but I could not pick it up on camera. Point being, even with the opaque finish, it's a true neck through.
The fingerboard is Indian Laurel. I've said before that I really like Indian Laurel, as it's much closer in feel and look to real Indian Rosewood compared to the alternatives like Pau Ferro.
There also seems to be a wide range of colors. I have 3 guitars with Indian Laurel fingerboards are all they look different. On my Gretsch it's redder with wavy grain lines. On my Epi Les Paul Special it's dark and looks identical to Indian rosewood. This one has straighter grain but nice color shifts to it. It's very pretty.
But having said that, I wanted to experiment with trying to darken an Indian Laurel board. My usual process on a new rosewood fingerboard is to put a couple of coats of Danish Oil on it. Flood it, let it soak in, wipe it off, repeat a couple of times. Danish Oil is a type of varnish and when cured it has a nice hard finish that reduces the need to oil the fingerboard (at least here in Florida).
I mixed some different brown tone alcohol dyes into the natural colored Danish oil and tried that. You can see the color over the inlays.
I'm not sure it made a ton of difference once I wiped it off. But it was an interesting experiment. Might have more of an effect on a Pau Ferro board or a lighter colored laurel board.
I love the aesthetic of the Olive Drab on this guitar. The SG version looks pretty cool too. Still debating if I want to swap the control knobs to a gold or amber with a reflector plate.
Continued in next post.....
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