This MySpace is for all you cool Epiphone/Gibson Thunderbird & Firebird players out there!
In the late 50's, the Gibson company was feeling pressure from Leo Fender's new line of very cool, modern solid body guitars like the Stratocaster. Colors, dynamic shapes, and multi-coil pick-ups were attracting the attention of all the pros. Gibson had the Les Paul, but their line of "way out there" guitars like the Flying V and the zigzagged, space-age "Explorer" had been commercial failures. The late Ted McCarty, who was running Gibson at the time, brought in a Detroit car designer named Ray Dietrich to help Gibson design a new guitar worthy of the Fender competition. Dietrich basically took the Explorer design and rounded the edges a bit, adding a single piece of wood for the neck and body, with the two "wings" glued on. The most unusual aspect of the design is that the guitar is somewhat "backward" in that the right-hand horn of the body is longer than the other. Thus, the original Firebirds were unofficially referred to as "reverse."
According to Gibson: "The solidbody Firebird guitars were originally developed in 1963 by Ray Dietrich, a well-known automotive designer, who reversed conventional guitar design by making the treble-side horn longer than the bass horn. The headstock was also reversed, with the tuners on the treble side. Banjo-style tuners came straight out of the back of the headstock to simplify the tuning process. The first four models debuted in 1963 with a new set of custom colors created just for them. The revolutionary guitar helped revitalize Gibson and make it an influential leader in the production of electric guitars in the mid-'60s. Gibson was in the process of refining the design, by switching the tuners to the bass side of the headstock, when Fender claimed infringement on its offset-waist body design. Gibson then redesigned the Firebird with a "non-reverse" style in 1965, with a shorter body, bass horn longer than treble horn and conventional set neck (the originals had a neck-through-body design). The new shape did not catch on, however, and the model disappeared after 1969. After several reincarnations through the decades, the original reverse-body Firebird has been in regular production since 1990, and the non-reverse model was reintroduced by Gibson's Custom, Art & Historic division. In the spirit of the originals, the 2002 Firebirds have a new set of custom finish colors. The Gibson USA Firebird VII offering includes Blue Mist, Copper Metallic and Red Metallic finishes.
In 1959, there was some kind of rift between Les Paul and Gibson, and the popular Les Paul model was discontinued. Gibson hoped that the Firebird, along with their SG model, would sell. In fact, the Firebird did do better than the failed Explorer, but after a four year primary run, the reverse Firebird was morphed into the cheaper non-reverse model in '66. By then, Les Paul was back in the Gibson camp and the Les Paul was back in production. The original Firebird line was retired in 1970.
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